Acei are great, and they're one of the most mellow mbuna I've ever kept. As TwoTankAmin said, they're herbivores. I know people who have said they've kept mbuna with java fern, but the few times I tried the fern got ripped up into little green bits that clogged my filter intake. It pissed me off even worse because they never actually ate the fern. Like I said, I've never had anything actually eat java fern. In general, larger cichlids are hard on plants, either shredding them or uprooting them while the fish are rearranging the tank to their liking, and mbuna eat most plants and destroy anything not edible. BTW, I stand by my statement that cichlids have a secret Code of Honor that requires the destruction of plants. ?
There are a lot of smaller cichlids that you could keep, but they are mostly small to medium sized fish that live near the substrate. They will be constantly stressed with a school of large clown loaches swimming around all the time so you can rule them out. If you're looking to keep any cichlids, your options really are limited. I could probably come up with some mid to upper level dwelling cichlids that won't destroy plants and will be large enough to avoid being eaten if you want, but I'll have to think about it a bit. It sounds to me that cichlids just aren't a plan for the tank at all, though, which as a sworn cichlidophile is a disturbing, alien concept. ???
Never been much of a loach person. The only loach I've ever kept consistently are zebra loaches. I had a couple of clown loaches for a few months years ago, they were rescues that I kept until I rehomed them with a friend who was getting a bigger home and bigger tank. Since the loaches are your centerpiece fish, than you can decide of a schooling species or two for the upper regions and you'll be set. I like giant danios, but with all the rainbow and larger attractive barb species available today I guess they are kind of bland.
WYite