A couple more from your list above:

Fuelleborni - I kept a few of these and they were very peaceful, except when the male was chasing the females during spawning. I've read that they can be very aggressive towards eachother though, although I never had any problems whilst they were in my care. What you sometimes find is you get a peacemaker in a tank - a fish that isn't overly aggressive but doesn't stand for any fighting in the tank. I had a Frontosa at the time (not recommended) that I'd inherited with the tank, and he would stop any fights going on in the tank by getting in between the two fish and taking over the fight with the more aggressive fish, who always backed down. So, this could have been why I didn't see much fighting from them as I rehomed the Frontosa and the Fuelleborni on the same day. Fuelleborni Marmalade are really nice though, that was my favourite.

Anyway, just to reinforce that I don't recommend keeping a Frontosa - they need a Tanganyikan species tank about 6 - 8 foot long and they need to be kept in a group of 5 or more.

Saulosi are a great fish. I kept a pair of these but they both died from what seemed like a debilitating disease. I never worked out what it was, I think that selective breeding in this species has caused some unwanted traits, as the Saulosi Coral I believe is a manmade hybrid.

Johannii I never had any problems with. Just make sure you don't keep it with any other Melanochromis (horizontally striped) species.

Cyaneohabdos - also called Maingano, is often confused with Johanni as the males look almost identical. Female Johanni however are yellow-y orange. Behaviour and temperament is pretty much the same.

M. Interruptus is also very similar looking to Johanni but has more of a checkerboard stripe than purely horizontal.

Demasoni I've never dealt with personally but I like the look of them and know many who have kept them without too much trouble but they can be aggressive if mixed with other blue/black vertical striped fish and will obviously fight amongst themselves for pecking order too.

cheers electrogear so much info thats priceless

what would u say is the perfect mix im gonna go for 3-4 species i want blue,yellow,and some exotic colour ?

thanks

oh and will most prob be adding bristlenose and a syn cat so would need to all mix

Personally I would go with (for a 250 litre tank):

1 male Acei, 3 - 4 females
1 male Labidochromis Caeruleus, 2 females
1 male Maingano (Cyanoerhabdos), 2 - 3 females
1 male Saulosi or Sprengarae, 2 females

That's quite heavily stocked so wouldn't add any more but you could have a couple of bottom feeders but make sure you go with species native to the rift lakes such as Synodontis Petricola or Synodontis Multipunctatus.

Stay away from Bristlenoses, most species grow too big for your tank and they prefer a lower pH range to Malawis. You'd regret it anyway as the more you get into cichlids the more you'll want to try and recreate a similar habitat to the rift lakes, and bristlenoses look out of place in a Malawi tank IMO.

Also do not get clown loaches. Some people do it but they'll outgrow all of your cichlids. They're a beautiful fish don't get me wrong, but you can't provide for them long term with a 250 litre tank. You'd need to be looking at a 7 - 8 foot tank, and again there's the issues of them not being native as with the bristlenose above.

HTH, Mike

well it will be most prob be a 5 foot rio 400 tank as there pretty cheap second hand £200-300 and being £800 brand new u cant go wrong but ill see . thanks for all the advice every one its helped me before i set up

might later on expand to a Channa sp. "Assam Blue" tank as they look sooo nice :D

Yeah they are nice, but require a low pH range compared to Malawi Cichlids. Totally different kettle of fish, so to speak :P I won't pretend to know any more about them though... :D

i know dont worry be in a total different tank lol im still stuggling to find a suitable tank for the malawi i dont wanna spend to much was gonna go for the seapets offer on the fluval roma 240 but now its gone up £65 and im still recovering from christmas lol so really a 4ft tank for no more then £150 auction sites atm have loads but tend to be miles from me do u know any other sites apart from ebay,gumtree,friday ad, aquarist classified?

There's the classifieds section on here - you could post a wanted ad, as with aquarist classifieds. I've got a few spare tanks but I'm a bit far from you to make it worth your while. Just keep your eye out, something will come up! Mike

ok cheers mate i did get offered a 4 foot tank and stand
with a 4 foot curved tank and stand and a rack with 2 4 foot tanks and dividers for breeding for £300 with all accessories included but he wouldnt split and i dont have the room im gutted cos it was so cheap