Siamese Tiger Fish

1 Breed Introduction

In its native Thailand, the Siamese Tiger Fish is a food fish and a rather prized one. Thanks to its distinctive shape and striking pattern, it has become a very popular ornamental fish in recent years. Most specimens seen in the domestic aquarium market reach China via Singapore from Thailand.

Chinese name: Siamese Tiger Fish

Binomial: SiameseTigerfish

Also known as: Three-banded Tiger, Nandus fish, fine-scaled datnioid

Kingdom: Animalia

Family: Datnioididae

Distribution: Streams and rivers of Thailand, also found in Borneo and Sumatra

2 Physical Characteristics

Despite its fierce-sounding name, the Siamese Tiger Fish is actually very gentle, turning aggressive only when catching live prey. Young specimens are hard to select, and aquarists unfamiliar with the variety can easily be fooled.

Juvenile Siamese Tiger Fish are basically white with black stripes. As they mature, the white gradually turns yellow, forming tiger-like markings. It is a popular ornamental fish. On the market, individuals with three yellow bars are hyped as the top-grade ‘tigers’ because rarity drives up value, so when selecting, try to choose those with three bars. Pick ones with an upright, neat appearance and a closed mouth; most importantly, avoid those whose stripes fork downward at the bottom.

The dorsal fin is the Siamese Tiger Fish’s charming feature, round like a lump as it darts through the tank. A drawback is its shy nature, especially at around 10 cm, when it hides all day in a tank corner or behind the filter, offering little to look at. Because it is so timid, it is hard to settle in; one keeper reported it took a full four years before the fish settled and would come out to be seen. Most specimens only start swimming out once grown (around 20 cm), so owners should be prepared for a long period with little display value, all due to its high sensitivity to the environment.

3 Housing and Environment

The Siamese Tiger Fish is fairly large, which is why it is used as food in its homeland, but it is now a popular ornamental. How can you raise a healthy one, and what environmental points should you watch?

The Siamese Tiger Fish’s body color is a health indicator: when it pales or darkens, the fish is stressed or unwell. It needs soft water from weakly acidic to neutral, with a slightly brackish, low-salinity setup; salt should be added to the water. It also needs a planted tank with rocks and caves, and upside-down flowerpots can simulate caves. It treats caves as home and loves rolling in them, which is adorable.

Use neutral, low-salinity water with a fairly strong current. Because of its large size and the difficulty of sexing, breeding in the aquarium is almost impossible.

4 Feeding

The Siamese Tiger Fish is usually gentle but turns fierce when hunting live prey. When feeding live foods, disinfect them to avoid fouling the water and making the fish sick.

The Siamese Tiger Fish is a carnivorous ornamental that loves live food such as loaches and goldfish. With training it will also take frozen fish and shrimp. Its growth rate is moderate and keeping it is somewhat harder than other large fish. It needs sizeable meaty foods, ideally small fish. It can adapt to some prepared foods such as beef, mealworms, insects, fish chunks, and beefheart hamburg, and when feeding live food, rinse and inspect it first for contamination. River fish such as crucian carp, common carp, and grass carp should be descaled, gutted, and gill-removed, then disinfected in brine before use.