Restocking My Tank

[jiffy]

I recently returned from vacation to find my few remaining Ps. Saulosi of 4 years died (not sure what happened though I suspect despite dechlorinating the water, I must have killed the bacteria in the filter while cleaning it before I left). That being said, it's time to revamp my tank.

There are two options I'm considering, but I'd like a little input. I have a 30G Long tank with a Marineland C220 canister filter (225 GPH).

First option = peaceful community tank:
~8 cardinal tetras
4-5 Cory Cats
1 Dwarf Gourami
5-6 Zebra Dainos

Second option = semi aggressive tank
~10 tiger barbs
Red Finned or Red Tailed Shark
top dweller?

I'm sorta leaning towards the semi aggressive tank, as I only had a few Cichlids (long story), and they weren't very active aside from one harassing the hell out of the others.

Any thoughts on these two setups?

 

[Fishman1995]

I like the thought of the semi agressive, id do the Red tailed shark the barbs and for your top dweller maybe a semi agressive cichlid, maybe an african river specimen.