medium fish or malawi/tanganyika cichlids

A few issues here,
Both Cichlids you mention are more at home in a rocky tank but significantly they will demolish all but the toughest plants so to even consider keeping them in a fully planted tank such as you are planning would spell disaster.So it looks like option 2 is the more suitable, with your Synos relegated to your second tank. Synodontis catfish are mostly large-growing beligerent sorts of fish which, in my opinion, would have no place in a fully planted tank either.
A good exception to this rule is the Pygmy Synodontis - Synodontis Petricola...these are largely peaceful fish but ones which mostly only appear after lights out - at least mine do but having said that they will often make an appearance in the daylight hours, especially if Bloodworms are on the menu.

I don't have any experience of the Butterfly fish but I do know they're mostly at home in floating vegetation and are prolific jumpers too. They are also pretty quick when it comes to demolishing small fish like Neons etc. My preference for surface fish would be the Hatchets, there are quite a few varieties nowadays of these.

If your plan is for a heavily planted tank then this in itself is not conducive to larger stocking levels of fish but if you'd just like a 'compromise' my suggestion would be for you to look at Leeri Gouramis as a larger fish then stock up with whichever small-to mid size community fish like the less aggressive Barbs and Characins, I have a real weakness for Rainbowfish, nice colourful fish - always on the 'go'. These would be better suited to the sort of water you have too. Some of the smaller South American Cichlids such as the Aequidens (I think they've been reclassified now) Curviceps, Keyhole Cichlids and Nannacara Anomola are very good in planted tanks too, you might want to look at a pair Of Kribs but they can be rather aggressive if they decide to lay eggs, if you can locate Rams which have a history of being tank-bred as opposed to the Wild specimens these would be alright too, if a little shy at times.
Some to be thinking about for you there, no doubt other members will have alternative suggestions.
A word of warning...Bristlenoses are great fish but do not stop at just eating Algae, they are most partial to aquarium plants too, you might want to consider something along the lines of Otocinclus - entertaining little fish which do far less damage to the plants.
John

Cichlids (think these are all cichlids): Severum, Kribensis, Festivum, Geophagus, Sheepshead Acara, Blue acara, Cockatoo dwarf cichlid, convict cichlid, red-hump eartheater, firemouth,

Another question (or two...)
Do you still plan to have a heavily planted tank? If you do you can most certainly also discount the Severums...mine eat every plant with the exception of some of the 'sturdier' Crypts and Anuibias(es). They even eat the 'supposedly' poisonous leaves of the Java Ferns! In earlier times all the 'Eartheaters' were classified as Geophagus although this has been opened up more now their habits remain the same...prodigious diggers, and pretty aggressive too. Blue Acaras will dig up plants as will, from time to time, Firemouths although with the latter I have had them which never dug up the gravel and others which most certainly did!
Sorry to sound so disparaging about your choices, but you have asked for opinions...really it's a bit of a 'rule of thumb' that Cichlids and plants don't really mix...you say 'no Angels' presumably you don't like them? Now there is a Cichlid which does go well in a planted tank.

peacock goby.

Here is another favourite of mine, brilliantly coloured fish, especially at breeding time and very good natured too - mostly - they can be a little bit 'nippy' but as they're quite slow movers most of the fish will be able to avoid them.

I don't know the Botia Dario but the Khuli will remain hidden for much of the time, they appear to like burying themselves in the gravel...take a look at the Striatum Loaches, quite attractive - and of course the inevitable Clown Loaches too.
I have a bit of a soft spot for the Congo Tetras, but this is all about your selection - not mine!

Just a few observations supplementary to the other answers you have been already given.

John

ps, yes Blue Acaras will try to attack anything (fingers included) which might come to close to their eggs - much could be said for almost all Cichlids - but the 'bites' from so (comparatively) small a fish would not cause you any concern...although I once saw some blood on the arm of a man who was removing a plant leaf of Angel eggs from where the pair had attacked the arm, but my belief was that he must have already had an earlier cut there which had then been reopened by the frenzied attack of the Angels.

OOOg,
I really admire your dedication to your subject, I think if more people (myself included) did half as much studying beforehand there would be a lot less heartaches in the following times after the the stocking…

I think Striata Loaches are the same, a bit of a case of ‘horses for courses' really – different wholesalers use different names I think – the common name is the ‘Candy Striped Loach’ at least that’s what they’re called in the Baensch Atlas.

My guess is that the Angel you bought was almost certainly a far-Eastern bred one, this is only my opinion (but based on quite a lot of years’ observation) but you would appear to get more than you pay for with some far-Eastern fish (but Angels especially), it seems that internal parasites come free of charge with them!

Right, to your list…Discus and Angels are not supposed to be good tank-mates although each time I’ve kept them together they seemed to co-exist pretty well…
I think that as long as any Discus you might buy are well established and assuming you go for a Firemouth or two that they are quite small ones then the Discus will soon learn to ‘keep them in their place’.
I will add that every Discus I ever kept was in ordinary tap water, the theory is that they will live fine in it but will not breed. But after having said that I had a pair which would quite regularly lay eggs in tap water in England and one time the eggs were fertile – they actually hatched into ‘wrigglers’ but then the male decided that his progeny were eminently edible and scoffed the lot !!!
Anyway, that’s a digression, yes, tank-bred Discus will live in fairly hard water – I even recall it being said that a friend of the person writing that post had a friend who kept his Discus in (to use his words) “Liquid Concrete”.
Discus are kept in artificially warmer temperatures as many of the diseases and bacteria to which they are prone to suffer from cannot exist at these higher temperatures which also begs the question of whether their proposed tank-mates can tolerate the same? Most of the fish on your list will tolerate these temperatures, although I would have my concerns about the Firemouths, these are a Central American fish which would not really, I think, be able to cope with long periods of warmer water – I actually kept some (by way of an experiment) in an outdoors pond once – when I retrieved them in the Autumn they were fully fit and still coloured nicely too (and had grown appreciably).
I would also have concerns as to whether some Rainbows would like the warmer water either, although this is just a guess on my part, I have always kept them at lower temperatures – and with the pH pretty high too, I’m certain this is more like their natural surroundings.
Your submission about only having male Cacatouides because females are too small might well backfire, if you can find some adult females you will have more contented males who will colour up more nicely due to being ‘forever’ (or so it seems to me) displaying to them.

I have seen almost all the fish on your list available in Forum sponsors’ tanks at some time or another so I would suggest you keep an eye on their postings telling of their ‘new arrivals’ and plan your visits accordingly. You really wouldn’t want to be putting all your stock in at one time anyhow, my suggestion would be, if you go down the Discus route, to get them first, settle them in for a good few weeks and start to grow and then gradually build up your stock thereafter…

Now to a big word of caution for you…the larger Cichlids you propose getting will get large – especially the Discus – and when that happens they will either have to be passed on or, and here’s the danger, you might just find yourself having to get more and more tanks to accommodate them – and all the new ‘discoveries’ you will doubtless make along the way…I’m afraid that once it gets hold of you Fishkeeping can become a MOST addictive hobby or, to plagiarise the greatest Soccer manager who ever lived, it isn’t a matter of life and death – it’s more important than that…

John

Think Cockatoo is off list then as the females(2.5cm in one book, 5cm in the other??) would prob eventually end up as food for the bigger fish.

I'll start with your last point...I have a female right now which is over 1-1/2\" now and it's still growing - the only real fish to fear on your list would be the Butterfly.
However, another Apisto which is nearly as colourful and a good bit larger is the A. Macmasteri, I have a pair the female of which is over 2\" long and the male is appreciably larger still. These are well over a year old now (a good age for Apistos).

With the Discus/Firemouth debate I am being pretty guarded in the suggestion that they would live happily together, I have tried to (perhaps not very successfully) infer that they might just co-exist but would never actually go as far as to make an out-and-out recommendation. It isn't a pairing I would choose to make...I am a little unhappy with your suggestion to keep the Discus at only 25-26 where the suggested level is more like in the low thirties - your short term rise to 28 might really be as low as you should consider keeping them at - but, hey, rules are made to be broken and as I always say: 'the fish don't read the same books as we do'.
'Suck it and see' is perhaps the right phrase here...but if you do keep a very close watching brief, you would be contravening some of the established 'rules' - but as stated 'Rules are........'.

Going to draw up a wee chart and write down temps and water types an where they originate from etc. to try to clear a few wee things up. would like to try to keep fish mainly from one region.

This is a very good idea of yours, I and others here will be most interested in hearing your final selections and how you arrived at them.

John

Just remembered what I wanted to add, your Paradise Fish will be ill at ease at higher temperatures too, they are from China and are better suited to temperatures in the low 70s - I even have some at room temperature - they've been at that for over a year now with no ill-effect but they mightn't like being at the higher end of the spectrum too much.