Hi Dixiegirl. I am in the same boat as you. I am looking to set-up a cichlid tank soon. My preference is Mbuna. I browsed this forum and the internet and found most of the info a bit confusing. I did however come across someone who has kept Mbuna and he offered to help the OP of the thread I was browsing. I cheekily PM'd him and asked him if he would help me too. He was cool and offered me some great advice. I will share the PM, without his name added but if he reads this and doesn't mind, I will be more than happy to credit him.....
"In a 55 gallon once you have all the rocks in you are ideally looking at 10-12 fish and 2-4 species depending on size and aggression. These are fromcichlid forum and should give you a good jumping off point.
Smaller, Less Aggressive Mbuna Aquarium
Select any 3 species (max 12 fishes):
• Metriaclima estherae
• Pseudotropheus saulosi
• Pseudotropheus sp. "Acei"
• Labidochromis sp. "Hongi"
• Labidochromis caeruleus
• Labidochromis sp. "Perlmutt"
• Labidochromis chisimulae
• Iodotropheus sprengerae
• Cynotilapia afra
Do not mix any Labidochromis species.
Larger, More Aggressive Mbuna Aquarium
Select any 2 groups (max 10 fishes):
• Labeotropheus trewavasae
• Melanochromis johanni
• Tropheops tropheops
• Pseudotropheus elongatus
• Metriaclima pyrsonotos
However our best bet is for you to go to a fish store or website that will ship to you and make a list of all the mbuna they can get for you and go from there. Also if you can afford it i suggest bumping up to a 75 gallon"
If anyone has any more species to add to these lists, please do, as it will help at least two people...lol