50 gallon stocking?

For a centerpiece fish, a Honey Gourami would be a good choice. These are one of the most peaceful of Gouramis, and make excellent community fish. I recommend having just one, so you won't have any territorial issues with breeding. Mine is very sweet, and it is cute to watch her feel around with her feelers.

Corydoras Catfish are fantastic, exceedingly peaceful bottom feeders. There are lots of different species to choose from, too, just make sure you get at least 4 of whichever kind you choose, since they like groups. The more the merrier with these, though.

Another very peaceful bottom feeder are Kuhli Loaches, but they are very shy. They need groups of at least 5.

With any bottom dweller, you need to make sure that the substrate isn't too rough with them. So avoid rough substrates like laterite if you want bottom dwellers. Sand would be ideal for them, although not for plants. Having the plants in pots with different substrate or choosing plants like Pygmy Chain Sword that like sand would be good, or you could use root tabs.

Bristlenose Plecos are also very peaceful, and only get to 6 inches. Just one would work well, and are excellent algae eaters. They are masters of camouflage, though, so if you want to see it clearly an albino would be a good choice.

Otos are one of the most peaceful fish out there, and are excellent algae eaters. They need groups of at least 4, and are a bit sensitive to change and bad water quality, so the tank should be mature before adding these and you should drip acclimate them.

Harlequin Rasboras are peaceful, attractive fish that contrast well with the green of planted tanks.

Tetras can be good too, as long as you choose carefully. Some Tetras have strong pecking orders in their schools and are fin nippers. But others are some of the most peaceful fish you can find. Some of the most peaceful Tetras include Cardinal Tetras, Rummy-nose Tetras, Black Neon Tetras, and Gold Tetras.

Ghost Catfish are another very peaceful fish, although they require live/frozen foods as staples. These are sensitive to water quality, and so should be added after the tank has been set up for a few months.

The Harlequins, Tetras, and Ghost Catfish all require groups of at least 6 of their own kind.

Shrimp are at the very bottom of the food chain, and even the most peaceful fish tend to go after them. Shrimp really do best in their own tank, with no fish at all.

You wouldn't have room for all of those in a 50 gallon, of course. You might play around with the numbers in aqadvisor.com, keeping in mind the minimum schooling numbers for each.

1. sounds good, look for tetras, especially more rare ones and get groups of 10 or more of two types at least

2. planted tanks do not do well without the required specialized lighting and less fish load. Not doing it correctly leads to a polluted tank and rotting plants. Not exactly the beautiful tank you imagined.

I'd use tall bushy plastic plants, and a bunch of them, instead, to avoid the issues with learning how to do a planted tank correctly.

I would recommend:

Characins: Skirt tetra, GloLight Tetra, etc.

Gourami: Honey; Steer clear of Kissing gouramis as they get two feet.

Catfish: Bristlenose, bulldog pleco, dwarf Plecos, Corys, otos, etc. Steer clear of common,sail fin Plecos as they get 2 or more feet long and can be very mesy.

Good Luck!