I have many power outages in my area i have one 2 inch oscar in a 55 gallon tank how long will he live if the power goes off i work alot of hours and not around when this happens im a bit worryed about this ...thanks ara

it really depends on how cold the water gets when you do get a power cut. Oscars are okay would water down to 21°C so if you are at risk from power cuts, I would advise you to keep your water on the warmer side.

How many hours does the power go off for? Apart from the temperature dropping, you've also got to think about your biological filter. The bacteria that lives in the filter needs oxygen to survive. They get their oxygen from water moving through the filtration system. Obviously if there is no electricity, your filter isn't going to work.

I couldn't possibly tell you how long Oscar would last in a tank with no electricity powering the heaters or filters, and I'm not about to carry out any experiments, sorry:lol:

As long as your water temperature doesn't drop too low, the Oscars will be perfectly okay. They may start breathing heavily because of oxygen depletion but that won't hurt them in the short-term. If the temperature was to go off for many hours, I would be extremely worried then.

It will take many hours for a tank to cool down so much to kill your oscar as long as your tank is warm enough to start with( keep your temperature at about 29c) and your house isnt very cold. If you want to be sure cover your tank in a blanket before you go out as this will keep the heat in.

I wouldnt worry about the oscar having trouble getting enough oxygen if your tank is long and thin, however i would worry if the tank is tall and not long.

The real problem is the bacteria in the filter dying off, you can spend cleaning 1/2 an hour cleaning a filter and everything is fine, the real trouble is when you start getting to 4 hours or more without power. Every thought about getting a back up generator, will be easier for your fish and im sure you would appreciate it too

Do you live in Florida in the US?

evila i have just noticed you have a -1 karma. I dont think its good karma to be negative so 1 up to you to 0