How Long Can A Fish Survive Out Of Water?

[TribeOfShroom]

Lol I've had one of my mirror carp jump out of the pond and lie on top of the netting from about 3am - 7am. My sister put it back in the pond when she found it. It took a week to get its colour back (it was very very pale) but now its fine.

 

[TammyLiz]

One issue with fish jumping is that even those that survive until being returned to the water, can then die due to fungal or bacterial infections. The damage done to the fish because of drying out or getting dirty on the floor or maybe from falling some distance can allow something to really take hold and kill them. I've had it happen twice with jumpers which died a day or two later.

Getting stuck to the inside of a bag for a minute isn't likely to cause that type of issue, though.

 

[fry_lover]

One issue with fish jumping is that even those that survive until being returned to the water, can then die due to fungal or bacterial infections. The damage done to the fish because of drying out or getting dirty on the floor or maybe from falling some distance can allow something to really take hold and kill them. I've had it happen twice with jumpers which died a day or two later.

Getting stuck to the inside of a bag for a minute isn't likely to cause that type of issue, though.

Perhaps another way of looking at it is..... by spending some time on the carpet the fish's immune system is actually bolstered, in the same way a child's immune system is allegedly improved by exposure to certain things.

However, it's not something i wish to pursue.

 

[dane261]

i know of some ones L046 plec been out for 5 hours and been fine


cheers Dane

 

[the biffster]

i used to have a clarias cat fish that used to get out of its tank and frighten
my dog if it got out after we had gone to bed you would find under the racking or in the kitchen
trying to make its way to the back door mind you it used to frighten me some time
i would eat whole baby squid in one go as well as sprats or white bait i did once try him
on cat meat but it was to messy .i had to put a brick on top of the hood to stop him getting out in
end he was over two and a half foot he must have done 10 to12 hours out of water at a time i used to just pick him back up and pop him back in with no ill effects

 

[TammyLiz]

One issue with fish jumping is that even those that survive until being returned to the water, can then die due to fungal or bacterial infections. The damage done to the fish because of drying out or getting dirty on the floor or maybe from falling some distance can allow something to really take hold and kill them. I've had it happen twice with jumpers which died a day or two later.

Getting stuck to the inside of a bag for a minute isn't likely to cause that type of issue, though.

Perhaps another way of looking at it is..... by spending some time on the carpet the fish's immune system is actually bolstered, in the same way a child's immune system is allegedly improved by exposure to certain things.

However, it's not something i wish to pursue.

Errr....no I don't think so. If you're comparing to a child getting exposed to bacteria at school and thus having a "stronger immune system", you're talking about the body building up immunities to particular bacteria that it has already been exposed to and then being able to fight off same or similar illness more readily in the future. At least, from what I remember from my 10th grade biology class, thats how they told me it works. Fish would do the same thing with bacteria always present in the aquarium.

Throwing them out onto the carpet for a while is something totally different. Kids in preschool are pretty much in their natural environment plus a few more bacteria. They are breathing air and it is generally a temperature controlled environment. Fish on carpets are not in their natural environment and are not getting the elements they need to survive long term. Kids in preschool are.

Probably putting fish in an aquarium instead of their native environment is like putting kids in preschool instead of leaving them home.

It seems to me that leaving fish on the carpet for a few hours would be more readily compared to leaving children out in the blistering sun in the desert for a few hours.

EDIT: Just want to let you all know that I was just comparing for comparison's sake. I'm not crazy enough to feel like fish are equally as important as children! I have two kids of my own and my fish are worth absolutely nothing compared to them.

 

[fry_lover]

LOL i was actually kidding, sorry to waste your time

 

[FlyingFish]

Whilst adding new fish to my Mums tank last Christmas, she was a bit nervous whilst doing it and somehow dropped one on the floor..

..not realising at first she put the others in the tank, when I mentioned 1 was missing.

We looked around the tank for a minute or so, before the idea crossed our minds that she may of dropped it down the sink (don't ask how, not sure what she was doing).

After a further 30-60 seconds, we arrived at the sink but the fish was nowhere to be seen. Then my leg itched so went to scratch it, & looking down there it was - motionless on the floor..

..I thought to put it into the tank to be on the safe side and to ensure it was an ex-fish, when it swam off and started to breathe heavily at the surface!

To my reckoning it must have been a minimum of 3-4 minutes out of the water before it got into the tank.

I regret I'm unsure to the type of fish, but it was a small community type.. pretty young too.

 

[shang hi]

i used to live near a small shallow cool stream/river and at about the age of 6 i would go our and catch minnows (they all died after some idiot decided to add 6 200l barels of toxic chemicles to the water, only 1 year ago did some start to re apear) and one of my friends caught some minnows and left them in the net whilst he went to knock for me. anyway long story short when we arrived at the net about 10-20 mins later 2 out of the three minnows were still alive. (i never forgave him for forgeting about them, then he puncched me in the teath when i was 8 ). so my rough guess would be about 10 mins but i think it would be highly unlickly for it to survive on a dusty river bank.

 

[PlecMama]

Common plecs are always being found on the floor, there are no end of stories about commons liberating themselves and being found practically dried up and crispy - but miraculously coming back to life when put back in the tank.

I'd opt to always give it a chance, no matter how many minutes it's been laying on the floor. It ain't dead till it's warm, wet and dead.

 

[Rex740]

I have dojo loaches. Dojo loaches can stay many hours out of the water. Atleast 6 hours I think, maybe more.

 

[TammyLiz]

It ain't dead till it's warm, wet and dead.

 

[TammyLiz]

I have dojo loaches. Dojo loaches can stay many hours out of the water. Atleast 6 hours I think, maybe more.

Yes, they excrete a lot of mucus.

They're better than most at surviving, which is good for them since they tend to be jumpers. Hopefully you have your tank covered well!

I have heard of people who have found their weather loaches down the hall in another room still alive and laying in a pile of mucus.

They are an excellent candidate for outdoor goldfish ponds except for this one issue. They can jump out of the pond and flop to a nearby lake or river to naturalize there which is almost never good for native species. Of course if you live nowhere near a lake or river it wouldn't be much of an issue.

 

[5teady_2012]

I had a baby molly that accidently got in the net when i was transfering some fish, and i put the net down on the floor came back about ten mins later picked up the net and noticed in the net and thought it was dead, i put it back in the tank to see and off it went happy as larry.

The thing is though, there was some bits of plant in the net that was pretty wet and on the floor was a little bit of water, so im guessing that what kept it alive for so long.

 

[spAcE mOnkEy]

Fish die as soon as they are exposed to air.