Cichlids in 8ft

Question
Morning Ron, Shaun From Australia how are you ?

I am about to add Cichlids to my 8ft by 2ft by 2 and a hlf ft wide Paludarium, It has been running for about two mths now and contains 3 Plecos

To give you a picture, It is equiped with artificial rain, lighting towards the front of the tank at tank level and some lighting which is 3ft above the tank in the top of the dry area, this allows the fish some darkness at rear of tank. All the lights are on timers and it starts off a nice blue to a red to a daylight to red and finally finishes the night with blue again.

It Has a 6ft x 1ft trickle system below that circulates the Tanks water 2 and a half times and hr when it is on ( explanation in next paragraph ) I also have two FX5 running full time.

It does have a live food tank within the tank, the Trickle system turns on at different times ( timed it so I am usually in my chair *grins*  ) it produces basically a high tide where it enables just enough height for the live food to come out into a flat wooden area and if they venture further into the main tank. you get the idea.

Substrate is silica mixed with Both small brown gravel about 4 inches deep and bigger to large black river stones. The tank features many caves both in the false background and in the form of a large shipwreck  

ok now me, I have had cichlids since aged ten so can look after them, but i would like to ask the following questions to both ensure i am doing the right thing and so that when i do put the fish in I dont have to go fishing in such a big tank to get the fish out because of some reason i should of known about earlier.

Still with me ?

Ok
Q1
The cichlids I would like to put in the tank are
Aulonacara Rubescens
Aulonacara Stuartgranti
Aulonacara Jacobfreibergi
Aulonacara Kandeensis
Pseudotropheus Flavus
Nimbochromis Livingstoni


Pretty sure they can go together but could you tell me how many of each I know how to work out the inch/ per gallon but would like to hear from you what you would have :)
and if you where to change any what woudl you put in its place if any ?
Q2
Do you have a list of plants that would suit these fish for both decoration and eating that i can look for here in Australia. I would like them to live both in the water and above the water. I do have a CO2 kit working in the tank but it is only put on sparingly.

Q3 any other advice on the tank setup be sure and not hesistate in letting me know

cheers and looking forward to hearing from you soon

DragonD

Answer
Hi Shaun,
 That sounds like quite the setup.  

 As for the fish, you might want to think about your choices.  In general, it is not a good idea to put more than one species of Aulonocara in a tank, especially if you intend to put any females in there.  Females of the various species look pretty close to identical and you are setting yourself up for some pretty nasty hybridization issues, i.e. any of the males will spawn with any of the females.  

 I would suggest going with one species of Aulonocara.  I would go with a ratio of about 5 females to 1 male.  That keeps both the male and the females happy.   

 I can't give any recommendations on live plants.  I stick with plastic because my fish (mostly Central and South American, and West African) see any plants as expensive salad (in fact, they even eat the plastic ones!)

 If I were to substitute a fish, I might consider Dimidichromis compressiceps, because they are very cool looking and live a rather different life than the other fish you have listed (i.e., the Psuedotropheus and the Aulonocara).

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
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