Please comment on my stocking list

[Digsy]

I have a 105 gallon, heavily planted tank that will be set up in the next few weeks and wanted to get a feel for what people thought about the numbers in my tank. I posted a similar question about my initial setup but now am looking at specifics. Filtration will be a Marineland C-360 and a Rena FX3. Please let me know if you think anything should be tweaked, one way or another.

What I would like to have (some of these fish I already own but will be adding to an existing school):

6-8 adult discus
20 rummy nose tetras (adding to an existing school)
10 black neon tetras (adding to an existing school)
10 otocinclus (adding to an existing school)
10 Corydoras (undecided on exact species at this time, suggestions welcome)

I always have difficulty stocking because I'd prefer to be understocked rather than over but would like to fill the space comfortably. Thanks in advance!

[Jhhnn]

Figure at least 10 gals/ adult discus, then figure if the rest of the fish would do well in a tank the size of the remaining volume...

With 8 discus, you only have 25 gals left over, and you probably wouldn't want to stock all those other fish in a 25 gal tank...

6 discus would be more reasonable, imo...

[Digsy]

Thanks for the reply, Jhhnn. 6 discus sounds like a more reasonable cost anyway. This is my first discus tank and I am scared of making a huge investment and failing. I was thinking about bolstering the numbers of my current fish to make for happier schooling fish and making a good cleanup crew so, I guess I'm still a little unsure about what to do.

Also, another question for everyone, what exactly constitutes an "adult" discus? When I'm looking at sponsor's sites, I'm sort of assuming that anything over 4" is past juvenile since most don't specifically state whether or not it is an adult size. Is this a correct assumption or does it really vary by strain?

[mightymax860]

i have 3 aneus cory's and two peppered corys, along with 1 geophagus joupari and one bristle nose pleco to go with my 7 discus in a 55 trying to setup another tank to move atleast 2 discus and maybe the geo and two corys over by next month aslong as the discus are present you realy don't need much over stock the discus seem to catch everyone's attention

[Jhhnn]

Fully grown out adult discus of almost any strain are at least 5"+, more like 5-1/2" to 6" total length or larger.

4" fish are sub-adults, have enormous appetites, and require huge quantities of food to finish growing out... not the fish you want for your planted tank, at all... imo, of course...

[Digsy]

Fully grown out adult discus of almost any strain are at least 5"+, more like 5-1/2" to 6" total length or larger.

Thanks for the info, it will be helpful when shopping strains.

Any other thoughts on my stocking or does anyone have similar set ups?

[Eddie]

Watch the 10 otocinclus, they will eat on the sides of your discus. ;)

Eddie

[bs6749]

I was also going to suggest no ottos. They don't all go after the slime coat of discus, but it is fairly common.

[Eddie]

I was also going to suggest no ottos. They don't all go after the slime coat of discus, but it is fairly common.

Yes Bryan, how could I have forgotten, they are all different, musn't forget as I am still learning.

Eddie

[bs6749]

Yes Bryan, how could I have forgotten, they are all different, musn't forget as I am still learning.

Eddie

Not sure why you continue to make comments like that Eddie. The comment wasn't even to you.

[poconogal]

I'd can the Otos, too many problems with them eating the Discus slime. You'd be much safer going with maybe 3-4 BNs who have a much better track record for not bothering Discus. There are rogues of course, but I'd say 99% of the time, they will not bother Discus. If there's not a lot of algae in the tank, feed them some algae wafers maybe once or twice a week so they are not starving and tempted.

The Black Neons I think I'd skip too. Don't know if they'll withstand Discus tank temps for long and there'd be a little less load on your tank without them.

Maybe cut the Corys down to 5 or 6, too. Sterbai, Jullii (spelling? - mine doing fine), Schwartzi (mine are doing fine) and there are some others that are suitable for the higher Discus temps. I've also tried Pandas but they didn't last more than 5-6 months, so I don't recommend them.

4 inch Discus are sub-adults.

[Digsy]

Watch the 10 otocinclus, they will eat on the sides of your discus. ;)
Eddie


I was also going to suggest no ottos. They don't all go after the slime coat of discus, but it is fairly common.

Thanks, I'll go ahead and put them in another tank instead. The thought hadn't occurred to me since I usually had heard about plecos being the problem but I guess these guys have that potential.


I'd can the Otos, too many problems with them eating the Discus slime. You'd be much safer going with maybe 3-4 BNs who have a much better track record for not bothering Discus. There are rogues of course, but I'd say 99% of the time, they will not bother Discus. If there's not a lot of algae in the tank, feed them some algae wafers maybe once or twice a week so they are not starving and tempted.

The Black Neons I think I'd skip too. Don't know if they'll withstand Discus tank temps for long and there'd be a little less load on your tank without them.

Maybe cut the Corys down to 5 or 6, too. Sterbai, Jullii (spelling? - mine doing fine), Schwartzi (mine are doing fine) and there are some others that are suitable for the higher Discus temps. I've also tried Pandas but they didn't last more than 5-6 months, so I don't recommend them.

4 inch Discus are sub-adults.

Thanks a lot for your info. I was hoping someone might break it down for me fish by fish as I really didn't want to make poor decisions and end up with an overcrowded tank. I'll check into the warmer temp corys you mentioned.

[Daniella]

I had black neon tetras and no problem with 30C at all..they grew like weeds and were very healthy. I had them for 6 months.

I just got rid of them because they were eating all the live food I was putting for the discus before the discus could get it. They are wicked fast and they also eated any fry that got lose last time I had fish spawning in my community tank. that's why I returned them to the pet store. Had enough :)


I'd can the Otos, too many problems with them eating the Discus slime. You'd be much safer going with maybe 3-4 BNs who have a much better track record for not bothering Discus. There are rogues of course, but I'd say 99% of the time, they will not bother Discus. If there's not a lot of algae in the tank, feed them some algae wafers maybe once or twice a week so they are not starving and tempted.

The Black Neons I think I'd skip too. Don't know if they'll withstand Discus tank temps for long and there'd be a little less load on your tank without them.

Maybe cut the Corys down to 5 or 6, too. Sterbai, Jullii (spelling? - mine doing fine), Schwartzi (mine are doing fine) and there are some others that are suitable for the higher Discus temps. I've also tried Pandas but they didn't last more than 5-6 months, so I don't recommend them.

4 inch Discus are sub-adults.

[Digsy]

I had black neon tetras and no problem with 30C at all..they grew like weeds and were very healthy. I had them for 6 months.

I just got rid of them because they were eating all the live food I was putting for the discus before the discus could get it. They are wicked fast and they also eated any fry that got lose last time I had fish spawning in my community tank. that's why I returned them to the pet store. Had enough :)

So, would you say that they were fast eaters to the detriment of the discus or was it mostly the issue with them eating your fry? I don't really intend to breed my discus so, that's not an issue with me but I would be concerned if they are going to outcompete them for food.

[Tito]

It's all very interesting how different tank setups will show different behaviours in fish interactions.

My Ottos don't go near my Discus but...it may be because I have lots of Manzanita Driftwood in the tank. The Ottos spend almost all their time on the Driftwood and seem to love sucking on the wood.

I had Black Neons in the tank but found them to be too slow and boring so I removed them. They were not at all fast and never came close to competing with the Discus for food.

Just goes to show that in this hobby of fish keeping - there is no set rule. What may happen in your tank may not happen in mine. I used to see this sort of thing all the time with Salt Water fish.

Good luck with your choices.

[Daniella]

Yep, they were detrimental to feeding my discus with live food, but only with live food. Especialy when I was trying to feed some moskito larveas to my wild heckel, they were all gone before the poor heckel could cath more than one or 2.

It's ok if they eat beefheart wich they do, because I have plenty of this, but the white worms and the other live food, they were on it before the discus even spotted it.

They eat anything, flake, pellets, beefheart and bloodworms, but they really love live food and they go fast for it.

They are not detrimental to feeding discus if you give plenty of food to them and to the discus. If you buy Black worms or other live food, you might get a bit upset if the tetras gobble them up instead of the discus.

That is why I only have discus now, because I like that it is my discus that get the live food that I put in the tank.

Some discus eat very slowly and like to forage for food at the bottom too.






So, would you say that they were fast eaters to the detriment of the discus or was it mostly the issue with them eating your fry? I don't really intend to breed my discus so, that's not an issue with me but I would be concerned if they are going to outcompete them for food.

[Daniella]

Black neon tetras too slow? wow..mine were wicked fast, nearly impossible to catch with a net either.

When I first got my wild heckel it was funny to see the poor heckel trying to make a move to catch one tetras and then they were so fast out that the heckel stopped a few inches only after initiating the chase :)

In deed it is interesting to see how different tank show different behavior. Maybe it's because I feed my fish live food, as the tetras were not so fast on the flakes :)


I had Black Neons in the tank but found them to be too slow and boring so I removed them. They were not at all fast and never came close to competing with the Discus for food.

Just goes to show that in this hobby of fish keeping - there is no set rule. What may happen in your tank may not happen in mine. I used to see this sort of thing all the time with Salt Water fish.

Good luck with your choices.