By the way i am very jealous that you have a friend you can get custom tank job for cheap!! When she makes something special you need to post some picks!!
If it was my tank, It'd probably end up with 3-5 kelberi, a few ITs, a jardini and some lower jaw polys.
Have you considered a New World cichlid community tank? Some of the larger species, like a couple paratheraps, few sals, festae, mota, and jaguar or something along those lines.
His tank is going to be way too small for pbass and large sa. cichlids. Think a little smaller. And who says his Tank builder is a girl? Last time I looked I still had my junk. (lol) His Tank will be around 130 to 150 gals. Thanks
i think cichlids would deffiitely be a neat tank dynamic, but i would probably preffer tangs over malawi just because i like the different body structures of tangs and find them more interesting. malawi's are colorfull, but i find them all to be alot the same.