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A while ago, I wrote a piece on the Family Erythrinidae, comprised of evil-looking and malevolent underwater butchers that do not disguise their predatory intentions, indeed if anything, advertise their natures with grimacing mouths filled with the kind of teeth more usually seen on carnivorous dinosaurs. Well, I recently visited the website of Sean Evans, oddball keeper extraordinaire, and he has some photographs of his Hoplias malabaricus on the website alongside the 26-inch Clown Knife fishes, the big Pims and an eclectic collection of Puffer Fishes. To see the pics of Sean's collection, go here: http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/sitemap.htm.

Make no mistake, when Innes in his venerable tome suggested that a good name for this fish would be "Surplus Destroyer", he was NOT kidding. Sean's specimen of Hoplias malabaricus is over a foot long, and has a mouth like a gin trap. If you like your fishes big, brutal and mean-looking, then this is a fish that makes quite a few pelagic sharks look effete.

Although Characoids are relatively modern ray-finned fishes, Hoplias malabaricus looks as if it's just stepped out of a time machine from the Jurassic era. From the hardiness standpoint, this is a fairly tough fish, but one that needs live food, which means live fishes. Small specimens provide show Guppy breeders with a neat solution for dealing with runts, cripples and sub-standard surplus stock, but as this fish reaches 20 inches with ease, large adults need something more substantial. At that size, Hoplias malabaricus possesses a mouth that is capable of making short work of a fish the size of a full-grown Dempsey, so feeding it will present some problems.

However, there is something about this fish which commands a certain gruesome admiration. It has evolved to live alongside such less than friendly companions as Spectacled Cayman and Anacondas, and as I observed in my previous article, seems to have adopted an approach neatly summed up by a quote from the film Alien: "It has a neat defence - you don't dare try to kill it". While there are predators capable of taking it on, even they treat it with respect, and anyone acquiring one of these is advised to take heed of this.

I suspect that once Shini has finished browsing the website, and enjoyed gazing at Sean's amazing collection, this is one of those oddballs that he wouldn't mind testing his skills on. However, he'll be doing water changes wearing chain mail armour if he does


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

great article call. i like that u emphasized the power of this fish. im a big fan of the more "natural" looking fish and the wolffish takes the cake. its camo. patterns give it a very predatorial beauty if u will. it has an interesting defense against schools of piranha as well. itll stuff its tail into the sand so the piranha cant make a rear attack, there-by forcing the piranha to take it on face-to-face. which they dont if the wolffish is any type of good health. ive been told by wolffish owners that the worst part of owning them is feeding them. they eat a whole lot and arent that tidy of eaters. which equals a good amount of tank maintenance. that is quite a tricky maneuver with a fish that will literally crush your fingers OFF! once again excellent article as usual calli.

Doesn't look much like any charachin I've ever seen. Great work, Cass.

C_o_L : Once upon a time, these fishes were part of the Characidae. They've since been moved to the Erythrinidae, but are still part of the Order Characiformes. The venerable Innes book covers Hoplias malabaricus under the Characins, but don't forget that his taxonomic information is of 1930's vintage or thereabouts

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002