stocking/compatibility 50 gallon freshwater tank

Question
QUESTION: Hello!  My husband and I are relatively new tank owners and i'm a little concerned that we have over-stocked.  We currently have 6 Fancy guppies, 2 Moonlight Gouramis, 1 Gold Gourami, 1 Paradise Gourami, 4 Black Tetra's, 2 Tiger Barbs, 2 Black Lyretail Mollies...All the fish seem to be getting along quite well with no nipping behavior(although one of the guppies may be in trouble)...my husband would like to get a Bala Shark as well,...have we overdone it??? We were also told maybe a group of Emerald Catfish would be good and a couple more Tiger Barbs...Please advise... (We have an Aquaclear 70 filter)


ANSWER: Hi Theo:  I am answering this question from the general pool so I apologize that nobody has answered your question sooner.  You have chosen an interesting mixture of fish.  Some of the fish like the barbs and the gourami's are semi aggressive...so I would expect your molly's and guppies to be harassed a bit.  I would not mix a shark with your current group of fish... The bala shark would do ok with the gourami and the barbs... I hope this helps... let me know if you have any other questions... dave

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QUESTION: Hi! Thanks for answering! Yeah, the tiger barbs started attacking the guppies, we never should have put them in and traded them for some more guppies. The current crop of fish we now have is: 8 Fancy Guppies, 4 Angel fish, 3 Black tetra, 5 various Mollies, and the 4 Gouramis.  So far so good, and all the fish were happy when the Tigers left! We definitely won't get any Bala's! We were however told we should get some emerald catfish to clean up the bottom of the tank...what do you think? Too much? Right now all fish are happy...

ANSWER: Hello Theo:  A catfish or two would not hurt... however I try to explain to everyone who wants a catfish that fish/snails/shrimp etc who are by nature cleaners that it is unrealistic to expect these creatures to keep your tank clean.  If you chose to get a plecostomus get only one...and remember to do a ten to fifteen percent water change on a weekly basis...and gravel vacuum during the water change...it will help keep the chemicals in balance and the ammonia levels down.  Dave

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QUESTION: Hi there! I have a Molly question...yesterday we discovered our two black lyretail mollies dead.  As well our albino molly has some kind of white spots all over and is not looking too well...one day they were fine and the next...can you tell me what this is? Is this Ich?? what can we do to save the albino? We also have two dalmation mollies as well as all our other fish...will they all catch it? Please help!

Answer
Theo... it sounds like you have ICH...or rather your molly's do... increase the temperature of the tank to about 78 or so decrees...do it slowly one degree an hour and add aquarium salt per its instruction label... you should also consider adding a med such as rid ich or quick cure... my paroon shark came down with ich two days ago after eating one of my cichlids...I am following the advice I just gave to you and she seems better today... make sure you gravel vacuum as ICH will get into your gravel and cycle its way through the tank... hope this helps... dave