Need some pointers.

[Scotty]

Are you sure only 3x per hour for filtration? Right now the tank is running at a turn over rate of 14x per hour. Are the species you named difficult to care for because I am looking for a challenge.

You should aim at nothing less than 3x torn over rate of water. If you are running at 14x then you will not experience water problems.
I run a couple of tanks of the size mentioned and I have between 20-30 wild caught fish in each. Atleast 2-3 females per male species. Have anywhere between 6-8 species per tank. Just put in plenty of rocks for hiding places and you will find the aggression is almost non-existent.
I have about 40 tanks, with about 35-380 breeding stock and I try to overstock in all my tanks Too few fish will lead to the more dominant male chasing everything. A stressed fish will be lost within a couple of hours of being continually chased. I learned this the expensive way. When adding in new fish make sure to add in 3+ fish especially if those in the tank are fairly big and have been there for some time.
I will try and get a good shot of the johanni's I have. They originate from the Mozambiquan side of the Lake and are very dark in colour. Females the usual yellow colouring.

 

[fish head )'>]

I have not found the "magic" stocking numbers yet, but so far it does seem the more fish--the less aggression. Yes, you may have to do more water changes, but the trade off is that African tanks look great! It also seems to me that they are pretty hardy fish. And will have to agree to avoid a high protein diet for those fish. It seems that a lot of the "cichlid" labeled fish food is made for carnivore cichlids.

 

[Cross127]

I have not found the "magic" stocking numbers yet, but so far it does seem the more fish--the less aggression. Yes, you may have to do more water changes, but the trade off is that African tanks look great! It also seems to me that they are pretty hardy fish. And will have to agree to avoid a high protein diet for those fish. It seems that a lot of the "cichlid" labeled fish food is made for carnivore cichlids.

I noticed that as well. They are all high protein diets with lots of fat. I'm religious with my WC so thats not a problem one bit.

 

[mike dunagan]

In my 135 I can never keep any more than one johanni male... I had a few of them 3 males to 14 females and over time I ended up with only one male... over and over that went... So I kept the one male and removed the females and mixed the tank up a bit...