# HELP! how long will the fish last without electricity?



## eutimio (Aug 22, 2012)

since 3 hours ago my apartment has no electricity or to be more specific its not constant going on and off every 2 minutes or so.I called the maintenance guys but they said they can only come on tuesday !!!!ya can you believe it? :x :x :x .No heater no filtration and no light.How long will my fish last?Its driving me crazy and im gonna make them pay my fish in case they die .Seems to be a problem with the breakers or a short somewhere and i cant figure it out by myself and the freaking electricians cant come today nor tomorrow, and i dont wanna pay for one to fix it cuz they wont reimburse me.What should i do?


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## fusion (Jun 21, 2012)

Any chance you can buy a battery powerd air pump? walmart sell them, fishing section they are used for live bait about $15, maby 2, all the rest should be ok


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## scooter31707 (Aug 24, 2012)

IME I would not feed them..make sure clean the filters when the power comes back on.


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## chrish777 (Jul 26, 2012)

Suppose it depends on the size of the tank and amount of fish in it but last time my power went out it was out for over 7 hours and they where fine. But it is a good idea to have a battery powered air pump to play it safe


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## brinkles (Jan 30, 2011)

That sucks!
The lights don't matter, and the heater should be a non issue for a few days. What is a problem is ammonia buildup and lack of oxygen. I would get a battery powered air pump as suggested, and put all of the filter media in the main tank. I've kept tankfuls of fish alive in an igloo cooler for days like this.


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## ChoxRox (Sep 8, 2011)

I've heard that it also helps to just agitate the water. The best way I've heard to do that is by just raising and dropping cups of water in the tank.

But a battery operated pump is probably better heh


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## eutimio (Aug 22, 2012)

i freaked out all day and i was looking to fix the freaking breaker myself but i couldnt and somehow i discovered that 2 of my outlets are working so i went ahead and got 2 extension cords and stretched them to the other side of the house and plugged the filter and heater in one and my fridge in the other one )..till they decide to come fix it.At least now my fish are safe! thank God!thank you all for your suggestions!


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## Michael_M (May 31, 2012)

I've got diesel generators for when the power goes off. Super handy.


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## eutimio (Aug 22, 2012)

not really a good idea in an apartment complexpolice would take care of it just as soon as i start it


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## cichlid-gal (Apr 27, 2012)

eutimio said:


> i freaked out all day and i was looking to fix the freaking breaker myself but i couldnt and somehow i discovered that 2 of my outlets are working so i went ahead and got 2 extension cords and stretched them to the other side of the house and plugged the filter and heater in one and my fridge in the other one )..till they decide to come fix it.At least now my fish are safe! thank God!thank you all for your suggestions!


Eutimio...you may have overloaded a circuit in your electrical system and by running some of your equipment to other outlets via extention cords you took care of the problem. I would try plugging one thing back into the original plug(s) to see if it works with just a smaller load on it, say like the heater. If the heater works on the original plug and it doesn't trip then it is simply a matter of where you have distributed your electrical load. You might find that you have to run some of your equipment on a different circuit permanently.


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## eutimio (Aug 22, 2012)

thanks cichlid-gal but it wasnt that.The main breaker was the problem and i was receiving interrupted electricity because the breaker was going bad.I had one of my friends check it out and seems like that is the problem.I can imagine what other folks here are dealing with in the country side where the power goes out on a regular base.


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## mudbug79 (Sep 18, 2012)

I had my power go out for a week after a hurricane. At the time i had a 30 gal. tank with one mbuna in it. He survivied the entire week eithout electricty.


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