I had a Convict and my sister had a Blue Acara in my dad's 29g that I got to see two weekends out of the month when he had custody of us. He kept spending money on neons and other community fish that our cichlids promptly killed.
I remember my first tank, it was an old style slate bottomed 5 gallon that I got new for Christmas in 1968. Probably guppies, I was mad about livebearers then.
A livingstoni (great fish and i still love em) and two lemon cichlids with a pair of peppered cories in a 20 gallon. The tank failed pretty much within a month.