A lil help for a newb please!

[Maize-N-Blue-D]

Welcome ...

Africans are very hearty fish, but as djlamonica suggested read up on the water quality before you add any fish... Google aquarium cycling and read as many articles as you can, you will learn a lot.

Also, types of fish you keep are a personal preference, I suggest you also Google the different type of fish to see what catches your eye, again djlamonica provided some good advice.

You want to over filter your tank, many have suggested this already, so I'm just going to reconfirm this...

One question: Do you have city water or well water ?  This will affect your water quality and how you need to treat it...Well water does not normally have any chlorine in it and is ideal for Africans as it is normally hard water.  You might want to get your water checked at a LFS - Local fish store
 

[Solaba84]

WOW!!! thanks for all of the great feedback.  Sorry, didn't mean to be rude, but I just wasn't able to get back online after responding to the first few posts.  Thank you all who offered me advise and shared your thoughts and opinions.  Here is a quick look at what I believe I am going to do:
***Filtration: Im going to go with the larger canister filter rather than the recommended size for my aquarium.  I am also going to look into an inline heater as was suggested.  I would like to keep any non-ornamental objects out of my tank if possible, so I would really rather not use a HOB filter.  I know I will have to rush to buy one if my canister fails and it will not have all the good bacteria in it, so i need to consider this more carefully and not make a judgement solely on aesthetic appearance.  I believe I will also definitely purchase a circulation pump.
***Decoration:  It seems as though live plants will be a bad idea, so I would like to look into the silk plant option.  My only desire to go with a plant is because the vibrant green from a healthy plant will have eye catching contrast against my tahitian black moon sand and black background.  If it is best to scrap the plant idea than maybe I should just do it.  The Holey Rock looks amazing but I dont think I can afford to fill my background with that. Just too much $$$ for this guy!  Looks great though.  I think i will build my background and caves using various stacking rocks and occasionally inserting a cichlid rock cave.  I'll try my best to create a aesthetically pleasing, highly functioning, natural look.
***Fish:  Peacocks are some of my favorite.  Im looking at Lake Malawi and the Firefish peacock (aulonocara species) and the Blue Flametail Peacock (aulonocara species) to go along with some yellow labs.  I found the two peacocks listed on www.aquariumfish.net and will try to attach pics of them from the website.  Would an electric blue hap (Sciaenochromis fryeri) pair well with the firefish peacock (my wife is deadset that the firefish will be in the tank because of its color)?  I know I will need some pleco, but I haves always loved Cory cats.  Is it safe to have cory cats in a cichlid tank or am I just begging to have a problem doing that?
Again, all advice is appreciated!

Thanks,
Marc

[Regalblue]

Why will you need a pleco?  I have 46 tanks full of Cichlids & not one pleco.

[Ron]

Why will you need a pleco?  I have 46 tanks full of Cichlids & not one pleco.

It will clean the tank![/sarcasm]

Plecos often create more of a mess than they clean up. Even in tanks with plecos, I still get algae on the front glass that requires a quick scraping. If you like them, get some, but as Regalblue suggested they are far from necessary. Instead of a pleco, buy a Mag-Float scrubber for cleaning the glass. It'll work better and is impossible to kill. 

[Solaba84]

Why will you need a pleco?  I have 46 tanks full of Cichlids & not one pleco.

It will clean the tank![/sarcasm]

Plecos often create more of a mess than they clean up. Even in tanks with plecos, I still get algae on the front glass that requires a quick scraping. If you like them, get some, but as Regalblue suggested they are far from necessary. Instead of a pleco, buy a Mag-Float scrubber for cleaning the glass. It'll work better and is impossible to kill. 

Mag-Float scrubber??? What species is that from? Just kidding lol.  i just like th look of them too.  I think always a good idea to have a scrubber for the glass.   was hoping the pleco could snack on the gravel/rock

[four_by_ken]

I am a fan of plecos too.  Almost every tank has at least one in out house.