How long could fish be kept in a bag?

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mfzzzoo

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Jul 30, 2006
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Hello,

I bought five white cloud mountain minnows and I'm wondering how long could I keep them in the bag from the pet store? My new tank has only been running for one day and would like to take more time to cycle. Currently I have the bag opened. Thanks
 

Importskyline22

www.fraganoob.com
Oct 2, 2006
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I wouldent keep them in there long...at all. There is no heat for them and no room to swim.

And if your gonan wait for your tank to cycle...they will deffly be dead by then.
 

liv2padl

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Oct 30, 2005
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the toxic ammonia in that small volume of water in the bag will build up quickly and kill your fish in a matter of hours. it takes up to 5 weeks to cycle a tank.
 

coupedefleur

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Jul 25, 2006
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You're far better off putting them in the tank and doing small daily water changes until things settle out.

This is an example of how a generally good idea (cycling a tank) can be taken to extremes. You probably shouldn't have bought the fish yet, but they're a lot safer in the tank than they are in a bag!
 

SirWired

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Sep 4, 2006
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Raleigh, NC
The full name of the Cycle is the "Nitrogen Cycle". It describes the process through which your tank gets set up to eliminate harmful forms of Nitrogen-based waste. To get this self-sustaining process going, you MUST provide Ammonia in some form. Once Ammonia has been introduced to the tank (either by adding fish, rotting fish food, rotting seafood, or bottled Ammoina), the tank takes anywhere from a couple of hours to Cycle (if you use BioSpira or a pre-established filter) to eight weeks (if you just let Ammonia just sit there in the tank and let nature take its course.)

If you just let a tank of water sit there with the filter running, absoulutely nothing will happen besides the evaporating off of Chlorine if you didn't add dechlorinator.

SirWired
 

Hound

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Feb 20, 2004
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Ok, strictly speaking if kept in a sealed pitch black environment fish can stay alive for at least 72 hours. This is not a recommended thing to do. I was forced to durring a move and kept 15 fish (1.5-2.5 inches each) in 3 gallons of water in a sealed environment kept pitch black. 72 hours later I was finally able to get their aquarium set up again. That was about a year and a half ago and with zero fish loss. I did end up with a mini cycle, but that is another issue. Again do not do this if you have a choice.

Now if what you are saying is that you would like to have your aquarium fully cycled before you add fish that can easily take 8 weeks or even more. There is a big difference in what a lfs (local fish store) calls cycled and what most long term aquarium keepers call cycled. Too many lfs say that to cycle an aquarium you need to set it up for 48 hours before adding fish. Don't do that unless you have an established bed of biological media. If you do a search on cycling on this sight you should find plenty of information on how you can do it without losing any fish or buying loads of expensive chemicals you really shouldn't need.
 

icecubez189

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Feb 15, 2006
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your tank takes 4-6 weeks to cycle, and that doesn't mean letting the filter run for that time. you need to dose ammonia to get the bacteria started and buy a test kit to monitor ammonia, nitrItes and nitrAte levels. now that you have the fish already, you might as well put them in (i hope you at least conditioned the water) to start a fish cycle, which is not recommended because it puts the fish through enormous stress because of elevated ammonia and nitrites.

a small bag contains very little DO (dissolved oxygen) for fish to breathe, especially in such tight quarters. waste will begin to build up and pretty soon, your WC's will start to die from stress and bad water quality. I had to do this to my BF tetras when i first got them. they were kept in the bag for around 24 hours, i ended up with 1 dead loss out of the initial 9.
 

jm1212

Pterophyllum scalare
Jul 22, 2006
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i would say the longest a fish could survive in a bag depends on the fish. some, like discus, need to be out of the bag ASAP, while bettas, can live a bit longer and would probably be happier in the big bag filled with loads of oxygen than in those little tiny cups with no water
 
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