Hoplias Malabaricus Personality

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Sarcosuchus

Candiru
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Oct 28, 2006
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I've never had a Wolf fish before. It is definitely in my list of fish to have (One day). The Hoplias Malabaricus should be my starting point. I do love the High Fin Red Wolf fish too.

I heard hoplias malabaricus (hm) just sits at the bottom of the tank all the time like a dead log and if I'm not mistaken I've read about someone getting bored of it. Nevertheless I've also heard some say they have an active HM.

My question is on their personality. I wouldn't mind a quiet and cleanly decorated peaceful tank. But from your experience what are they like?
 
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I've had them - and yes, they do just sit at the bottom doing nothing - and then do damage when lights are out. Very boring fish. It would not even eat in front of me.
I don't understand why the aimara and others are so much more active while this one isn't.

The "rainbow wolfs" are to be honest, more like a tetra or something - and not very personable. Active, but dull behavior.
 
Mine is definitely a bit of a log. He seems to go in cycles of 5 days off, 2 days on - He won't seem to eat or move for 5 days, then the other two he's up at the top, racing the arowana to food and chasing everyone away. If I hadn't raised him from a 4" squirt into the 12+" chunk of evil he is today, I probably wouldn't keep him. But we have a history, so he's staying with me.

to be fair to him, the only fish he's killed (that wasn't intended as food) is a red tail catfish that had about 2" on him. He just refused to share the bottom of the tank with anyone else. the mid and top level swimmers seem to be ok in his book.
 
I think it's programmed in their head because they are a smaller species kinda, and the less moving around they do the less likely they are to be eaten . Also , sneak attack sniper type hunting works. They seem to be found in more still water rather than the moving water like some Hoplias aimara are used to. Kinda hard to sit in moving water as well. Maybe that's why H.aimara swim so much. They have to. Also, the H.aimara knows it's the king of the water,with a few exceptions of course. Just a thought. Thanks.
 
fwprawn said:
I've had them - and yes, they do just sit at the bottom doing nothing - and then do damage when lights are out. Very boring fish. It would not even eat in front of me.
I don't understand why the aimara and others are so much more active while this one isn't.

The "rainbow wolfs" are to be honest, more like a tetra or something - and not very personable. Active, but dull behavior.
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Do damage when lights are out? What kind of damage?
 
Usually , it's when they destroy the tanks decorated interior, purposefully or not. Also, biting other tankmates after it's dark.
 
You asked what kind of damage - Basically taking a giant chunk out of the belly of the other fish (fatally, of course.)
 
I currently have both a red wolf (ery ery) and a hoplias malabaricus. I got them around the same time about 4 months ago.

The red wolf is much more active expecially when I'm around the tank. I have him with some silver dollars and a red severum. He has claimed the lower leftside of the tank. He will chase anyone away his territory and trends to be aggressive during feeding time. During feeding time he will bite anyone going for his food, which is why I plan on getting him in a 40b for himself by the end of the month. Other than missing some scales the other fish are doing fine. My red wolf has a huge appetite, and will even eat the omega one veggie rounds I feed the other fish.

My Mala was very shy at first. Lately he comes out more when he sees him, waiting to be fed. Still much less active than my red wolf. His favorite spot to chill is in the middle level of a bunched up plastic plants. It's kind of goofy looking at him get in his spot. My favorite thing to do with my Mala is feeding him tilapia. I cut thin one inch strips and hold them with plastic tongs barely in the water. It's amazing how hard he hits his food. I don't have lights on this tank. The tank is in my tv room and gets a lot of traffic, so there's always the room light on.


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I had a mala a few years ago in a characin community tank and it was easily the meanest fish I've ever owned. When I fed meaty foods like tilapia or shrimp it would take its body and push it in a pile, lay on it and flare up at any other fish that tried to eat. He also gave my Dorado a few wounds that I didn't think he would recover from. My curupira is no where near as aggressive as my Mala was.
 
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