[Betta132]

I'm going to be getting an order of microfish in pretty soon. Well, mostly microfish, but there's some pencilfish in there as well. My question is about acclimation...
I've heard that as soon as you open the bag, ammonia levels increase because of a chemestry thing I can't remember. Because of this, some people only temperature acclimate and then release them.
However... It's microfish, and I'm getting them from a different state. Should I try something like pouring them into a shallow container and quickly drip acclimating them? Should I add Prime to help out? Should I add a few cups of clean water real quickly and then drip acclimate them?

 

[lauraleellbp]

I add some Prime as soon as I open a bag (actually, I put some Prime in the bottom of my bucket, and then open the bag and pour that into the bucket with the Prime to IMMEDIATELY detox the free ammonia). There are some pH shifts that can occur as soon as a shipped bag of fish is opened and the shipping water hits fresh air/O2 that can make the water immediately more toxic and burn gills.

Then as long as the water quality in the shipping bag didn't look too bad, I'll drip acclimate into the bucket.

If the water in the bag arrived looking nasty though (as sometimes happens) I speed up the drip acclimation alot (keep the drip running) by regularly dipping water from the tank into the bucket to help improve the overall water quality for the poor fish more quickly.

 

[Betta132]

Right, Ph. That's what changes.
In your opinion, is it better to use a regular-shaped bucket or a container that's wide and shallow to acclimate? The shallow container seems like it would be good because you can check and make sure nobody looks hurt or anything...