I think you may be confusing archocentrus with amphilophus. Archocentrus that are available in the hobby (both centrarchus and multispinosis) are on the mild side of aggression in the CA cichlid spectrum. Centrarchus will hold their own with mid sized fish, but are no competition for amphilophus or parachromis.
My bad - I was thinking of convict cichlids (Cryptoheros or Amatitlania nigrofasciatus, depending on what they are properly considered now), not Amphilophus or Archocentrus.