I have a 40 gal with a breeding colony of Cherry Shrimp. When the colony gets big I commonly pull out a few and throw them in various cichlid tanks.
Usually, as soon as they hit the water most/all are eaten. But, those that hit the decor sometimes last a while. Typically it's the bigger cichlids that pay less attention to them once the shrimp are settled in.
I suspect... if you really planned out the decor, creating lots of areas the shrimp can get into that the cichlids cannot... and you gave the shrimp enough time to get well established before introducing the cichlids... you could get a colony to persist within the cichlids environment.
I've wanted to do this for a long time... but I've never had a big tank I was willing to let sit, all set up for cichlids, for a year or so with just shrimp. I have a DIY tank now that's slowly getting built that I plan to start this way. But I'm 95% sure I'll get it all set up, load it with shrimp... then 2 weeks later add the cichlids and lose the shrimp.