Discus... with rams?

I have a 75 gallon and I'm getting ready to upgrade by 7 young discus into, as soon as I can catch and remove all the fry from the 75.
My LFS has some electric blue rams - they're beautiful fish! I'm thinking down the road I may look into adding a couple of these to the 75 gallon discus tank when it's planted up. Aside from that, there will be my santarem plecos or mega clown plecos (not sure which I'm moving in there yet) and some brigg snails.
I haven't had rams before... are these appropriate tankmates? I'm just wondering if this would be a good or bad idea.

BettaFishMommy said:

i have read and seen that rams and discus go well together, but i think at 7 discus plus plecos and briggs in a 75 you're full up stocking wise already, if not a tad overstocked once everyone is adult size.

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Oh really? I thought discus need 5-8 gallons as an adult fish. Mine would have 11 gallons per fish. Plus 6 or so briggs will add a minute amount of bioload (which the plants would more than make up for I'd think). Then there's my 4 hypans, but they stay quite small, much smaller than a bn. I can't imagine they'd add much bioload. Aren't rams small as well? I didn't think with two rams I'd be pushing my stocking. Never crossed my mind.

I'm definitely up for more opinions on this. Am I overstocking?

I have seen full grown discus (and they're beautiful - that's when I decided to try discus), so I know they get very large. I do think 5-8 gallons is on the small side, which is why I chose 7 for a 75 gallon. But I also thought that would give a little bit of room for some smaller fish that would stay out of the discus way and still allow them their swimming space - such as the plecos and maybe rams would. They'd help clean up the blackworms that hit the substrate too.
Of course I wouldn't put a discus in a 5 to 8 gallon tank, nor would I put one in a 10, 15 or 20 gallon, so I think that's a silly way to look at this picture. This isn't an inch of fish per gallon talk.
My concern at this point is water quality, if I'm legitimately looking at a stocking issue and I'd like to address it now before I get the tank going. Whether or not I add two rams is kind of on a side note now - am I really on the verge of poor water quality or my fish not having the swimming space they need? I would like to know that now. I may rethink my whole plan if it's really that tight. I appreciate the info.
My filtration is 2- aquaclear 500/110s and I change 50% of my tank water weekly.

I do want to add that I'm not asking what my fish will survive in, but what they need to swim around happy and healthy. That's my primary concern for them. I didn't think I was overstocking, but if I am I'd like to be sure before I proceed.

Thanks - the aquaclears do great filtration for a HOB, but I may consider getting a canister for that tank. I considered putting the discus in a 90 gallon I have, however the 75 gallon with a black stand and canopy will make a much nicer display tank.
As the discus grow, increasing their water changes to twice a week isn't an issue.
I've also been pondering the idea of rehoming my malawi cichlids someday that reside in a 125 gallon built in my wall, which has a nice FX5 canister filter, and putting my discus in there when they grow up. That would be a couple years down the road and is still a big "if" at this point. Not sure I can give up those fish.
Just wanted to make sure I'm not setting myself up for failure or unhappy fish with my current plan.

With 14 tanks running, my daughter and I are doing water changes all the time anyway. Adding one more water change to the routine isn't going to be a big deal. I spend all my free time messing with the tanks anyway.