How Long Do I Have?

[RussellC]

It's a bit of a story as to how I got here, but... to make a long story short, I have a 2-2.5" stunted comet goldfish and a 1 to 1.5" shubunkin goldfish in my 48 gallon aquarium.

Due to stunting (the comet's about two years old), my suspicion is that the shubunkin will be the first to outgrow the tank.

Down the road I would like to have an outdoor pond.

Generally, how long does it take for a shubunkin to grow from 1-1.5" to the 5 inches or so when I think it'd be best to rehome it?

I've tried researching this, and I get widely varying answers... and perhaps it's because growth rates of shubunkins vary widely and that's my answer.

That said, I'm still trying to plan ahead a bit, so for those of you who have experience with or knowledge of shubunkins, what kind of timeframe should I be thinking about when it comes to planning the move?

Should I be thinking on the order of six months? A year? Two years? I know it will depend on the individual fish, but I'm mostly looking for some kind of frame of reference to begin planning (and can adjust the plan accordingly if the fish grows faster or more slowly than my initial thinking).

Thank you for whatever help you can provide.

 

[jlk]

From my experience, a well fed youngster should be growing a atleast 1/2 inch to even possibily an inch a month. Obviously, genetics & diet plays a role here but goldfish do the largest portion of growth in their first 2-3yrs of life.

 

[Cichlid Kid]

+1 on jlk's answer. I'd also like to add that water quality will play an important role in your shubunkins growth rate as well.

 

[jlk]

+1 Agreed! Water quality is 9/10ths of the battle no matter what type of fish you keep but especially with messy fish.

 

[RussellC]

+1 Agreed! Water quality is 9/10ths of the battle no matter what type of fish you keep but especially with messy fish.

I guess I'll see how it goes. I certainly want to watch it grow to its potential even if it means rehoming - but I'll be secretly hoping it happened to inherit the 'short' gene from its parents so I can avoid ot delay it.