72g Stocking w/Discus

If you switch the substrate to eco-complete like you said do not be surprised if the discus start to look dark. For some reason discus do not like dark substrate or a dark background. They will try to blend in like a camillion(sp.) Before long they start to look really sick. I would stick with the lighter colored substrate if you are planning on keeping the discus.

Marinemom
 
Have you thought of hatchet fish? They are top dwellers. I also learned that black mollies help with the algae and there black color really stands out among the others, kinda breaks up the colors. I keep my tank at 86. I have had my tank as high as 96 for a week for my discus's health and all of the other fish in the tank did not seem to mind. I have otto's, cory's, a pair of gold rams, around 10 black mollies, & 18 discus all in a 210 gal aquarium. To minimize my cleaning time with the tank I went with the bare bottom look. I just weighted down my plants and feed them every week. They seem to be doing okay. Cleaning is a breeze now. I barely ever have to vacuum my tank.
 
Im not sure congo tetras would be ok with the cardinals one the congos get big. I have a school of full grown congo tetras and I feed them the neons that don't make it home from the store. They gobble them down like candy.
 
I should have noticed earlier the panda cories. They will not mix well with the discus. Why? Pandas are hardly tolerant of temperature more than 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Stick with the Corydoras sterbai.
 
As long as I get the congo tetras while they are young so they can grow with the cardinals, I will accept the risk. That's how I've done it with discus. if they grow with them they usually tend to not look at them like food. lol

As for the cory's, just about all of them are going to have a temp cap around 80 degrees. I am not sure which I will get, so for now I will just get around 10 ottos until I figure it out.

As long as I get the congo tetras while they are young so they can grow with the cardinals, I will accept the risk. That's how I've done it with discus. if they grow with them they usually tend to not look at them like food. lol
 
Sterbai, julii, trilli (false julii) and albino cories will all tolerare 86F for the long term just fine. I have both trilli and albino. If you're planting the tank, you'll find the discus will spend more time mid and top level and not so much on the lower level unless they are grazing. Rummynose tetras are a pretty awesome addition to the tank, they don't bother the discus and the discus don't bother them. I have 3 black neons from a different tank that I threw in and they school a lot of the time with the rummies. The black neons actually seem to prefer to be in the upper 1/3 of the tank, while rummies stay in the bottom 3rd. If you go with a slightly smaller (less than 3" full grown) cory, I'd say add 8. If the adult size of the cory is 3", i'd only get 6. Pando cories will do fine for a while, but usually succumb early on to the high temps. I would try to discourage you from adding 10 ottos. As far as I know, ottos only eat algae. I think 10 of them would starve in there. With 6-8 discus, you're not going to get as many plants as you think in that tank. You need to leave open areas for the discus to swim and graze. I would suggest only 3 or 4. And congo tetras get to be 3" when full grown. I wouldn't put a loft of them in there, you're just not going to have room for all those fish full grown. And as for the temps for discus.....you will eventually run into health problems if you keep the discus under 80 degrees. I recommend 86.
 
I have 5 discus in a 75G heavily planted tank. When I switched from sand to Eco Complete, I didn't see any loss of color in the Discus, in fact, I think it made their color pop. I have Cardinal Tetras, Lemon Tetras, Otos, a Bristlenose Pleco and a Bolivian Ram, with the Discus and they all get along fine. I would wait on the Otos until you have the plants established for a while, as they can be hard to acclimate, and seem to do better when there is availability of their natural food...algae.
 
Eight Discus is pushing it, but with good filtration you could get away with it. The guppies I just don't think will go with the Discus. Congo and serpae tetras can be nippy so I wouldn't put them in with Discus. Have you though of Harlequin rasboras? A school of them goes great with Discus.
 
I'll be doing 50% water changes once a week and I have two canister filtars, each rated for a least twice the output needed for my tank. I also have a 55g that I can use if I feel like things are getting a bit crowded, so I should be ok there.

I decided against any top dwellers. When the plants fill in, I won't really miss them. I may order the ottos a couple weeks after my tank is established. It'll have plenty of algae as I will have 3wpg and without CO2. I'm still thinking about the coreys, I really like the idea of juli coreys but no one has them in stock so I can wait for them as well.
 
Discus are huge ammonia producers so if you plan to only do one 50% water change a week, you should be testing nitrates several times a week. Filtration is wonderful but does nothing to remove nitrates and dissolved organic compounds. And discus are very sensitive to nitrate and d.o.c. levels. If you can keep the nitrate level below 30 with only one weekly water change, you''ll be lucky. My advice to you is two 50% weekly water changes with that many discus in a 72G tank. It can definitely make the difference between the discus doing "just oK" and doing "great". In any case, figure out the plant requirements for a while so that you have that down pat and balanced before you add the discus. Learning about plants and discus at the same time is never a good combo, usually it is the fish that suffer.
 
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