We identified 14 microsatellite loci for the wolf fish, Hoplias malabaricus (Erythrinidae), from a genomic shotgun library. Twenty-five primers were designed, and 48 individuals of H. malabaricus from four localities of northwest Goiás, in central Brazil, were genotyped to characterize the polymorphism at each locus. Fourteen primers amplified clearly interpretable products using a single PCR protocol; six loci were polymorphic, but with a low number of alleles per locus (2 or 3). Expected heterozygosities for polymorphic loci ranged from 0.136 to 0.505. Combined paternity exclusion probability (0.638) was low and combined genetic identity (0.056) was high in studies of parentage. The low polymorphism may be due to the small microsatellite size and the large size of the motifs.