Malawi cichlids vs Rainbowfish vs ??

I have a blank canvas 1,5m tank that I want to stock. It will not be planted, just some substrate, rocks and driftwood. I prefer a biotope type tank, even if the biotope area is fairly large.

Any suggestions? I'd go for rainbowfish, but have never seen them for sale here(other than dwarf types).

Im probably leaning towards African cichlids, but would really appreciate any suggestions, even if they're totally out of the box...

 

I see he has some beautiful fish for sale too.... And he ships countrywide.

 

you won't go wrong with tangs!

 

Cool.. Thanks. I'll read up about them.

 

Howzit @Broder - give us a shout if you need any info!

 

@Reedfish. Same here the constant aggression from the mbuna wore me down eventually. Also it just feels like you're looking at the same fish with just a different colour morph after a couple of months.

At the last stages in my malawi keeping, personally for me all the fish seemed to behave the same and I couldn't really discern behavioral differences across the species but that could be a fault in my observation skills as well.

 

I will always sugest Rainbows. Awesome peacefull community fish. Colors can be just as intense as the Malawis or Tangs, eg Kutubu, Boesimani, Red Tail, Red. Pet Stop gets some nice ones in quite often and they can also ship to you