So in this time you can goto the local fish store where you are going to get the fish and look at them. In person fish look different from pictures.Yea its slowly getting there as I am adding stuff from week to week so its not a bunch of money at once to keep the wife at peace...
For the cichlids I would pick from the Amatitlania family. The common Convict (Amatitlania nigrofasciata) HRP (Amatitlania siquia) Yellow Convict (Amatitlania Nanolutea)
Most people get 6 individuals to grow out and let nature take its course. When you get a pairing remove the extras.
But we are talking Cons basically water rabbits. The first two on the list are easy to sex as the female has an orange belly where the males don't. The 3rd one Nanos, female have a black spot in the dorsal fin males don't. Kinda hard to see if the fish are 1/2in or under. When they get past an inch becomes more evident.
There is a saying with cons...
Get a male and female add water bam babies
Worked for me got a male and female, three days later we got eggs. So you may be able to skip the get 6 and let nature take its course step if in store you see a pair already formed laying eggs. Or could do as I did and gamble by getting a female and male over an inch in size. Makes typically run bigger than female in size so by time the females hit an inch the males are 1.5
For cats I would pick Flagtail Porthole catfish (Dianema urostriatum) as they are a little more flashy looking with t h.g e black/white stripped tail. I would go with three.
So for the upper column you can go with Plattys, Swordtails, Molly's as they are found with livebarers in the wild. Check your store for color varieties that would go well with you cichlid pick. I would get 6female and 1male.