How long can fish live without power?

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kjd277

AC Members
Jan 27, 2005
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How long before the tank would run out of oxygen if there was no power. 125g. tank ex. 25 fish. How long could they survive. And are there any ways to add oxygen to the tank without power. Thank you
 

mishi8

Go fly a kite!
Jan 13, 2005
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Alberta
kjd277 said:
How long before the tank would run out of oxygen if there was no power. 125g. tank ex. 25 fish. How long could they survive. And are there any ways to add oxygen to the tank without power. Thank you
You could use a battery-operated air pump & airstone.
 
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Slappy*McFish

Global Moderator
Staff member
Feb 18, 2002
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Raleigh, NC
I lost power for 4 days in the dead of winter, after an ice storm a couple years ago. The temperature in the house dropped to the low 40s/upper 30s for a day towards the end. I lost no fish.
 
Nov 15, 2004
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I lost power to my house with a 29 g for about 3 and 1/2 days had no problems but after that then i decided to plug into my UPS battery backup that my cpu plugs into, just in case. but i would say no more than a week at most.
 

Rudy_627

Freshwater Expert
Mar 7, 2005
37
0
0
i lost power to my house for 5 days a year ago and i had lost no fish inside my 29 gallon tank

i just put a heater a few feet away from it(battey operated it was only on for an hour a day) my temp stayed at a good 80*F and they were still healthy
 

Oddball~

Brackhead
Nov 18, 2004
875
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Dallas, TX
lost power for 10 seconds one week ago, lost no fish... :D Just my two cents.
 

slipknottin

the original legend
Jan 13, 2002
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CT
Real Name
Connor
Generally when I lose power, I find temperature to be a far more important issue than oxygen. I can stir the tank with a wooden spoon or something enough to keep the fish alive indefinatly. But there really isnt much I can do about heat.
 

Kissofthegorami

Broke College Student
Feb 24, 2005
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Boston,MA
The oxygen should be fine. Even with no water flow, your aquarium should be populated so that your fish will have enough oxygen through surface exchange for quite a while. And you can always get a battery operated pump made for this purpose. The problem is temperature. It depends on your fish, Discus wil obviously do very badly with a large temperature drop. Mollies will be fine. A 125 gallon tank gioves you a huge advantage in that the water parimeters will change more slowly than with a smaller tank. You can wrap the aquarium in a blanket and this will insulate and prevent some heat loss.
 

lousybreed

Aquaria Central Site Controller
Sep 7, 2004
664
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Bay Area, CA
i am suprized that no one has said this. the heavier the stocking level the quicker things can go sour. when i lost power i wrapped my aquarium with blankets and stirred the water with a spoon every hour or so, no fish lost. And that is with delicate fish cardinals and rams!
 
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