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I have a 20 gallon tank and im going to be getting a cichlid and keep it in there until i build my new snake cage them im going to move this fish into the 50 gallon. Does anybody have any ideas? like one nice cichlid ? or mayb 2? i def want to go with a male GT but any other ideas??

I would go with blue ram, or convicts.

im not interested in the smaller guys i like the bigger guys and yes i have experience with this fish.i have kept dempseys and red devils and oscars in the past. So im looking at something like a GT or Texas cichlid or a red terror...??

Texas cichlid male can be a foot long, too big for 50 gallon.

Male green terror can be a foot long. Once again too big.

A single dempsy could adequately be kept, but obviously you want more than one fish.

Red terror adult once again too big.

Firemouths, convicts, blue acara, honduran redpoints, would be much better choice medium size fish until you have at least a 75 gallon or preferably larger tank.

Keeping a fish does not equal keeping it adequately. Did your red devil exceed a foot in length? If so in that tank it was very very cramped. If not, it did not reach adult size.

see thats where your wrong..the only one that def. reaches a foot in capivity is a Texas. Green terros and jacks only reach about 10 inches . even so one Nice size fish would be fine in a 50 gallon breeder tank.

Are you interested in it living its whole lifespan healthily?

I agree that you could get one or two in a 50, but dont take it carte blanche that they will get on.

Just dont get two for the 20, when they mature , irrelevant of the sex, they may tear each other apart. This could happen by three months of age. Personally I dont think you sound ready for these bigger south american cichlids yet, the red terror especially might decide not to share a tank with any other fish whatsoever .Perhaps a bit more reading about the behaviour? Its really the "size" of their territoriality thats the important bit, not their actual bodily dimension. Most of the species you mention are heavy polluters too, so the more water and filtration you can give them the better.

Most of the SA cichlids will grow faster than you might think, outgrowing that 20 gal possibly at as early as 3-4 months of age, so if youre going to do the 2 stage tank thing, youd better get it done quite quickly. When fully mature most of those species belong an a 75-100 gallon tank for a really stable environment and a nice quality of life. You may be able to keep them alive in a 50, but their life quality wont be much good.

Pookie is right, hes advocating good fish care. Youre underestimating the sizes. As a general approach to fishkeeping youd do rather better to rise above the lowest common denominator of tanksizes that to stick rigidly to them. It shows you actually care, and gives you a bit of space to enrich their lives with appropriate decor, rather than just have a big fish in a bare block of water like a lot of ( IMHO ) morons with monsterfish do. You know the type, gotta have pitbulls, alligator gars, pirahnas , crocodiles, all in a small flat, who wear t shirts in winter and dont feed their kids right, dont read books, talk crap, walk about LFS 's like they own the place telling everyone how great aggressive fish are while never having actually kept one alive for more than 3 months, ( most people wish they would jump of a bridge ), dont rate midas cichlids unless they have a nuchal hump the size of a baseball and like to tease it through the glass 24/7 .You know the type. You have a chance to do so much better.

Even my acaras are to be split into two seperate 120 gals. It stops them beating the hell out of each other. They are 4 inches long, yes thats 4 inches, and already a 55 is proving too small for them. Its the mood, not the body that dictates the size of the tank.Intelligent and aggressive fish deserve large tanks.More to the point, they really need them.

ok see what you's mean, but please don't treat me like i have no clue because i been in this hobby for awhile now and i was actually getting out of it. I recently had a 55 gallon a male and female jack dempsey. Both grew around 7 or 9 inches. i had them for 3 years. I had a fluval 304 filter and aquaclear filter as well. I understand this fish are very messy eaters. And about the red terror i know if i got one of them it would have to be kept alone, same goes for the red devil, unless i have a big enough tank.

All i wanted was someone opinon of one great fish to have or something along those lines. But i understand by judging of the tank size its hard to tell what would def. work and what won't.

It depends on exactly how large fish you want. You can have blue acaras which are like green terrors but max out at 7". You can always start with juveniles and keep only a pair that bonds off. There are also alot of pike cichlids which would fit in a 55 happily. The gymnogeophagines are a good sized fish for a 55 which maxes out at about 6-7", and allows you to keep more than two in the tank. Some geophagines work too, such as a pair of brasiliensis. A pair of salvinis also work, which are extremely colorful and max out at 9". There are a bunch of cichlids which work, can you please provide us with a certain max size you're aiming for?