Is water assimilation necessary?

[schism]

I will be receiveing some RCS in a couple days and I just found out I need to do something called water assimilation. I read the directions/procedures on the water assimilation. My question to you guys is- How do you introduce shrimp to the tank? Is there an easier way? By easier I mean I dont have all the extra equipment that was in the article I read.

Know any quick or improvised methods of putting shrimp in a new tank?

[Neonshrimp]

Hi Schism,

Please give a quick desciption of "water assimilation". Would this be water cycling?

I introduce shrimp to a new tank by pouring them and the water they can with into a bowl/container and then I slowly add water from the new tank into the bowl. I add an equal amount of new water over a period of 1/2 to 1 hour and then I net out the shrimp ad place them into the new tank. If this tank has no other animal, you can just pour the entire bowl into the tank.

[Baby_Girl]

yes, schism, I'm guessing you meant 'acclimation' to the new water.

I do basically as NeonShrimp does. Except I have 3 mil fish bags that I use for acclimating, not only new fish/shrimp but also when I move them between my own tanks. I prefer to do it this way so I can float the bag in the new tank. That way, fish get used to their new surroundings, and the bag stays the same temperature as the tank. I add ~1/4 cup of water from the tank into the bag every few minutes. After an hour, I scoop the critters out with a net and release them into their new home.

I prefer not to dump the entire bags' contents because it may introduce diseases/pests into your system. This is especially a big concern if you bought animals from a store (vs. from a private hobbyist), as most of those holding tanks are disease-breeding grounds. But if, like Neonshrimp said, your tank is vacant that is not really a concern and I also usually dump the whole thing in.

[Neonshrimp]

prefer not to dump the entire bags' contents because it may introduce diseases/pests into your system. This is especially a big concern if you bought animals from a store (vs. from a private hobbyist), as most of those holding tanks are disease-breeding grounds.

That is so true most of the time!

[Baby_Girl]

disease-breeding grounds. But if, like Neonshrimp said, your tank is vacant that is not really a concern and I also usually dump the whole thing in.

Wanted to add to this. If one is especially conscientious about the health of their tanks, they might not even do this and still prefer to net out all newcomers. Since it's really hard to sterilize nets containing critters and of course the critters themselves, there is always a chance pathogens exist in that little amount of water or on/in the animals. But that's why we should always use a quarantine tank The empty tank is therefore a kind of QT.