ADFs will go with peaceful community fish.
Cycle seems to be working for you then so just keep using it the way you are I suppose.
Cichlids can be tricky but there are some species that can be housed in community tanks - unfortunately those species aren't the hardiest but they are ok. Amongst these are blue/gold rams and some other dwarf cichlids from central and south america. Keyhole cichlids are another surprisingly peaceful cichlid and they'll also breed readily and can be kept in a community setting.
Other than these however, your non-cichlid tank-mates would be limmited as most species are not suited to typical community life.
I mentioned yellow labs in a previous post - they are african rift lake cichlids that would do well in your tank but aren't exactly community fish either.
If you wanted to you could try going completely cichlid. What pH/hardness is your water? Because you are only just beginning, you will want to choose cichlids that match this so you don't have to mess around with it. New world cichlids do best in soft, acidic water while most africans come from hardwater, alkaline rift lakes.
If you want something that you can breed and won't be too picky, I'll suggest pulcher/kribensis. They are african but don't come from a rift lake and do quite well in pretty much any pH within reason. They also don't exceed 3 inches and, IMO, are a good place to start with cichlids. They aren't too aggressive either.
If you don't mind aggression and would like to breed, get a pair of convicts. Unfortunately, there won't be much else you can house with them - maybe a school of 6 rosy barbs to keep them from turning on each other, but at breeding time convicts become seriously aggressive - even though they don't get very big. They breed like rabbits though. So if you don't want to be getting rid of and raising fry all the time, don't get a pair.
Something else I didn't consider (and probably isn't quite what VIP had in mind
) are angels. Angelfish are also cichlids - just weird ones. You can keep these in a community setting and my personal favourite mix is 4 angels, 4 scissortail rasboras, a bristlenose plec and 6 black phantom tetras. Because of all the captive breeding, angels do well in a variety of water conditions and they are easily available and grow to an attractive size. Make sure you don't mix them with fin-nippers or very small neon-like fish though.
Cycle seems to be working for you then so just keep using it the way you are I suppose.
Cichlids can be tricky but there are some species that can be housed in community tanks - unfortunately those species aren't the hardiest but they are ok. Amongst these are blue/gold rams and some other dwarf cichlids from central and south america. Keyhole cichlids are another surprisingly peaceful cichlid and they'll also breed readily and can be kept in a community setting.
Other than these however, your non-cichlid tank-mates would be limmited as most species are not suited to typical community life.
I mentioned yellow labs in a previous post - they are african rift lake cichlids that would do well in your tank but aren't exactly community fish either.
If you wanted to you could try going completely cichlid. What pH/hardness is your water? Because you are only just beginning, you will want to choose cichlids that match this so you don't have to mess around with it. New world cichlids do best in soft, acidic water while most africans come from hardwater, alkaline rift lakes.
If you want something that you can breed and won't be too picky, I'll suggest pulcher/kribensis. They are african but don't come from a rift lake and do quite well in pretty much any pH within reason. They also don't exceed 3 inches and, IMO, are a good place to start with cichlids. They aren't too aggressive either.
If you don't mind aggression and would like to breed, get a pair of convicts. Unfortunately, there won't be much else you can house with them - maybe a school of 6 rosy barbs to keep them from turning on each other, but at breeding time convicts become seriously aggressive - even though they don't get very big. They breed like rabbits though. So if you don't want to be getting rid of and raising fry all the time, don't get a pair.
Something else I didn't consider (and probably isn't quite what VIP had in mind
) are angels. Angelfish are also cichlids - just weird ones. You can keep these in a community setting and my personal favourite mix is 4 angels, 4 scissortail rasboras, a bristlenose plec and 6 black phantom tetras. Because of all the captive breeding, angels do well in a variety of water conditions and they are easily available and grow to an attractive size. Make sure you don't mix them with fin-nippers or very small neon-like fish though.
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