Why? No personality? Have you seen some of the members African Cichlid tanks and videos? I have a bunch of videos and pics! There amazing fish and no other fish have the parental instinct. It's actually been documented that there parenting skills are far surpassed. You don't need so many, people choose to overstock sometimes but it's not necessary.
Just as colorful ok maybe... To each there own I guess. I find African cichlids to be like no other. I have convicts and fire mouths and I re homed them all so I could setup my 75 African Cichlid tank.
And I don't think "everybody" likes them. There just a nice fish to keep some can get aggressive others not so much. The mating rituals are amazing if you get the chance to watch.
I've had different kinds of fish from community tropical to convicts am hands down African Cichlids are for me. You should YouTube jewel of the rift and watch the amazing documentary on them.
Here are some more reasons I love my guys