Lone Turqoise?

HI everyone,

First day on this site, I'm sure it'll be a great source.

I'm new to the hobby and foolishly purchased some fish I thought looked cool but are all from very different areas. I have a 30 gallon 36" tank that is moderately planted and I currently have 1 betta fish, 1 festivum, and 1 turquoise rainbow. The tank has been set up for about 3-4 months. These fish have all been together for a little over a month now and no aggression has taken place yet and they even swim together.

I found out after purchasing all these guys that they are incompatible and that my tank was probably not big enough for these species. I also found out rainbow fish and festivums are schooling fish. This is where my inquiry lies. I would like to possibly get a few more rainbows to form a school but am concerned I will not have the tank space as the grow. My rainbow now is swimming out in the open and comes up to look at me whenever I come by so he doesn't seem to be shy or stressed. Is it necessary to get more and form a school for him or is it possible to keep just one or two of these fish?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks everyone.

-Steve

 

Hello, welcome to Fishlore!

Rainbow fish need to be kept in schools much more than festivums do.
Try to keep it an odd number of fish, as this seems to calm them in smaller schools.
They are also not the fastest growing of fish.
The festivum will grow much faster.

 

Thanks Dino, so you think I would be ok if I get two more rainbows? Is a school of 3 even a school? And will 3 rainbows be ok in my 36" tank and still leave me room for any other fish?

 

2 more would be fine.

 

welcome to the forum

Once they get full grown, the rainbows will be too big for a 3 foot tank. I would return the one you have and get some that are better suited to the size of your tank, like praecox or maccullochis.

 

Thanks for the reply Jaysee, that is kind of what I feared. How long would I have before they outgrew the tank? Because if it won't be for over a year or so I'm sure I could get another tank before then.

 

I would say it took about a year and a half for them to outgrow the 4 foot tank. I'm sure many will disagree, but after moving them to a 6 foot tank it was obvious that they only had enough room to dart around in the 90. They are large, active and fast fish, and they deserve room to be active and fast.