Picking fish for a 270 gallon cichlid community?

[Omrit]

I am converting my 270 gallon(also has 40 gallon sump) to a cichlid tank. Sadly it is not 8 feet long instead it is 72 inches long 36 high and 24 wide which makes me a little hesitant as far as stocking big fish goes.

Must haves:

2 chocolate cichlids
2 Severums
1 fire eel

I would like to have, but I am open to not getting:

2 threadfin acara
6 angelfish


Now here is where I am having trouble. There are two other fish I know I want; another big cichlid and a pike. I know with my current list I have a fair amount of space left to work with, but I still want to pick the right species of course.

Edit: It keeps cutting off the rest of this post, so the rest is in the next comment.

 

[Omrit]

It won't let me post the thread with this attached for some reason, but here is the 2nd part of my question:


For the large cichlid I am looking for a real show-stopper. I have a friend with a male festae in a community that doesn't cause any problems. He says the female is the aggressive one and without a female the male is fairly peaceful as long as no one challenges him. I was pretty set on one after seeing his, but after some research I wonder if his is the exception not the norm. Any thoughts on this or maybe a different but still beautiful option? The only other two species I can think of is the true parrot(which can't be kept with chocolates) and the Oscar(which I think is a step-down from the parrot and festae as far as beauty goes). Is the festae actually an option or maybe there is some beautiful cichlid I don't know about?


As for the pike I think Crenicichla lenticulata looks amazing, but info on it's temperament is few and far between. The red atapo pike is nice as well, but there is once again a lack of info on keeping it with other fish. Is there a nice pike anyone would recommend, or would one of the two I mentioned work? The saxatilis seems to be a safe fall back plan although not as impressive as the other pikes I mentioned.

 

[EricTheRed]

I would get a colony of six Cichlasoma Nicaraguense, the beautiful Macaw Cichlid. To go along with the others you listed. I would NOT add a Festae as it would probably terrorize and eventually kill all of its tankmates. I would also generally not recommend a Pike with your mix as most tend to bully peaceful cichlids, but your probability of getting a Pike who gets along with the others in your relatively spacious tank is much greater than adding in a Festae of either sex, especially if you get one of the smaller more peaceful types of Pike Cichlids.