questoin about wolf fish

RandyA

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Feb 28, 2005
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im looking to buy 1 or 2 wolf fish. im going to put them in a 120 gallon tank... i was wondering if i can put any other fish in with them like a pleco or a catfish... is 120 gallons enough for them or should i save up and get a larger tank? also how will they get along when there adults?
 
Wolf Fish

In regards tankmates for a wolf fish, it is advised that these fish grow into awesome predators, therefore you would have to consider the size of its tank mates, as when fully sized this beast can consume anything it particular wishes. Therefore unless you have tankmates about 6"+, then i recommend that you have the two on their own. Though this may cause problems as when fully sized wolf fish generally don;t like others company. Therefore you may have trouble in ensuring that both have adequate space and time alone from each other.

Though please don;t let this advice put you off. As they are awesome fish to have. I have a 12" beauty in his own tank, and he is a site to see when feeding.
 
Wolf fish are softwater predatory fish from the amazon basin, not BW fish. Keep the threads in their proper forums.

That said.
Do not keep these fish with other fish, they're sedentary predators that lie in wait all day for prey and grow up to 2' in length. They'll eat pretty much anything you'll put in it's tank. One wolf fish will be ok in a 70 gallon tank. They really don't move much so swimming room isn't really an issue. They're pretty boring to watch too except for during feeding time. They just sit in one spot all day waiting for food. They move even less when they know that food is comming to them at certain parts of the day. The one at the vancouver aquarium has been in the same spot pretty much every time I see it.
 
sorry i didnt realize that i posted in a BW thread. i was all over this forum and guess i didnt pay att. to where i was... thanks for the info... so only 1 wolf fish in a tank... can i put crawfish in with him just to help clean up the bottom of the tank? i dont care if the wolf fish eats them b/c they are only a dollar each... my concern is if the crawfish will hurt the wolf fish
 
Hahahahaha, worried that the wolf fish will get hurt by a crawfish... haha. Sorry, but that's like comparing a nuclear bomb to a bb pellet.
 
randy i think that 2 wolf fish wiil be fine for 120. watch out they eat alot and if you dont have propor filtration the tank my become cloudy.
 
.......take it from me buddy,....no tankmates. no way in hell.

If you're getting the common wolf fish -hoplias malabaricus- well, he's gonna get real big real fast in a 120 gal. We're talking over a foot in a little over a year. Mine have always gotten huge. Look, let me tell you something that I dont think most people realize when they buy a wolf fish:

That wolf is gonna be your only company. You cannot keep anything with him. The only thing I would keep with them would be very large and very aggresive cichlids. The thing is, you cant put a small wolf fish in with HUUUGE cichlids, it will die, and you cant put them both in the tank as babies, because I almost guaruntee you that the wolf will outgrow the cichlid and eat him, and just coming along and adding a huge cichlid to a huge wolf tank is a surefire way to watch that big cichlid get massacred.

As for another wolf fish...I've never been successful with that for over 6 months. Just make sure you've got at least 3 or 4 biiiig logs or caves for them, and dont expect them to move around alot and love you. They're messy eaters, so do NOT put anything bigger than it's mouth in to feed them, or there will be a gigantic mess. Dont even expect it to accept much other than live foods or beefheart. (Just go to your local butcher and he SHOULD dish out some of this for free...that's what i did) Now, they arent that active, but they're beautiful and ferocious fish, so I would do it. Just know that it's not a friendly fish. Hell, I wouldnt even call it aggressive...i'd call it superaggressive. They eat piranhas in the wild. And before you get them, why dont you post up what kind it is, because there are a few variations that the LFS will have sometimes. I'd recommend you get the red or hifin wolf, it's smaller and less aggressive.
 
A 120 gallon tank is a great size for wolf fish. They are very messy, and they really don't do much other then sit still waiting for prey. They prefer a very dim/dark tank with tons of floating vegetation (go plastic, I assure you on this one), so even the tank itself won't be much to look at in the conventional sense. As long as there are plenty of areas to hide from one another, I've had little problems with more than one fish in a tank. Tankmates of other species, however, are not an option in my experience. Mine ate everything in the tank when they were still juveniles (about 5-6"), including fish larger and toothier than themselves. These fish are best suited for species tanks, without a doubt.

All the above being true, I absolutely love them and will probably always have at least one in the collection. Enjoy.

BTW- Mine were rather easy to convert to eating shrimp (just buy a bulk frozen bag from the grocery store and defrost a few at a time for feeding). It's cheaper and safer than live foods.
 
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Ditto and Ditto...
 
Raskolnikov said:
A 120 gallon tank is a great size for wolf fish. They are very messy, and they really don't do much other then sit still waiting for prey. They prefer a very dim/dark tank with tons of floating vegetation (go plastic, I assure you on this one), so even the tank itself won't be much to look at in the conventional sense. As long as there are plenty of areas to hide from one another, I've had little problems with more than one fish in a tank. Tankmates of other species, however, are not an option in my experience. Mine ate everything in the tank when they were still juveniles (about 5-6"), including fish larger and toothier than themselves. These fish are best suited for species tanks, without a doubt.

All the above being true, I absolutely love them and will probably always have at least one in the collection. Enjoy.

BTW- Mine were rather easy to convert to eating shrimp (just buy a bulk frozen bag from the grocery store and defrost a few at a time for feeding). It's cheaper and safer than live foods.

yea, shrimp is a great idea for food...im sure it's not as messy as beefheart. :D
 
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