Fish042099 seems to be the go to guy for this thread.
Having kept a lot if not all of what you suggested I will give my feedback
saltwater = for more experienced aquarists. if you want to delve into saltwater then set up a small 20gal or something so you can read up about how to do it correctly and experiment on a smaller scale first. I wouldn't dare keep marine without first having kept more intermediate tropicals like cichlids and bichirs etc. thats just me, but Marine does require more patience, more effort and usually more money. If the marine stuff in your area is super cheap and good quality then sure you can try it, but you would be better off with tropicals in my opinion.
Lionfish, they get HUGE. ontop of that their rays make them look even bigger. ontop of that, small ones are very fragile and will go on hungerstrikes. the one I had one day decided to stop feeding and died. he was only tiny though. I have kept dwarf fuzzy lionfish before and they are wonderful. they have such great personality and they come up to greet you. if you love lions I would set up a 30g just for a fuzzy dwarf and have him as a pet.
Eels can be hard to maintain but are rewarding if done right. they also will kill their tankmates if not fed enough. mine killed a puffer, ate its flesh and died, wiped out the entire tank. this was while I was on vacation so I blame the person that was "feeding" the fish. other than that the novelty of having a pet eel wears off prettyquickly when you realise they don't do much except sit in a cave.
Oscars, I have kept oscars in community cichlid tanks, I have had a large breeding pair of oscars and right now I have a long finned albino oscar in with a mix of different fish from around the world (sorry I know you hate that) Oscars are brilliant because they can be kept with other american cichlids that aren't too aggressive. they eat like pigs but they aren't usually very aggressive. they have the best personality in any cichlid.
(he is a lot bigger now)
Boyfriend doesnt like severums? but you like large personable fish like oscars? well I have 2 words for you....
CHOCOLATE CICHLID. very similar to severums but with a completely different look and they will get around the same size as oscars. I currently have my oscar in with a chocolate. they are best buddies and both are complete pigs. here is a pic of mine, once again hes bigger now. an adult will be shiney emerald green with purple red. they definately are unique looking and he really stands out next to my oscar.
and finally, blood parrrots. they come in many colours and some get bigger than others (king kongs) they can be kept with just about anything. they are territorial when breeding but compared to a lot of other large cichlids they are very easy going. they are really cheap to buy when they are small because they arent orange yet, they are just a dull olive grey colour. You could have an oscar, chocolate and a blood parrot in there if you wanted to.
African cichlids are awesome but they fight a lot, and the way to reduce that is to buy more. until you realise just how much they cost. it will cost you almost the same to stock a marine tank as it will to stock an african tank. they have really nice colours but they tend to lack any personality. I've kept them twice and twice I have restocked the tank to marine. of course you could have a tank of less aggressive africans but it never works that way, you walk into the store and see all the amazing africans that you MUST have. and you end up spending more than you would have liked...
Festae would be boring, they grow slowly, can die for no reason and don`t tend to be as personable as other large cichlids. also you would have to keep them alone. so you would have a nice big 90g with one fish that grows really slowly and will probably hide for the first year or so.
either way you have a lot of options.
