1 kinds · tap one for a closer look
Aggressive; eats any fish and even its own kind; keep alone.
This one is best kept on its own, or with its own kind.
Aggressive; eats any fish and even its own kind; keep alone.
Check your local laws. This animal is banned or needs a permit in some places, for example several US states. Check the rules where you live before you buy one, and never release it into the wild.
Not for home aquariums. This fish grows far too big for any home tank. It needs a pond-sized system of thousands of litres, so please don't buy one as a baby.
Whole fish, prawns and earthworms.
Tap a food to see what it is.
Common problems. Tap one to see the signs. This is a guide, not a diagnosis.
Nest guarder (egg layer) ·
Spawns in pits dug in shallow water; the male guards the nest even after the eggs hatch. Rarely if ever bred in aquaria.
Raise a group together and let a pair form; bonded pairs spawn in a big tank.
Very large tank (600 L+) with a sand or gravel nest area, plants and wood, warm soft water.
Stable warm water, rainy-season style water changes and heavy feeding.
The female lays about 2,500-3,000 eggs (about 2 mm across) in a shallow pit; they hatch in about 4 days and the yolk sac is used up about 10 days later.
Fry are guarded by the male; feed newly hatched brine shrimp then chopped shrimp and fish; separate by size to prevent cannibalism.
A large ambush predator of South and southern Central America that lies still among plants and debris and swallows fish whole; it tolerates low-oxygen and polluted water.
Marcus Elieser Bloch described the trahira in 1794, giving it a name based on the wrong continent. It is one of the most widespread freshwater predators in South America. Scientists now regard it as a complex of several similar species.
First described by Marcus E. Bloch in 1794. Named for Named for the Malabar coast of India, where Bloch mistakenly thought it came from.
12 facts checked with sources
Valid name, but it is a species complex: many recent papers list fish as 'aff.', 'cf.' or 'gr.' malabaricus, and Catalog of Fishes now restricts H. malabaricus proper to the Guiana Shield and Amazon. Aquarium 'wolf fish' may therefore be other Hoplias; the name is also used for the giant trahiras (H. aimara, H. lacerdae), which grow much larger. FishBase's common name is 'trahira'; 'tiger trahira' was not found in sources.
Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes: Hoplias malabaricus and synonyms (updated 21 Sep 2026) · FishBase: Hoplias malabaricus summary · US Fish & Wildlife Service: Trahira (Hoplias malabaricus) Ecological Risk Screening Summary, 2018Legacy has no family.
FishBase: Hoplias malabaricus summary · Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes: Hoplias malabaricus and synonyms (updated 21 Sep 2026)65 cm TL (total length; Giarrizzo et al. 2015, Xingu River). No Seriously Fish profile exists. Legacy 50 cm is low.
FishBase: Hoplias malabaricus summaryOnly source is the FishBase aquarium range (Baensch & Riehl). Spawning reported at about 26 °C. Legacy 22-28 °C is warmer.
FishBase: Hoplias malabaricus summary · US Fish & Wildlife Service: Trahira (Hoplias malabaricus) Ecological Risk Screening Summary, 2018Legacy 5.5-7.5.
FishBase: Hoplias malabaricus summaryLegacy has no hardness.
FishBase: Hoplias malabaricus summaryPiscivorous ambush predator; swallows prey whole (Taphorn 1990).
FishBase: Hoplias malabaricus summary · US Fish & Wildlife Service: Trahira (Hoplias malabaricus) Ecological Risk Screening Summary, 2018Rests in vegetation by day and is active at night (FishBase).
US Fish & Wildlife Service: Trahira (Hoplias malabaricus) Ecological Risk Screening Summary, 2018Legacy has no range field (story says South and Central America, which fits only the broad species complex).
Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes: Hoplias malabaricus and synonyms (updated 21 Sep 2026) · FishBase: Hoplias malabaricus summary · US Fish & Wildlife Service: Trahira (Hoplias malabaricus) Ecological Risk Screening Summary, 2018Male nest guarding confirmed. 'Rarely bred in aquaria' was not checked against a source. In the wild it can mature in 12 months and spawns mainly at the start of the rainy season (Taphorn 1990).
FishBase: Hoplias malabaricus summaryLegacy 'n/a'. Wild data (Taphorn 1990, quoted by US FWS).
US Fish & Wildlife Service: Trahira (Hoplias malabaricus) Ecological Risk Screening Summary, 2018Legacy story confirmed in the broad-species sense (see nativeRange for the narrower Catalog of Fishes range). LEGAL: Texas prohibits all Erythrinidae, so the legacy note 'no special permits in most countries' is wrong at least for Texas; US FWS rates it 'uncertain risk' (a population was briefly established in Florida, 1974-1977). Check local law.
US Fish & Wildlife Service: Trahira (Hoplias malabaricus) Ecological Risk Screening Summary, 2018 · FishBase: Hoplias malabaricus summary · Texas Parks & Wildlife: Prohibited exotic aquatic species