emergency!

Question
My 10 gallon fish tank cracked last night and when I got up this morning at 6am, my tank was only 1/3 of the way full of water. I moved my 2 tiger oscars to a large pitcher and took the tank outside to drain. I bought a new tank when the stores opened this morning and re-set up the aquarium with the old gravel and accessories. I know you're supposed to wait at least 24 hours before you add the fish to the tank, but I don't feel like I should leave the fish in something so small for so long. How soon can I get away with putting my fish back in the tank?

Answer
Hi Sara, if it is your old tanks rocks and accessories and you didn't clean them out then the bacteria from the old tank should still be in them so you could probably just wait about 12 hours but you could leave your fish in the bowl for 24 hours as long as you have aeration like and aerator so they can have oxygen. But what could speed up the process is a product called cycle(its a bacteria supplement that increases the speed of your cycle so you can put fish in your tank faster) get it at a local pet store and you could put them in the tank probably 15 hours just to be safe. But aquarium salt and cycle are two products that would speed up the process and your fish will be fine in the bowl until then just make sure they have an aerator. Let me know soon if you have any questions. Hope all goes well!