Cichlid Recipe

Question
QUESTION: I am putting together an 80 gallon African Cichlid tank as my first "serious" venture into the hobby. I have been researching for weeks to try to get the best setup I can and am still purchasing some equipment before I actually buy the fish. The biggest headache I've come across is which fish I can actually put in the tank together. I'm going for the over-filtered, over-stocked idea to lessen some aggression and was wondering if the recipe below would work? .. If there is an issue with a set could you please tell me and offer a colorful alternative perhaps? All the common names are taken from "Pet Solutions" website.

80 Gallon Tank
(I was told I can not just buy all colorful "males" so I'm looking at trio's of 1 male and 2 females)

Scribbled Pseudotropheus - 1 trio
B.B. Ornatus Cichlid - 1 trio
Electric Blue Ahli Cichlid - 1 trio
Yellow Lab - 1 trio
Pseudo. Elongatus Cichlid - 1 trio
Regani Julie Cichlid - 1 trio
Cobalt Blue Cichlid - 1 trio
M. Auratus Cichlid - 1 trio
Skunk Loach - 1 individual
Clown Loach - 1 individual
Burmese Border Loach - 1 individual
Gold Nugget Pleco - 1 individual

I know Auratus can be overly aggressive so if they wont work I would substitute a "zebra" (Orange Blotched Zebra maybe). The total number of fish for the tank are based on a posted experts recipe for a 75 gallon.

Will it work?
ANSWER: Hello Anthony,
First thing is, with Cichlids you really should have a 3 - 1 female to male ratio. The male will be too overbearing if you only have 2 females. He will kill them off.
Let's see if we can work this out.
You are showing 24 cichlids in your recipe.
I would drop the Scribbled Pseudotropheus (also known as msobo). They look a lot like the electric yellow lab, so no need for them.
I would also drop the Regani Julie Cichlid because they are not from Lake Malawi. You should really only keep Cichlids from one lake and it looks like most of your Cichlids are Malawi.
OK...
Here's what I get:

B.B. Ornatus Cichlid - 1 male-3 females
Electric Blue Ahli Cichlid - 1 male-3 females
Yellow Lab - 1 male-3 females
Pseudo. Elongatus Cichlid - 1 male-3 females
Cobalt Blue Cichlid - 1 male-3 females
M. Auratus Cichlid - 1 male-3 females
Skunk Loach - 1 individual
Clown Loach - 1 individual
Burmese Border Loach - 1 individual
Gold Nugget Pleco - 1 individual

You still have 24 Cichlids but now the females stand a chance.
Remember to cycle your tank before adding fish and also Cichlids need Cichlid lake salt and Malawi Lake buffers.
I hope this helps!
If you need help along the way, just yell!

P.S. You actually can have all males. I do and it is very colorfull. Don't forget a LOT of hiding spaces for these fish! You will have to do 75% water changes weekly with this amount of fish too.


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you for your quick reply. I have had my tank running for 3 weeks and intend to keep it running for another month before buying any fish (currently using two 'leftover' banded lepos for cycling) I am also planning on using Cichlid salts, trace and buffers. Running a Fluval 405 and a Peguin 350 Biowheel (could add a Peguin 330 I have as well)

24 fish seemed pretty high to me for my size tank but I assumed there would be a couple trios that would be removed from the list. Now knowing from your response that I can keep just males.. can I ask what you might add if I was going to keep one male of each listed above and wanted a total Cichlid count of about 12-15? I'm hoping for a varied colorful tank that still allows the fish to be comfortable.

Answer
OK,
I am glad you decided on less fish! The maintenance would be overwhelming.
I have 12 Malawi Cichlids in a 75 gallon and it is beautiful.
The first fish I would definitely have is an Electric Blue Ahli. They are awesome.
The Electric Yellow Lab is a great tank mate for the Ahli so I would have those. Labs are hard to tell if they are male or female when young so look for one with a lot of black on the top and bottom fins.The Auratus goes well with them but when they are young they are all yellow and black stripes and you can't tell the male till later. I would still put them in and hope for the best.
Next, Electric Blue Johanni,and Bumblebees.
Here's the list.
These are the prettiest and most compatible but I would get 2 each. That gives you 12. You could safely do 3 of some of the prettier ones.
Electric Blue Ahli
Bumblebee
Electric Blue Johanni
Powder Blue Scolofi
Auratus
Electric Yellow Lab
Good luck!