Give me a stocking recommendation for my 30 gal

[FDemon]

Hey everyone. I'm getting back into the hobby after having to sell my tanks due to moving about two years ago.

My fish history: I've had full size oscars, dempseys, xingu pike (I miss this monster fish!), crenicichla compressiceps, red belly piranha, silver dollars, etc. I've also had exodons, tetras, etc etc.

I picked up a nice used 30 gal "biocube" style type tank and stand that used to be a salt tank, and I am wondering what to stock in there. I don't want to just keep one big fish either, I want to have at least a few with some action going on. I've never tried Africans, so I'm considering Malawi cichlids.

Caveats:
-No saltwater
-no live plants, I have no luck with them
-no, I'm not going to get a bigger tank right now, I have no place for it
-not any good fish-only stores around here, but I might be able to drive a few hours to one.

What do you think I should stock?

 

[Loves severums]

http://www.african-cichlid.com/Lake_Malawi.htm

 

[Sab_Fan]

that was a nice link . . . in a tank that size, I would think about keeping some Tanganyikan shell-dwellers, they seem interesting

 

[Allan01230]

If your into livebearers you could do about 5 pairs of differant swordtail in there. They have good color and do not hide like cichlids will.

 

[mercury904]

threadfins!