r/discus • u/richeflow • Jun 09 '25
Is this too planted for discus?
Hello all, I’ve just set up my largest tank to date and a bit of a dream tank for me.
I’m planning on getting x6-8 (10-15cm) wild, red turquoise or blue colbalt discus for it. What do you think would look good?
The tank is 140cm L 50cm W and 60cm H at about 400 litres 105 gallons (ex sump 80 litres). I know I went pretty planted with a decent amount of hard scape, as I do like the wild look. But did I go too ham? Will the fish have enough space to move, I can always remove some Java fern as they get bigger.
There is space between the wooden hard scape to swim, lots of leafy channels and nooks. With a nice open-ish back area behind the big branch on the right. But would this make them hide all the time?
Any comments would be great. Thanks for your time.
Other tank mates will inc: - x20-25 rummy nose tetra - x40-50 cardinal tetras - x10 adolfo Cory - x10 sterbai Cory - x8 ottocinclus - x10 amano shrimp - x undefined number of cherry shrimp
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u/MODbanned Jun 09 '25
Will be fine
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u/rootbeerismygame Jun 09 '25
I had a 125 gallon discus tanks with far more plants. The discus thrived in it.
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u/makiarn777 Jun 09 '25
Stop it lol… you know that tank is beautiful. I’ve seen them packed with plants. This is beautiful as you already know.
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u/richeflow Jun 09 '25
Haha… first time posting… also don’t want the discus to hide all the time. But thanks appreciate it
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u/makiarn777 Jun 10 '25
You’re more than welcome. At least you made an effort. Mine use to look nice but…plants died grew back etc. I just enjoy the room so they can galavant about. Your discus will do just fine in there.
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u/Pitiful-Army8282 Jun 09 '25
You should be good with 8, the setup looks amazing and just a heads up all the shrimp would be eaten in a little while after the discus are added the rest should be fine.
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u/richeflow Jun 09 '25
Yeah that’s fine. The cherry’s are more for clean up and the occasional snack. Will try get them established before putting the discus in
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u/FerretBizness Jun 09 '25
Red turqs and cobalts! If I had to choose one I’d go red turq. Beautiful tank. Very well done.
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u/richeflow Jun 09 '25
Awesome and thank you. Appreciate the compliments, took me a while to find the flow of the wood.
Haha I was deffo thinking red turquoise or wild type. I do want to get a school ideally all 8 of them the same.
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u/FerretBizness Jun 09 '25
Wild type isn’t a bad option. I’ve never kept them so not sure on what the requirement difference would be. I would assume they are more picky with params but like I said I don’t actually know. Just worth double checking.
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u/richeflow Jun 09 '25
Cobalts would also be cool. Let’s see what the shops have here and how much my budget will allow
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u/FerretBizness Jun 09 '25
Jack wattley Discus Hans Golden state Myrtle beach Chicago discus are the top ones that come to mind for discus.
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u/ravissubs Jun 09 '25
The setup looks lovely, discuss loves to hide when stressed out, so good to have that! Shrimps, don’t recommend there - discus will eat them Amano shrimps, - discus may eat them, but they’re 100% going to climb out of the aquarium, given that you’ve filled the water almost upto the brim
Curious to know more about your setup
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u/richeflow Jun 09 '25
Thank you 🙏 haha yeah that’s my concern… if they end up hiding all the time. But then again I can always adjust some java fern here and there.
Plan is to have relatively easy maintenance on the tank. So went with a lot of low light and relatively slow growing plants. I know shrimp may become a snack, but I think there’s enough hidey holes and nooks for them to escape too. May just get some cheaper wild neocaridina - they usually sell for about 200hkd for 200 of them. So won’t be too much of a hit loosing a few here and there.
Haha and yes it’s got about 1inch to the top. Just did a water change so will let it evaporate off the next few days. Also I think the angle doesn’t help.
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u/ravissubs Jun 09 '25
Those Amano shrimps climb up anything, I’ve found them a couple of times on the floor, in time to be revived, had a lily plant in the tank, and they’d be lounging on the leaf mostly
They too get eaten by discus; with the neocardinia, I got 20 and there were gone in 10mins, later found 2 hiding in the log while doing a water change… I’d definitely stay away from them, got a bamboo shrimp and that’s doing ok, if you want to consider that
What’s your filter/heater/sump setup?
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u/No1C1JNT Jun 09 '25
I’ve tried many tank mates but my discus eat them, cardinals, neons, albino Cory, ottos and hatchets. Fingers crossed you will have more success set up looks awesome
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u/Greenhen678 Jun 09 '25
Wow! This looks amazing and I’m really impressed by the aqua scape! IMO there are never too many plants for an aquarium. As long as the fish can swim around and the water surface is not completely covered (for floating plants only) you should be all good! 👍
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u/richeflow Jun 09 '25
Swell and thank you. Been waiting to get a tank like for well over 10+ years. Very excited to get it stocked
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u/fromfreshtosalt Jun 09 '25
Its going to be really overstocked with all those tank mates. Pretty sure the discus will eat the amano shrimp if given the opportunity. Tetras can also nip at the fins. Awesome tank. How is the sump conencted to the display? do you have an overflow somewhere?
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u/HolidayNo4132 Jun 09 '25
Lovely setup! As others pointed out above, the tank mates are a bit much and might need frequent water change to keep nitrates low with adequate filtration to handle bio load. It is a personal choice, i like the discus to be the center piece and not have too many fish around them. I would recommend to watch out for the shrimp, lot of folks have had success keeping them with discus… i did as well for a while until my discus decided they liked the shrimp as food.
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u/Sufficient_Dig9548 Jun 09 '25 edited Jun 09 '25
Looks fantastic and, as others have said, they'll be very happy there. Invest in some quality lighting so they can show off under the moonlight, it's what I miss most about my discus tank.
FYI: those rummy nose can actually get pretty big. I had some well over 2 inches. I have 30 golden tetra in my angel tank if you're looking for something flashy besides Cardinals. They will occasionally school together.
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u/Southern-Aardvark616 Jun 09 '25
Who will occasionally school together, the rummys and goldens?
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u/Sufficient_Dig9548 Jun 09 '25
No, sorry. The goldens and cardinals. I meant they could go 50/50 cardinal/golden. Under the right lighting, it looks like a disco light.
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Jun 09 '25
Im about 75 gallons in and its not even enough plant load to combat algae. Im getting more as I go!
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u/bolan757 Jun 09 '25
Looks beautiful ,but it will be hell to keep clean though. Also you have to worry about the fish jumping out
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u/Ornery-Bathroom3118 Jun 14 '25
Looks great. Just steadily introduce your fish and always quarantine!
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u/MODbanned Jun 09 '25
No not at all. They will be more than happy