I missed where you said you’re working on a big plywood tank. I say get the gold if that big tank is a definite. Golds are very active and interactive.The red wolf, dragon puffer and most other wolf fish are like having a pet rock. I heard black wolf fish are active, but probably also illegal in CA. I had a gold wolf with , hujeta, odoe pike, chalceus and red tailed barracuda. They were all 6-8” and I only had that combo for a few months, but it seemed to work. One of my favorites oddballs isn’t considered an oddball by most but it’s rhampochromis haps. They look just like barracuda including the big teeth. I had a pair of rhampochromis with some bichirs and that was a really cool tank
Here’s a vid of the gold wolf with the others