Hi Erin,
Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your new fish tank! First, are you sure they're tropical fish/cichlids? Have you ruled out the very common convict cichlid? Do you have any pictures you can post or maybe see if it looks like any of the pics in our photogalleries here.....The good news is you can relax, you won't be overwhelmed, they just need clean water, the right temperature and some food, guess not much unlike us
You have heaters in the tank right? What's the water temperature and if you can get other water quality readings....you can pickup some cichlid pellet food at most local fish stores...