Silver Tiger Fish

About

The Silver Tiger Fish (Datnioides polota) is a large, deep-bodied predator with a highly variable pattern of dark vertical bars, sometimes as many as seven, with smaller partial bars appearing between them, set against a pale, silvery-gold body. The predorsal profile has a noticeable concave curve that helps separate it from its close relatives. In the wild it ranges from India across to Indonesia and New Guinea, turning up in brackish estuaries, coastal lagoons, and the freshwater rivers and lakes that lie beyond tidal reach. It is an opportunistic carnivore that takes fish, prawns, crabs, and insect larvae, so any tankmates small enough to swallow are simply a meal. Adults are not social animals. Juveniles will tolerate group living, but grown fish become territorial and will react aggressively toward members of their own species and anything with a similar body shape. The safest approach is to keep one alone or, if space genuinely allows it, a group of five or more to spread out any aggression. Compatible tankmates should be similarly sized and assertive enough to hold their own, without being so aggressive that they stress the datnoid. Captive breeding has not been documented. This is a long-lived, rewarding fish for an intermediate keeper who can commit to the space and diet it needs.