Occasionally, we would open the store and find fish on the floor that had leaped from the tanks in the night. Most of the tanks had at least a partial glass cover on them (he ll, they were inventory!) but some fish are determined. Most of those fish were dead. Some were alive.
Now the alive ones were mostly determined to have leaped within the hour before we opened, which means they were out of water for only an hour. These fish were still wet and covered with slime.
However, I did find some fish whose bodies were dry and covered with lint and debris because they had thrashed about on the ground and when I lifted them as dead, to throw away, a few surprised the he ll out of me by moving around.
For a fish’s body to be dry but the fish still somehow alive I have got to say at least 6 hours out of the water. A fish produces slime to lubricate its body in times of stress and that’s what kept those little guys alive for that long.
However… Even when we put them back in the tanks, the ordeal of lying on a floor, stressed and thrashing and covered with debris…very few of the “jumpers” made it back to good health.
A lot died right away. Most developed a bacterial or viral infection and died shortly afterwards. Some rotted off a lot of their fins, hung in there, survived, and lived scarred up. (profits down the tubes.)
March 13th, 2011 - 05:56
about the same time that you can live with your head under water
March 13th, 2011 - 06:00
I would say not more than a minute and thats pushing your luck
March 13th, 2011 - 06:34
about 30 seconds
March 13th, 2011 - 06:59
I managed a pet store for 8 years.
Occasionally, we would open the store and find fish on the floor that had leaped from the tanks in the night. Most of the tanks had at least a partial glass cover on them (he ll, they were inventory!) but some fish are determined. Most of those fish were dead. Some were alive.
Now the alive ones were mostly determined to have leaped within the hour before we opened, which means they were out of water for only an hour. These fish were still wet and covered with slime.
However, I did find some fish whose bodies were dry and covered with lint and debris because they had thrashed about on the ground and when I lifted them as dead, to throw away, a few surprised the he ll out of me by moving around.
For a fish’s body to be dry but the fish still somehow alive I have got to say at least 6 hours out of the water. A fish produces slime to lubricate its body in times of stress and that’s what kept those little guys alive for that long.
However… Even when we put them back in the tanks, the ordeal of lying on a floor, stressed and thrashing and covered with debris…very few of the “jumpers” made it back to good health.
A lot died right away. Most developed a bacterial or viral infection and died shortly afterwards. Some rotted off a lot of their fins, hung in there, survived, and lived scarred up. (profits down the tubes.)
Fish jump.
COVER YOUR TANK
March 13th, 2011 - 07:18
Larger goldfish can go for a few hours without water. Smaller ones can only last for a few minutes at best.
March 13th, 2011 - 08:13
Upto 7 hours
READ THIS REPORT
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/6089336/Goldfish-jumps-out-of-tank-and-survives-for-seven-hours.html