Nothing wrong with a proper African breeding species setup, people stuffing as many different species in one tank doesn't do it for me tho.
I've found some species to have great personality like tropheus duboisi and red top zebra... Personally I would love to have room for a nice African setup, I keep some gorgeous 5 star generals with my sa and ca fish in the 300 atm.
If you are say a generic mbuna setup is boring yeah maybe but a tank is what you make it and the mbuna tank at my lfs has loads that hand feed algae cubes and the lady uses this to help catch certain fish by dropping one in a net and they swim in their selves.
Also don't generalise all Africans as boring and mindless, what about butti, one of the most personable fish out there and tilapia Mozambique and nile tilapia are big bruisers who glass bang... Emperor cichlids ect ect...