Bengal tiger catfish

Care at a glance

Overview

The Bengal tiger catfish is a small, active bottom catfish for a group tank with strong current. It is best kept by someone with a little experience.

Caring for the Bengal tiger catfish

The Bengal tiger catfish needs a tank of 29 gal (110 L) or larger with strong water movement. Give it open swimming length, a fine sand or smooth gravel bed and water-worn stones. Drive the current with a powerhead or a strong filter. It settles faster in a shaded tank with steady flow.

Keep the water soft to neutral, at 72 to 79°F (22 to 26°C) and a pH of 6.0 to 7.5. Clean, oxygen-rich water matters more to this fish than decor. Feed sinking pellets, crushed wafers and frozen foods such as bloodworm and daphnia, and make sure enough reaches the bottom.

It does best in the company of its own kind, so keep several together and give them room to move. They spend the day working the floor and the current for scraps. They are peaceful, so pair them only with small, calm community fish that will not push them off their meals. Breeding has not been recorded in aquariums.

Good to know

The Bengal tiger catfish is a bagrid in the large Asian family Bagridae, also sold as the tiger batasio. Francis Day described it in 1888. Its slim, laterally compressed body carries tiger-like bars. Like others in its genus, it is a headwater specialist built for fast water. A streamlined shape and generous fins let it hold station in the current. Imported fish are wild caught.

In the wild

The Bengal tiger catfish lives in clear, fast-flowing hill streams and the upper reaches of small rivers. Its range covers the Salween region and nearby basins of Southeast Asia, where the water is cool and heavily oxygenated.

Common questions

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