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How long can a fish survive out of water?


bulldogod

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entirely dependant on:

the fish

the ambient temperature

the dampness of the area

humidity

Basically the gills can work as long as they are damp. Some fish can get a large proportion of their oxygen from their skin.

I have heard of goldfish being out of water for hours on wet carpet.

One of my koaro was under the couch covered in cat hair for 24 hours and was fine when I popped him back in the tank. But when another fish tried that trick in summer it was crunchy within a few hours.

Native mudfish have evolved to be out of the water for months when their wetlands dry up. They just need to be a little bit damp to survive.

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I ordered a few giant bettas in for the animates down here at one stage. well one of the bettas came in a popped bag, and the courier man came running in saying that there was water leaking from the box.

any how turns out this poor betta had a completely collapsed bag, and was just kept moist. im guessing for 24 hours or so, as the courier company keeps the boxes overnight.poor fish was squeezed in between all the other bags. The betta survived - i popped him into a qt tank, and he turned out to be the healthiest of the lot :bounce:

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I ordered a few giant bettas in for the animates down here at one stage. well one of the bettas came in a popped bag, and the courier man came running in saying that there was water leaking from the box.

any how turns out this poor betta had a completely collapsed bag, and was just kept moist. im guessing for 24 hours or so, as the courier company keeps the boxes overnight.poor fish was squeezed in between all the other bags. The betta survived - i popped him into a qt tank, and he turned out to be the healthiest of the lot :bounce:

and now i have him, and he has just spawned with one of my delta girls :P

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One of my Inanga lept from the tank one night after I left the lid cracked open. Found it in the morning fluffed, dried and stiff. Popped it in the tank and went to work. Came home and it was alive and well, all of it's fins were dry and cracked though. These shredded back a few millimeters over the next few days, but a few weeks later it was as good as new.

They're tough little critters!

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Anabantoids should be able to survive for ages if kept warm and moist.

We had some golden bell frogs that hatched from tadpoles. "We" left the lid open and could only count two. We looked around for the third but couldn't find it. Turned out he had hopped out of the tank and across the carpet. I was so sad when I saw the dried little frog but mum decided to plop it in a little lid of water. To our surprise, it came "back to life". Amazing. :bounce:

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