Hampala barb

Care at a glance

Overview

This is a large, predatory river barb for specialist keepers with very big systems, not a community fish. In the wild it hunts in packs, and groups can be kept together only in huge tanks or ponds; in anything smaller it is best kept singly, since it will bully and eat what it can catch. It is an aggressive, strong midwater swimmer, so any tankmates must be large, fast, and too big to swallow, and even then be watched. Feed meaty foods, whole fish, prawn, and large sinking pellets sized to its mouth. Realistically it needs 900 liters and a lot of length, or a pond.

In the wild

The hampala barb patrols large rivers, lakes, and reservoirs from the Mekong basin across mainland Southeast Asia and the Greater Sunda Islands. It wants open, well-oxygenated water with strong flow, so a huge tank needs heavy filtration and current, a sand or fine gravel bed, and secured decor rather than delicate planting. Keep it at 22 to 28 degrees Celsius with a pH from 6.0 to 7.5. Pristine water and serious mechanical filtration are essential for a fish that eats and grows fast.

Good to know

Hampala macrolepidota is the type species of its genus in the carp family, Cyprinidae, and one of the region's best-known sport fish, called jungle perch by anglers. Its species name means large-scaled. It reaches around 50 centimeters in tanks and larger still in the wild, marked with a single black saddle-bar across the flank and a red tail edged in black. A pack-hunting predator, its aquarium breeding is not recorded; in the wild it is a seasonal river spawner.

Did you know

Anglers prize it as the jungle perch: hampala hunt baitfish in fast, slashing packs, herding and striking again and again, far more like river predators than the placid barbs most people picture.

Common questions

Related species

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