On Wed, 12 Apr 2006 13:59:35 -0400, "Nikki"
wrote:

I got three baby angel's each about the size of a penny, and two little blue
gourami's,
if any one is around should I just float them in the tank, I got them about
an hour ago.
This is what I have always done however I think netmax told me before when I
got fish last time that when you open the bag, something happens to the
water that can kill them, I have not taken the rubber band's off the bags
yet, so any suggestions maybe I should just get a container and add some of
my water little by little instead of doing it in the bag as I normally
would.
Nik

You can do it in the bag or in a separate container. I use a big
measuring cup, half gallon size, or a juice pitcher. I dump the water
and fish from the bag into my clean container, then add a half cup of
water from my tank about every 15 minutes. As the container gets full,
sometimes I have to scoop some water back out to make room for more
tank water, if the store put a really lot of water in the bag. I do
this until I have them in a lot more tank water than store water. Then
I pour them through a net and from net to tank. The water goes down
the sink, not in the aquarium. I usually sit the container on the
aquarium or strip light, somewhere to keep the temperature from
dropping. You can do the same thing with a bag floating in the tank,
but I usually lose the bag half way through and end up dumping them,
water and all, before they're really ready. A newspaper or dishtowel
over the container helps calm the fish, and it's also recommended that
you turn your aquarium lights off so the new fish aren't blinded by
the light, (cut loose like a goose another runner in the night), but I
don't usually think about the aquarium light until too late. This is
one of those rare times when I use my Python net - you know the kind
with the tighter weave super soft mesh and the green handle -
especially for my angels and cats, these nets are much less likely to
snag a pointy thing on the fish.

-- Mister Gardener