New with questions lol

[basement fish lovers]

Hi all,
I am new here from Canada. I have a few questions. Just picked up a 30 gal want to know if I should get puffers or cichlids. If I get puffers figure 8's I imagine. Now tell me what kind of cichlids? For my friends I want some that are cool and know nothing about them. Just been reading alot on the net. Also sending a pic of me so you know who you are chatting with.

J

 

[basement fish lovers]

Sorry all no pic not sure how to do it.

 

[guppy]

Sorry all no pic not sure how to do it.

Hiya BFL, welcome to MFK.
There is a sticky in the "frequently asked questions" forum that will guide you through oneway of adding pics to a thread, it is the way I use.
For cichlids in a 30g you are restricted a bit by the fact that most 30g tanks have a footprint of 12 1/2"x 30", this means several small fish, a pair of 6" fish, or one 8-9" fish.
I like fish that are a little out of the ordinary so for the small ones I would choose my favorite cichlid, the Cockatoo cichlids (Apistogramma cacatuoides) they get about 2" long and you could keep 2 or 3 males and 4-5 females, the picture is by Hagblom.
For the 6" pair I would go African and again choose something that is not very common, either a pair of Xenotilapia melanogenys (6") pic by Melandri, or Reganochromis calliusus (6") pic by de Vos. There are about 800 more species that fit your size requirements so you have a lot to choose from.
I am going to move this to the cichlid forum so you get a more active resonse.

 

[fishnutham]

that cockatoo is nice cant say i've seen them here anywhere you could stick with the old standby german rams and bolivians almost twins to the cockatoo just differnt colors oh wheres mmy manners welcome to mfk

 

[fsc46]

How about the cockatoo dwarf triple red
It's a nice looking fish.

 

[ridether]

Get a couple of dwarf puffers. Carinotetraodon travancoricus
There really cool and always on the move.