Give me a clue/help me build

OK, I want to give my dad a gift of a 10 gallon set-up as a house warming gift. He is quite knowledgeable about the hobby but currently does not have a set-up. So help me build this thing.

1. Should be low maintenance.
2. Fairly hardy fish but not a run of the mill type.
3. No plants.
4. Interesting to watch.
5. I want to go with Cichlids; both of our favorite fish.

I was thinking some little shell dwellers. I want to figure out how many for a 10 plus some other type of fish like an African pleco type or a small cat like a cory. Are there any African plecos or African cory type cats?

From what I understand one does not want to do many water changes on shell dwellers. Is this true?? Give me some input please.

This set-up does not have to be shell dwellers either. What kind of a set-up of this size would you give your dad??

I just read this. Is this true or a bunch of crap???

German dwarf cichlid researcher Dr. Uwe Romer has found by studying apisto populations in the wild, that these little fish live in a fairly crowded environment. Perhaps as many as a thousand fish in an area of nine square meters, with leaf litter up to one meter thick on the bottom. You can’t duplicate these conditions in a small aquarium, but you can in a large one.



I keep my fish in tanks from 30 to 150 gallons.
Large tanks provide many advantages. They are easier to maintain the proper pH and hardness. It is also easier to control the effects of ammonia and nitrites. Lastly, you will see the fish act in a way that more closely resembles their behavior in the wild. As an example, I have had as many as 135 A. juruensis living in a 20 gallon aquarium and around 700 A. cacatuoides in a 150 gallon tank!