How long can I leave live rock out of tank b4 it dies?

I need to pull all or most of my rock out of tank to catch a fish. How long can I leave it out before it dies?

 

keep it wet and you should be ok put it back in asap

 

Leavnig it completely out in the air it will only last maybe 5 minutes before you will begin to get die off. What you should do is place all of the rock in a container and soak some towles with tank water and place them ontop to keep them wet.

 

+1 to the above. The bacteria on the rock will start to die as soon as its exposed to air really, but you will not have notable die off for several minutes. so moving them to a brute container or something like that and barely covering with water will be best while trying to catch your troublesome fish.. after all if he was easy you would not be removing the rock.

 

Lucky for me I didn't have to move any rock. I was able to trick the fish into a clear container!