Indonesian tigerfish

Care at a glance

Overview

This is a solitary ambush predator that needs a huge tank, on the order of 680 liters, with lots of cover. It hangs in the middle of the water near wood and rock, waiting rather than chasing. Feed meaty foods like shrimp, crustaceans, and fish pieces, and avoid feeder fish for health reasons. It is best kept alone or with large, calm fish it can't eat and won't get bullied by.

In the wild

The Indonesian tigerfish lives in slow rivers, estuaries, and floodplains across Malaysia, Sumatra, and Borneo, among sunken logs, roots, and debris. Some populations sit in fresh water, others in slightly brackish. For a tank, that means a very large setup with plenty of structure to break sightlines, neutral to slightly alkaline water (pH 6.5 to 7.5), and a wide temperature window from the low to upper 20s C.

Good to know

Datnioides microlepis is in the family Datnioididae and is the largest of this batch, reaching about 50 cm. The bold black-on-gold vertical bars are its signature and help it blend among roots and wood. It eats smaller fish and invertebrates in the wild, and aquarium breeding is essentially unrecorded. It is listed as Vulnerable due to habitat loss and overfishing.

Did you know

It can dial the contrast of its bars up or down depending on mood and surroundings, sometimes nearly washing them out, which makes its ambush hiding even better.

Related species

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• 

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