Stocking advice please

[JenTN]

Hello, I currently have a 55 gallon. I am considering upgrading to a 120 gallon in the next 6 months to year. I was wondering if a 120 could comfortably and safely house the following: 10 discus, 4 bolivian rams,1-2 shoals of 15 tetras, 2 bn plecos,& 6 cory catfish? I currently have 10 discus that I am growing out and am growing quite attached to ALL of them, it will be a hard choice of who to let go! If it needed to be a discus only tank that would be doable, I plan on giving the 55 to my daughter anyway. Thanks!

[Keith Perkins]

The traditional guideline of 10 gallons per discus leaves about 20 gallons for all the rest of your list fish. Picturing the rest in a 20 gallon tank makes me think your pushing it with the quantity of fish in a 12o. I'll be curious to see what others think.

[JenTN]

That makes sense! Maybe a school of tetras, rams, & the plecos then..

[rostick555]

Are you doing bb or planted. I have a 125g I originally had 13 young adult to adult discus 4.5-7", 6 corys, 15 rummy nose, 25 neons, 15 cardinals, 2 bn plecos, 1 siamese algae eater, and a bunch of shrimp in a planted. It worked but I had to do 50% wc every other day so if you are doing water changes often and going bb you should have no problem. I am down to 6 adults doing wc's once a week and enjoying my tank a lot more. Just my 2 cents.

[Bart V]

I have a 120 with a pretty similar stocking load to what you are proposing (minus the rams). Ten Discus between three and four inches, 16 Black Neons, 9 Cardinals, three corys and one red eye tetra (don't ask...). I have hornwort floating.

Aesthetically the tank does NOT look crowded. The shoals of tetras flying across the front of the tank add a lot of interest. The Discus have plenty of room to cruise if they want to. Behaviorally I think your tank would work fine. As noted above, your filtration will need to be sufficient or you will need to do a lot of water-changing.

My tank is the All Glass 120 with the 2 megaflow overflows in the corners, this is plumbed to a big trickle filter in the basement (but it would fit under the tank if I wanted it there. My readings after a month stocked are Nitrates =0, Nitrites =0 and ammonia =0. Seemed strange to me so I confirmed ALL of these readings by having the LFS retest my water. I change 30 gallons a week because I think I should but I have yet to get a Nitrate reading. This makes me nervous so I test every couple of days. Maybe my biofilter is just rockin!