What to put with Discus in 70 Gal?

[tropical-fish]

I have a 70 gal planted tank with black substrate and black background. The plan is to have 5 discus as the centerpiece fish. I am looking for ideas on other community fish that will be friendly to the discus and the plants.

This is what i'm thinking:
5 X Discus
8 x Black Neon Tetra
8 x Glowlight Tetra
5 X Sterbai Cory
1 x Red Tailed Shark (but not sure about this, anyone had problems keeping RTS with the above stock?)

Thanks in advance for your ideas and suggestions.

 

[Fishman94]

I've had 2 rts and one was fine and friendly the other was a little **** and attacked everything including my hands

 

[herp_mommy]

I wouldn't add the shark. And instead of two smaller schools of black tetras and glowlights, I would go for one large school of either neon tetras or rummynose tetras. The cories will work well with the discus.

 

[tropical-fish]

ok so the RTS is a no go! any ideas on a friendly loach as a replacement?

I would go for one large school of either neon tetras or rummynose tetras.

is this from a visual aspect or is their behaviour different from the black neons and glowlights?

Thanks for your feedback.

 

[Fishman94]

ok so the RTS is a no go! any ideas on a friendly loach as a replacement?

Polkadot loach

 

[tropical-fish]

Polkadot loach

good suggestion. just googled and like the look of it. would 3 polkadot loaches and 5 sterbai corys be overcrowding the bottom of the tank? dimensions are 40" long by 18" wide.

 

[Fishman94]

good suggestion. just googled and like the look of it. would 3 polkadot loaches and 5 sterbai corys be overcrowding the bottom of the tank? dimensions are 40" long by 18" wide.

Loads of room

 

[tropical-fish]

thanks for your input fishman. that's the bottom of the tank sorted. sterbai corys are in stock at my lfs. the polkadot loaches will take a bit of time to track down, but hey that's part of the fun

now to decide on the tetras.

 

[bruinsbro1997]

IMO do rummynose and cardinal tetras. You'll find that they go with discus the best. You could also try emperor, penguin, bentosi, kerri, or neon tetras.

I like cories, why not just add a big school of twelve or sixteen?

You could do a very nice fancy pleco. There are a lot of cool ones out there. Gold nuggets, snowball, royal, you should check them out

 

[herp_mommy]

The larger school is just my preference, my rummys get along great with my discus. They're always quick to pick up food that the discus miss and they stay in a tight school. Whereas glowlights don't school as tightly.

 

[calfishguy]

Have you thought of adding angels? I find they make a great accessory to any discus aquarium

 

[tropical-fish]

thank you all for your suggestions.

yeah angels are great. i was thinking about having them as my centerpiece fish but decided to go for discus.

penguin tetras look good but from what i've read they can be a bit nippy. anyone have any experience with that?

The larger school is just my preference, my rummys get along great with my discus. They're always quick to pick up food that the discus miss and they stay in a tight school. Whereas glowlights don't school as tightly.

maybe 1 large school is a better way to go. what would be some other fish options to get the tight schooling behaviour?

thanks

 

[Fishman94]

thanks for your input fishman. that's the bottom of the tank sorted. sterbai corys are in stock at my lfs. the polkadot loaches will take a bit of time to track down, but hey that's part of the fun

now to decide on the tetras.

Those polkadot loaches are crazy little guys

 

[calfishguy]

Black skirt tetras have a nice schooling behavior in large tanks (I have them with angels in my 55)

 

[Fishman94]

Should get over 20 penguin tetras they look better in numbers

 

[Impulse09]

Throw some german blue rams in there.

 

[paytertot]

I have discus and in my tank I have angels, black skirts, bleeding hearts, a couple kuhli loaches, black neon tetras, and a few rope fish. I put regular neons in there every once in a while but my rope fish eat them. For some reason the black ones usually survive.

 

[tropical-fish]

Thanks for all your input, think I'm more undecided now than before lol

Any ideas if Harlequin Rasbora would work with Discus?

 

[tropical-fish]

An update.

Today I picked up 3 Discus, 19 Black Neon Tetras and 5 Sterbai Corys. 3 Polka Dot Loaches ordered and I plan on getting another 2 Discus soon.

Thanks for all the advice.

Here's a few photos of the new setup

 

[NYgiantsRP]

Very nice.