Slow catfish risk having their eyes bitten when entering caves occupied by wolves.Įrythrinus will feed on live fish, crustaceans, worms and insects, and only slowly get used to frozen foods.Įrythrinus is found in swampy shoreline habitats and shallow clear or blackwater streams deep inside the forest. Large-bodied cichlids such as Astronotus, Hoplarchus and Cichla also fare well. Ideal tank mates are sturdy characins such as Myleus and Metynnis. Short lengths of clay or PVC pipe make ideal caves for a relatively shy fish that may fight with conspecifics.įish that do not challenge them for territory and do not fit in their mouth are usually ignored. The body shape is more stout than Hoplerythrinus and the swimbladder is reduced much further - to the point that the species swims in open water only when it wants to grab prey from the water column.Įrythrinus are more solitary, so groups require large aquariums with plenty of hiding places, allowing each fish to claim a territory. Margins of the unpaired fins can be bright red, yellow or white. Juveniles especially can show attractive red, yellow and even purple hatch marks on their flanks over an overall brown or burgundy body. The other small species occasionally found in the hobby is Erythrinus erythrurus, often called the Redfin wolffish. Hoplerythrinus also prefer flood zone habitats with mild or no currents and several hundred individuals can migrate deep into flooded plains or forests during the rainy season. Hoplerythrinus will accept dry foods such as pellets, freeze-dried shrimp and insects, and sometimes even flake foods more readily than their relatives.Īll wolffish are excellent jumpers and any aquarium must be covered at all times! They can also do well in a community tank with other larger fishes such as catfishes, cichlids and larger characins, such as Myleus and Leporinus. Their swimbladder is not as reduced as much as the other genera, so they are much more surface oriented and active than other wolffish. Unlike Erythrinus and Hoplias these wolffish hunt in roving packs, cornering groups of smaller fish, especially characins, or chasing crustaceans and insects in the substrate or along the surface. It can be kept in a small school in a large aquarium. Hoplerythrinus unitaeniatus is easily identified by its single horizontal stripe and elongate body, and exported occasionally from Peru and Colombia. Assume that an aquarium wolffish belongs to one of five species. Several others are highly endemic and have rarely been exported. Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela don’t export their wolffish species, so the list narrows. Within their genus the species are similar and you’ll need to know where your fish were collected to have an idea of what species belong where. Next is Hoplerythrinus with three species, and Erythrinus with two. aimara and macrophthalmus are separate species, although H. The largest group is the genus Hoplias with 11 species and we assume that H.
The sub-family consists of three genera, totalling 16 species. Special rules apply, but these fish are hardy and easy to maintain. The wolffish family has something for everyone: Hoplerythrinus unitaeniatus, the smallest, will reach just over 20cm/8”, while the largest (Hoplias aimara) will reach 130cm/51” and more than 30kg/66lb.ĭespite their reputation wolffish can be good aquarium fish and are surprisingly interesting with other fish or in groups. In the dry season it’s not unusual to find Hoplias the last survivors in an emptying pool.
Because the wolffish can breathe air it can survive where few others could. They are part of a characoid sub-family of 16 species, found from Costa Rica to Argentina in nearly every kind of water. This is the family of the Amazon wolffishes and they have many names, including Trairão (sp.’Trai-ron’), Aimara, Guabina and Fasaco. However, South America is home to another group of fish that are far more voracious and much more aggressive.
They get nervous when the aquarium is approached and prefer to bite pieces of other fishes’ fins rather than devour them whole. No freshwater fish has a more fearsome reputation than the piranha, but, as many aquarists soon learn, these are actually quite timid. Piranhas are pussycats! The Hoplias of South America are the predators to really fear, says Oliver Lucanus.
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