Hmmm, personally I would definately get one of the following;
exhibit A: red-line-torpedo barbs,(6 as they cost a lot) giant danios,(~12) Rosy or other kind of mid sized barbs.(~12)
You could forgo one of the 3 species for a centerpiece fish, an example could be a flowerhorn or a severum.
exhibit B: tropheus duboisi, a large colony of them. Probably about 15. maybe a few less and add 3 or 4 "cuckoo catfish" or "featherfin synos"
exhibit C: 10-15 congo tetras, 8-10 upside down catfish. (This set up would cost a lot, congo tetras are 20 dollars up here, UDC are 10.)
exhibit D: coldwater; goldfish, fancy or common (~4) fathead minnows (18+) White cloud minnows are too tiny and would get eaten by goldfish.
exhibit E: silver dollars (8) raphael catfish (1-2) deep bodied tetras (20 of all the same species or 10 of 2 kinds) such as bleeding heart, emperor, flame or black skirt.
exhibit D would cost the least by far. I would want A the most. If the stocking appears to light when they are all mature, you could always increase the shoals by a couple. If you want to advertise your tatooness you could put a pair of oscars or a small number of other large multicolored cichlids like flowerhorns or texas cichlids. I am a bit nooby at visualizing stocking lists so I would have to see it done to decide if it is overstocked or under-stocked. It is a lot easier to decide with large fish.
