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Rich gave you some very good advice.

As far as stocking, if you and your husband aren't particularly interested in the current fish (and there are some problems as stated above) start looking into what you do like. Go to various stores, check online, in books, magazine.

A 55g makes a nice community tank. You want to look at the tank in terms of fish for the top, middle, and bottom.

Angels and gouramis stay in the top and are more centerpiece fish; hatchetfish and danios inhabit the same area but are schoolers.

For the middle you could have livebearers, keeping in mind that depending on what else you have in the tank fry may get eaten. Livebearers should be kept in a ratio of at least 1M/2F. There are many, many tetras, rasboras, and barbs you could choose from. The majority of them are schoolers, you could have one very large school or two smaller schools.

Personally I like bristlenose plecs for algae control. They're interesting looking, don't bother other fish, and really do their job well. They also don't get too large. You could also have a school of loaches or cories depending on which you like better.

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There is water at the bottom of the ocean

Nowherman6 is right on all points. We could use this info. Filter type and size(ie. Whisper 30/60, Penguin 330,etc.),for both of them. Water readings PH,Hardness,Ammonia,NitrItes,NitrAtes). Probably use the fish you have to finish the CYCLE.Common Plecs and TF barbs are pretty hardy. Then return all 3(could keep 1 pleco for a BIT). The eel if I'm right on type is from Africa and could do well in a African cichlid setup. Again PH would need be 7.8-8.4 preferably and hard H2O for Africans(lakes). I also prefer BN plecos for algea control. Give us more info and we'll be able to help more. Welcome to FP.

Whew, that's a lot of info...

First things first: Welcome to the forums! You've come to the right place.

As for your post/ questions etc.:

I take it that you're still cycling your tank, but you seem to be almost through it all since you're registering nitrites and ammonia has dropped. You should only have another week or so left until nitrites drop and nitrates start to build up. I would suggest, however, that you get another test kit for everything other than ammonia - those test strips often give misleading results, and are pretty unreliable. Invest in a good test kit, it'll be worth it down the road. Doing water changes as often as you are is fine to keep toxic levels of nitrite down, but you shouldn't be doing a deep gravel vac each time. Good bacteria colonies are starting to establish themselves everywhere at this point - filter, decorations, and especially in the gravel. If you clean everything out of the gravel every other day you're likely removing significant amounts of good bacteria. To clean up the pleco poop, just graze the vac over the top, don't dig down deep into the substrate.

As for your bluish water from ich meds, besides keeping up water changes, you may want to see if you can add some more activated carbon to your filter. I have a few questions about your filtration, though - I know you have two filters, but are they bio-wheels? Or are they regular type aquaclear filters? We'll need this information to make suggestions about activated carbon and adding/ removing anything to/from your filter at this point in the cycle.

Your stocking is another question, and there are some things you really should do, and other things you can do, where it's really up to you.

You should remove at least one of those plecos - they can attain very large sizes, up to 12 inches +, and two of them in a 55 gallon (though it may seem large) is not a long term option. One may be ok for a while, but will eventually have to be removed as it grows. Plus, as you know very well, they are expert poopers and can dirty a tank in no time. Third, common plecos are often sold as algae eaters, but algae isn't really a preferred food matter for them - they like a meatier diet. If you really like plecos, however, I suggest you research the Bristlenose pleco - these only grow to 4-5 inches, and you could definetely have two of them in your tank. These fish are EXCELLENT alage eaters, and I highly recommend them. You'd have to part with both common plecos, though.

Next, the tinfoil barb. This is another fish that's sold as a small pretty shiny fish, but it also can grow to around 14 inches. Furthermore, these are schooling fish and should be kept in groups. I can't think of many people who can house five, 14 inch, fast swimming, voracious eating fish properly, thus they're not really suitable for most peoples' home aquaria. This fish should also be brought back to the place you bought it from.

Here's where your options come in: You probably can keep the peacock eel if you like it - they grow to around 15 inches, but don't have the same space requirements as a pleco, only because of their body type and swimming habits. If you do keep this guy, he'll have to be THE featured fish in your tank - I'm pretty sure they're carnivorous and would eat any smaller fish you put in there. I'm sure there are other kinds of fish to put in with this guy, but I'll let others think about that one.

Or, if you want (and we're talking about you personally, because it's not your kids' tank ) you can take him back as well, and start over once your cycle completes. I think if you bought a number of nice silk plants, a bristlenose pleco or two, and one or two large schools of small, colorful schooling fish lile harlequin rasboras or cardinal tetras, with a school of cory catfish for the bottom you would have a beautiful community tank on your hands, but that's for you to decide.

However, this restocking should be done once your tank finishes cycling...

Whew! That was long too! Hope that helped some...

Rich

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Back in the saddle!