Ok look, the balas HAVE to be removed. For a start, they need a 125 gallon tank minnimum, then there's their ridiculous activity level - they're like supersize danios - and then there's the fact that they are very nervous schooling fish and 2 isn't an adequate number. You have absolutely no choice but to remove them now. I'm sorry if I'm sounding harsh - I understand your problem - but you cannot keep these fish - especialy if you are already seeing problems - it is simply inhumane to keep them and the fish are suffering for it. Tell your parents they will die otherwise (its true) and return them. Take the 'sucking loaches' back too - these get to 10" if they are what I think (so called 'chinese algae eaters') and they become very aggressive as they grow and tend to suck on other fish - they start with the slime coat and then suck eyes out for lunch...
Once you've done that, the possibilities are endless
I'll suggest something if you're interested...
The first idea is for a community tank with realy tiny fish so you can keep LOTS of them:
10 spotted rasboras, 6 sparkling gouramies, 5 mosquito fish (2 male, 3 female) and 7 pygmy cories.
The second suggestion is for a mixture of colorful community fish:
2 banded gouramies (colisa fasciata), 4 golden zebra loach (botia histrionica) and a school of either 6 threadfin rainbowfish OR 6 dwarf rainbowfish OR 6 harlequin rasboras OR 6-8 cardinal, rummynose or neon tetra.
My last suggestion is for an angelfish tank:
4 angels, 6 scissortails and 1 bristlenose plec.
There are plenty of other options - include a small malawi cichlid tank or a species tank of some sort or maybe a tank dedicated to a specific type of fish such as rasboras or rainbowfish or maybe you want to do a biotope tank - or you might want to go coldwater and simulate a river's powerful current with white cloud mountain minnows, hillstream loaches and some coldwater minnows or something like that...
ne names
