Thinking of buying a red wolf fish

[Aquanero]

Erythrinus erythrinus is what I have, there is also the Peruvian sp. I've heard conflicting reports as which one is more active/interactive. This is the first one I've ever owned so I would hardly qualify as an expert. I like the coloration of the Erythrinus erythrinus (Red Hi-Fin Wolf Fish) so that's what I sought out. I bought him in October I think, at about 4" he's already over 5" and bulkier. I feed him Hakari sinking carnivore pellets, earthworms, whole Krill & Silversides. I also hand feed him, carefully. He usually lies in the upper left corner on a mat of floating plastic plants and a heavy tangle of Pothos roots. When it’s hungry he comes down and begs for food in front of the tank. He reminds me of a coelacanth when he cruses around. He is not on the same activity level or as interactive as a cichlid and I would be careful putting it in a tank with aggressive or competitive cichlids as he would have no issue biting the front of there face if they got too close or tried to compete for food while it was hungry. Otherwise he pretty much minds his own business. Just don’t get between them and dinner, they have a nasty set of jaws and love to use them.

I would have no trouble having a small one in a 29 to grow it out they don’t use a lot of space. Dim lighting will make it more comfortable and some places to rest/hide in between meals is a good idea too. I’ve also noticed mine doesn’t differentiate between worms and fingers, so take that under advisement. Mine seems fairly intelligent and is interactive when it wants something otherwise it could really care less.

He is housed with a Royal Pleco, a Raphael cat and a Black Ghost Knife fish. The BGK is the only fish he doesn’t chase off food I don’t know why but I suspect it might have something to do with the electrical current it puts out. When the wolf comes close he veers off so I just suspect that could be why, other wise he just bulldozes in and takes over on the Pleco and cat. I could be completely wrong about that but it’s all I’ve come up with so far, he could certainty overpower it if he wanted to even kill it.

This is a picture when I first got it.

 

[doomiedee]

Erythrinus erythrinus is what I have, there is also the Peruvian sp. I've heard conflicting reports as which one is more active/interactive. This is the first one I've ever owned so I would hardly qualify as an expert. I like the coloration of the Erythrinus erythrinus (Red Hi-Fin Wolf Fish) so that's what I sought out. I bought him in October I think, at about 4" he's already over 5" and bulkier. I feed him Hakari sinking carnivore pellets, earthworms, whole Krill & Silversides. I also hand feed him, carefully. He usually lies in the upper left corner on a mat of floating plastic plants and a heavy tangle of Pothos roots. When it’s hungry he comes down and begs for food in front of the tank. He reminds me of a coelacanth when he cruses around. He is not on the same activity level or as interactive as a cichlid and I would be careful putting it in a tank with aggressive or competitive cichlids as he would have no issue biting the front of there face if they got too close or tried to compete for food while it was hungry. Otherwise he pretty much minds his own business. Just don’t get between them and dinner, they have a nasty set of jaws and love to use them.

I would have no trouble having a small one in a 29 to grow it out they don’t use a lot of space. Dim lighting will make it more comfortable and some places to rest/hide in between meals is a good idea too. I’ve also noticed mine doesn’t differentiate between worms and fingers, so take that under advisement. Mine seems fairly intelligent and is interactive when it wants something otherwise it could really care less.

He is housed with a Royal Pleco, a Raphael cat and a Black Ghost Knife fish. The BGK is the only fish he doesn’t chase off food I don’t know why but I suspect it might have something to do with the electrical current it puts out. When the wolf comes close he veers off so I just suspect that could be why, other wise he just bulldozes in and takes over on the Pleco and cat. I could be completely wrong about that but it’s all I’ve come up with so far, he could certainty overpower it if he wanted to even kill it.

This is a picture when I first got it.
View attachment 970135

I've never kept a ery but my mala could care less about the bright lights. He always out and about begging for food or just watching me.


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[BuffaloPolypteridae]

That's been one of my biggest experiments so far, testing out how they (erythrinus) will work with smaller tank mates. So far my red has only killed 2, an Orino Pbass he gave life ending wounds too, and a heckelli threadfin he left nothing but its head.. other then those 2 incidents comming him has worked out quite well.

I have a classic IT dat, an Orino pbass, a leopard ctenopoma, and a balzani geo all ranging from 3 to 4.5 inch, easily edible by my wolf but he's well fed on pellets so he shouldn't be killing anybody else. My dat at 3.5 inch has flared at him and gotten him to back off, same with the pbass. Leopard cten just acts like a leaf and floats away, gymno flies off and the wolf gives chase.

I think that is a huge factor in successfully comming red wolves in my experience, how they react to a sort of "challenge". If the wolf points itself at the tank mate, and flutters its all up to the tank mate how the wolf reacts. If it gets flighty, it gets chased and bit at. If it stands its ground the wolf shrugs it off. That's what makes bichirs perfect tank mates for them, they never run away ime

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[isde02]

I don't know much about them but mine is the erythrinus sp.tahuayo. He's in a 75g with my growouts....a 2-3in rio mag umbee, a 2in ngt datnoid, a 2-3in motaguense, and 2 common silver dollars. Sometimes the cichlids nip him and he gives chase but it never lasts longer than a few seconds. I got him on nov. 7th at 3in and now he's about 5-6in. and fat lol.