Goliath tigerfish

Hydrocynus goliath

Also known as Giant tigerfish, Mbenga, African tiger fish

FreshwaterFish

Goliath tigerfish (Hydrocynus goliath) — Sablegsd · CC BY-SA 3.0

Care at a glance

Temperature: 73–81°F (23–27°C)
pH: 6.5–7.5
Adult size: 52.4 in (133 cm)
Minimum tank: 3,963 gal (15,000 L)
Temperament: Aggressive
Social behavior: Social
Tankmates: Tankmates with caution
Swim level: Middle
Difficulty: Difficult
Breeding: No record
Rarity: Rare
Origin: Congo River basin and Lake Tanganyika outflows
Family: Alestidae

Overview

Sold now and then as a lively little juvenile, this is an apex river predator that grows past 130 centimeters and many kilograms, so no home aquarium can hold it; plan on water measured in many thousands of liters, really a public aquarium job. It is a strong, fast, nervous swimmer that bruises itself on glass and will eat any tankmate small enough to swallow, so it demands extreme caution with company and is safest with none. In the wild these fish move in groups through big rivers, but in captivity they are best treated as a solitary specimen animal. Feed meaty foods and whole fish, and think very hard before buying the cute juvenile, because this is a decades-long commitment to a giant predator.

In the wild

The goliath tigerfish hunts the largest, fastest waters of the Congo River basin, including rapids and the outflows around Lake Tanganyika. This is warm, well-oxygenated open river, not a planted tank; it needs enormous volume, strong current, and industrial filtration far beyond home equipment. If it is kept at all, it is in public-aquarium raceways held at roughly 23 to 27 degrees Celsius and pH 6.5 to 7.5. There is no practical way to recreate its habitat in a house.

Good to know

Hydrocynus goliath is the giant of Alestidae, the African tetra family, and the largest of the tigerfishes, exceeding 130 centimeters and around 50 kilograms. Its jaws carry rows of large, conical, interlocking teeth that grip slippery prey in fast current, and it is one of the continent's top freshwater predators, taking fish up to a third of its own length. It is not bred in aquaria; there is no captive breeding record, and it is a migratory river spawner in the wild.

Did you know

It has only 32 teeth, but each one is roughly the size of a great white shark's, and they interlock like a closing zip to hold prey. Congo folklore even credits big goliaths with snatching small crocodiles.