Stocking a 120 community planted

[a.person61]

Hello,
I currently own a 120 gallon community planted tank. I would love to add 7 adult discus how ever it could become over stocked the stock currently in their. The current stock it
About 28 assorted tetras, 1 male and 1 female bristalnose, 4 corys, controlled population of ramshorn snails and 2 angel fish.

Apart from the 7 adult discus i would like to add 20 or so tetras, 6 GBR and 2 more corys.

Is this an over kill? Should i not add a particular type of fish all together or less?

Thanks in advance

[1077]

Were it me (and it ain't) I would either have a community tank or a Discus tank.
I will share some experiences..
I kept a pair of bristlenose in a tank with several Discus and although the water was/is too hard for the Discus to successfully spawn in ,it was not too hard for the bristlenose but fairly warm for this species.(upper range for them is 82 degrees F )
The pair of bristlenose spawned before I moved them, and the Discus made quick snacks of the bristlenose fry that they easily picked off the glass as soon as the fry exited the underside of some wood where the male had been guarding them.(wondered why he had been so secretive).
I moved the pair of bristlenose to another tank, and decided to place a pair of German blue ram's in the tank with the Discus for they are said to enjoy similar water temp's/chemistry.
All was well for a few week's, until the ram's came down with something and slowly began to lose color and first one died and then the other (Iridovirus?)
I did not quarantine the ram's and the Discus soon began to act hinckey and went off their feed.
Week's and $$$ of treatment for bacterial pathogen's and possible parasites resulted in three Discus out of seven lost.(was not even sure what I was treating for)
The four remaining Discus became the only fish in the tank and I kept them for three year's before trading them away for a foray into the planted tank world.
All of this was many moon's ago, and ultimately my reason for returning here to this forum after some time away.
I am considering the Discus once again, with a bit more knowledge and a plan.
Many of the tetra species will perhaps survive the warm temps that Discus enjoy but more than a few will thrive at cooler temps ,Ditto for Corydoras.
I would research the species of both with earnest to make for a tank with fishes that may live for four or five year's as opposed to a few week's/month's.
While some fishes might survive a while at upper temperature ranges ,PH,GH, most will do better at somewhere in the middle rather than upper or lower extremes.
Opinion's vary.

[Filip]

IMO 7 discus in that 120G tank would not be overkill.
All those tetras , rams and other diether fish you have don't weight (in terms of mass and bioload accordingly) more than 1-2 grown discus.
With a regular maintenance and WCs discus requires they should be good .
But do not forget to QT discus first .

[William1]

I've got a 120 G planted with 8 med/large wild discus, 40 tetras, 6 corys and 4 rams swimming in it. I have cardinals, rummynose and pristella tetras. About what you are planning. Everything is good here.

[MD.David]

Mathematically speaking your not overloading your tank.
However (and I do over state HOWEVER), the chances of having bacterial resistant fish mixing with other fish not resistant to other bacterial carrying fish is exceptionally high.
Most fish are carriers of something, some are resistant to this other aren't, when your introduce new stock to a bacteria that may not be resistant to then may get very ill, stay I'll for a very long time and or die.
This is way so many experienced discus owners populate from one source and very rarely (if ever) restock.
Keepers that are collectors ( and you all know who you are) commonly are always dealing with ill fish, because the fish are contually being subjected to possibly new bacteria they don't have an immunity yet.
This usually results in disaster.
In short (IMO) I wouldn't do a "community tank" for discus. If you want to do discus, do discus.
The way I do discus is; Bar-Bottom, hydro sponge and heater, that's it and I never mix stock, ever!... I have learnt the hard way and I will never ever subject my stock to possibly illnesses, I just don't think it's worth it.
But many do, I might just be the worlds most unlucky discus keeper so I never risk it anymore... I simply love my healthy fish too much.

[a.person61]

Hey guys thanks for the replys. So what i have gathered is the risk of bacteria, i fully understand how bacteria can kill by mixing different types of fish. learnt that the hard way with my bettas. I'm planning to overcome that problem by treating the display tank and any new fish with myxazin and upgrading the UV sterilizer. I should also add im treating the display tank with protozon as a precaution. This may also seem a little werid but say i add a few drops of water from the display to the qt as the bacteria levels raise in the qt tanks water with the bacteria from the display tank. will the discus find it easier to adjust then being dumped into the display without being exposed first?

I will never forget to QT... not again. Anyway I've got a 3 foot just sitting there waiting to hold some water. And yes 6 weeks of qt is the plan.

One more thing how much would the community fish be adding to the bioload? I dont i imagine 2 bristalnose will be less then 1 discus worth?
Thanks in advance!

[Filip]

Hey guys thanks for the replys. So what i have gathered is the risk of bacteria, i fully understand how bacteria can kill by mixing different types of fish. learnt that the hard way with my bettas. I'm planning to overcome that problem by treating the display tank and any new fish with myxazin and upgrading the UV sterilizer. I should also add im treating the display tank with protozon as a precaution. This may also seem a little werid but say i add a few drops of water from the display to the qt as the bacteria levels raise in the qt tanks water with the bacteria from the display tank. will the discus find it easier to adjust then being dumped into the display without being exposed first?

I will never forget to QT... not again. Anyway I've got a 3 foot just sitting there waiting to hold some water. And yes 6 weeks of qt is the plan.

One more thing how much would the community fish be adding to the bioload? I dont i imagine 2 bristalnose will be less then 1 discus worth?
Thanks in advance!


1. Dumping random meds. at fish in QT or display tank is not a good idea IMO , and it certainly won't protect your fish from cross contamination.
2.if you go with UV buy some big ,expensive 60-90 watts strong unit to make it worth and effective choice .
3.Putting drops of water from a display to a Qt tank prior adding new arrivals defeats the whole purpose of a QT procedure.
The point is to start fresh and give new discus time to adjust and regain their lost immune shield against bacterias , parasites, viruses or other nasties.
After the new -commers are strong , eating good and immune protected again than you add a hero fish from a display tank to test in QT for cross contamination.
4. I don't know i f I'm right or wrong but I compare fish in terms of mass first , when it comes to measure bioload.
If you put a full grown 8 inch discus on scale , how many tetra fish would compare to this weight? I bet , well over 30 neon tetras if not much more , or surely more than 5 brislenoses.That's my opinion on comparing bioload on different fish types.

[MD.David]

You can not get rid of the bacteria we spoke of, it's always with the fish, that's why no matter how you treat the fish they always are carriers.

[a.person61]

Ok, so scrapping the drops and going with a hero fish... wonder who will be the hero. The myxazin says that it can be used to treat new plants and fish which is a 2 day cause rather then the 5 day actual treatment. I won't do it with the discus but will with the rams as there imported from Germany... i don't really trust the Australian QT. If i find Australian bred will not treat unless necessary.

I was looking at the eheims inline UVs there's a nice one that would work with my filter, but will definitely makesure its a 60 to 90 watts thanks for the tip :)

I like the scale way of looking at bioload mind if i steal that?

[Willie]

I've kept planted tanks with adult discus, and I think your plan is workable. The big BUT is that most plants, except for some swords, will not handle 80F+. If your tank is planted mostly with swords, its probably workable.

The trick is to have fully grown adults. If they're not fully grown, then you'll notice stunting after 3 months or so. I keep all my tanks bare bottom these days, but I do understand the urge to do a planted tank for appearance. Just be clear that the plants are for you, not for the fish. In nature, the discus biotope has no plants.

Willie

[Ryan925]

I've had my discus in a planted tank but recently I have significantly lightened the plant mass in the tank in favor of the discus. All the plants I kept were growing great but cleaning the tank was not easy. I decided to error in favor of having healthier nicer looking fish. They seem to like it better with less plants I'd say. They are using much more of the tank now without so many large swords in their way.

Was a bit sad to see so many plants go as this was my first try with planted and it was a success. The fish however far more important. If I had to do it again I'd do more of the biotope style for the discus and have a separate lush planted tank.