My new little Gold Wolf

[Mudfrog]

He's around 4" or so. He does have a busted mouth, bought him that way. I'm hoping it heals up fine. He's in my 40g refugium while I seed an FX4 for his 75g. He's already taken pieces of shrimp, so that's a good sign. Looking for recommendations on a bottom feeder that can handle his aggression, if he gets aggressive. I was thinking of a Striped Raphael or something similar? Would love to put a hoplo catfish in there, I know they are called an armored catfish, but how do they handle aggressive tank mates?



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[jjohnwm]

I tried a Hoplo-type catfish (Megalechis) with my Red Wolf when he was a bit under 3 inches; he ignored the cat for a couple weeks, but then began to attack it so aggressively that I had to remove it or it would have been killed. The wolf remained alone for a couple of months, at which point I cautiously tried to introduce another much larger cat of the same species...I'm a slow learner...but this time the cat was still floating in a glass jar and he was already trying to kill it. Never released it and haven't tried any other tankmates since.

 

[Mudfrog]

I tried a Hoplo-type catfish (Megalechis) with my Red Wolf when he was a bit under 3 inches; he ignored the cat for a couple weeks, but then began to attack it so aggressively that I had to remove it or it would have been killed. The wolf remained alone for a couple of months, at which point I cautiously tried to introduce another much larger cat of the same species...I'm a slow learner...but this time the cat was still floating in a glass jar and he was already trying to kill it. Never released it and haven't tried any other tankmates since.

My old red wolf had several tank mates, never had an issue short of stealing food. But they each have unique temperaments. I'd prefer a Hoplo, but would settle for a Raphael. I know they are very tough and since they are mainly out at night it would hopefully work.

 

[jjohnwm]

I didn't help matters any by keeping the wolf isolated and then trying to introduce tankmates; many keepers seem to report success with cohabitation, but the ones that do seem to be those that had other fish with their wolves right from a small size. I think in my case...the die is cast. Mine has already been alone too long to ever learn to play nice with others.

Megalechis is an armoured cat, but a Raphael seems much heavier-duty; sort of like comparing chain mail to a full rigid metal suit. And as you stated, the two fish are on "opposite shifts" so that might help as well. Good luck, I hope it works out.