How long do I have?

[thedarkone]

So my lfs got in EBJDs last week. On Saturday I went out and bought a new 55 gallon so I could house an EBJD. I got the tank set up right away and was cycling with a small shoal of tetras. I got a penguin 350 for filtration, in order to speed up my cycle I took the filter cartridge out of my penguin 200 that is on my 29 gallon Rainbow tank and switched them.

I have been testing for ammonia everyday this week and have seen none. I am guessing it's because of the established bacteria that was already in the filter cartridge.

Anyways I set this up for an EBJD but my male rainbow has become extremely aggressive towards his mate(which I feel is because their 29 was too small) So I ended up moving them into the 55 with the tetras and my male has totally mellowed out and they are much happier. I think he just needed more room and the tetras swimming around calms him down a little more. I am going to continue to test for amonia just to be safe, but I am pretty sure everything is okay.

So my problem is this, I moved my Rainbows into the tank I was going to put my EBJD in so I put him in the 29 that the rainbows were in. He is currently 1.25" how long do I have until I need to buy a larger tank for him?

Sorry for being so long winded.

 

[Loves severums]

is he 3" yet? if not then i say about a couple months.

 

[FishingOut]

Youll want another tank at 3-4in to avoid any stunting and stress from occuring. He would probably be fine with rainbows once a little bigger.

 

[Cich wit it]

He will take a LONG time to grow. They are notorious for slow growth. I had mine for about 6 months and he was only 3 inches. You got time. When he finally reaches a good length throw him in the 55 and sit and see what happens. Good luck.

 

[dent20]

Youll want another tank at 3-4in to avoid any stunting and stress from occuring. He would probably be fine with rainbows once a little bigger.

How do you know at what point stunting will occur? What makes you say that? He is still going to have 30 inches and 12 inches to grow in.

 

[Aquanero]

I think @ 1.25" alone in a 29 with clean water and good filtration it could stay in there for a while. By a while I mean 4-5" which at the rate they grow might be 5 to 7 months I'm basing that on about +/-.5" of growth a month. By then you could have tossed him in the 55 if you want.

 

[thepede]

I agree, you have a long time. Don't forget to test nitrite! ammonia might be fine but you probably have a mini cycle with nitrite...also BAD. if you get a reading, usually 4-5 days before 0 appears. and keep up with water changes

 

[thedarkone]

I never thought about putting him in with the rainbows once he gets big enough, I kinda like that idea. My only problem with that is my Rainbows are a breeding pair, I know that rainbows are pretty mellow even when breeding but the male I have has mean streak and at times can be huge bully.

I worry that once they lay and fertilize eggs with the EBJD in the tank that either my male Rainbow will go psycho and beat up on my EBJD or the EBJD will stress out my rainbows and cause complications with their spawns. The tetras in the tank now I don't think will bother the rainbows once they spawn, but something much bigger of 3-5" may cause them to stress.

 

[thedarkone]

I agree, you have a long time. Don't forget to test nitrite! ammonia might be fine but you probably have a mini cycle with nitrite...also BAD. if you get a reading, usually 4-5 days before 0 appears. and keep up with water changes

Yeah, I am also testing for nitrite on a daily basis as well. Thanks for the advise though.

 

[bbortko]

I bought mine just under 2 months ago @ 1.75" and it has doubled in size so you might have less than 3 months in the 29g. Once he outgrows the 29g I'd put him in the 55g, mine is very out going but never messes with anyone and for some reason no one ever messes with him