Stocking a 75gal planted tank

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NexVobis

Aquarium Advice Activist
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Nov 5, 2012
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Hello, so I'm cycling my tank and for a week my water parameters have been stable. Currently deciding on what to stock. My dilemma is I like the whole schooling and shoaling fish but the problem is I've always had a thing for angel fish, ruling out neon tetras. What is safe to keep with angels? For sure I'm adding Angels (6) Corries (4), and pleccos (2). I want at least 3 types of schooling fish (6) of each. Over crowded? Thank you for your time and advice.

NexV
 
Hmm I just did. Actually this was one of the fish I had looked into, then after reading they're not the easiest to care for of the tetras I looked. I no further. Others I looked into were the Cardinal Tetra and the Blackskirt Tetra.
 
I have a 220g planted tank with 13 adult veil angels, 21 rummy nose tetras, 14 cardinal tetras, 12 threadfin rainbowfish, 9 longfin white cloud mountian minnow, 3 yo-yo loaches, 2 whiptail cats, 1 longfin albino bristlenose pleco, and about 25 cory's (5 species of 5 each). Forgot have 6 German blue rams and 6 Rachovii killifish.

Watch when picking out tetras for angel tanks as some species are nippers. Research that with any fish you are considering adding. Any of the "skirt" tetras work with angels as do Lemon, Congo, and Diamond tetras. You can also do most rainbowfish along with Rams and Apistogramma's. Also most all Rasbora's work well.

If you want pleco's I would suggest Bristlenose Pleco's. I prefer the longfin variety and the albino's tend to be more active during the day. Whiptail cats are also sucker cats and are very peaceful and unique fish. I'd stay away from common pleco's and all the larger growing species.

Rummy nose tetra's do just fine as long as you wait to add them to a mature tank. You don't want them to be one of the first fish you add. My tank was about 4 months old when I added mine and they have done fine and require no special care. The thing with Rummy Nose tetra's is tank bred rummy's are much more hardy than wild caught. They get a bad rep for being hard to keep because most are wild caught and are very very sensitive and hard to acclimate. I waited to get my Rummy's and Cardinals until I found tank bred ones.
 
Wow thank you for the useful information. For sure I will add the Cardinal and Blackskirt tetras. Let me look into the other types you mentioned and then decide. As for the pleco, yes I'm thinking of the bristlenose pleco. Thank you once again!!!
 
Ok instead of angels I'm attempting discus. I've been told I can keep rams and discus together true or where they trying to make a sale. If so I like the markings on the German Blue Rams.
 
If you do discus your water temp needs to be 84F which many fish can't tolerate. German Rams actually love the heat so they are a good choice. Cardinal and Rummy nose tetra's both are okay with the high heat. Some species of cory cats do okay with the heat but you have to research which ones. Same with White skirt tetra's, not sure if they can tolerate that much heat, again you need to research. With Discus you are very limited to the fish and the plants you can use as only a select few can tolerate the heat.
 
Rivercats said:
If you do discus your water temp needs to be 84F which many fish can't tolerate. German Rams actually love the heat so they are a good choice. Cardinal and Rummy nose tetra's both are okay with the high heat. Some species of cory cats do okay with the heat but you have to research which ones. Same with White skirt tetra's, not sure if they can tolerate that much heat, again you need to research. With Discus you are very limited to the fish and the plants you can use as only a select few can tolerate the heat.

Here's what I found that can tolerate the high temps
Blue ram- ph5: 7.5, temp: 77-84
Emeral cory/cat- ph6: 8, temp: 72-82
Black skirt- ph: 6-8, temp: 68-82
Black neon- ph: 5.5-7.5, temp: 73-81
Black phantom- ph: 6-7.5, temp: 72-82
Cardinal tetra- ph: 4-7.4, temp: 73-81

So temp they're almost as high as a discus, but i still wanna double check and confirm with different sources. Also would 1-2 degrees affect them? Say I keep discus between 82-83 degrees or the rest 1-2 degrees higher.
 
I think they would be okay with 84. Those temps are general and you can find different temps on different sites. I would x off the black phantoms. Cardinal and Rummy Nose tetra's are great schoolers and help keep discus feeling secure with them swimming around. Sterbai cory's are good too and IMO a nicer looking cory. And the white or black skirt tetras would be my choice.
 
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