Photo by Matthew Inabinett, CC BY · source · credits
1 kinds · tap one for a closer look
Predatory and very active at night.
Shops sell this fish and Pseudoplatystoma tigrinum under the same names.
56 species in our list are a good match.
Predatory and very active at night.
Not for home aquariums. This fish grows far too big for any home tank. It needs a pond-sized system of thousands of litres, so please don't buy one as a baby.
Good to know: A tank buster that grows to about 1 metre.
Carnivore pellets, fish, prawns.
Tap a food to see what it is.
Virtually impossible to sex externally; adult females are probably stockier than males.
Common problems. Tap one to see the signs. This is a guide, not a diagnosis.
Rarely bred in captivity ·
Not reported in the hobby; in nature it migrates long distances to spawn, which cannot practically be copied in an aquarium.
Needs big ponds and a group of adults. Hormone induction is used on farms.
Large ponds. Home aquariums are too small.
Hormone injection; wet-season cues in the wild.
Many eggs on farms; hatch in about 1-2 days.
Start with live zooplankton, then fish pieces. Cannibalism is high, so grade often.
A long, striped South American shovelnose catfish and important food fish, reaching about 105 cm SL and 70 kg. Fish sold as tiger shovelnose may be any of several Pseudoplatystoma species split out in 2007.
Linnaeus described this catfish in 1766, originally as Silurus fasciatus. A 2007 revision split it into several species, so many 'tiger shovelnoses' in the trade are actually close relatives. It is a large night-time predator that needs a very large tank.
First described by Carl Linnaeus in 1766.
16 facts checked with sources
Name is valid, BUT the 2007 revision split the genus into eight species and restricted true P. fasciatum to the Guianas. Amazon 'tiger shovelnose' in the trade are most likely P. punctifer or P. tigrinum (Practical Fishkeeping: P. punctifer is the species most likely confused with P. fasciatum in imports; Seriously Fish: easily confused with P. tigrinum). Many fish sold under this name are therefore mislabelled. Seriously Fish and FishBase still use the old broad range.
FishBase: Pseudoplatystoma fasciatum summary · Buitrago-Suárez & Burr 2007, Zootaxa 1512: revision of Pseudoplatystoma · Practical Fishkeeping: Tiger shovelnose genus split into eight speciesLegacy has no family.
FishBase: Pseudoplatystoma fasciatum summaryBoth sources give SL (about 104-105 cm SL); total length is longer. FishBase max published weight 70 kg.
FishBase: Pseudoplatystoma fasciatum summary · Seriously Fish: Pseudoplatystoma fasciatumLegacy 28 °C maximum not supported.
Seriously Fish: Pseudoplatystoma fasciatumInside Seriously Fish's 6.0-7.6.
Seriously Fish: Pseudoplatystoma fasciatum · FishBase: Pseudoplatystoma fasciatum summaryLegacy has no hardness.
Seriously Fish: Pseudoplatystoma fasciatum · FishBase: Pseudoplatystoma fasciatum summary360 x 240 x 120 cm = 10,368 L (Seriously Fish's figure). Legacy 5,000 L is about half the sourced minimum.
Seriously Fish: Pseudoplatystoma fasciatumLegacy 15-20 years is too short; Seriously Fish says well over 20 years (no maximum given).
Seriously Fish: Pseudoplatystoma fasciatumPeaceful with similar-sized fish but a night-feeding predator of smaller fish and territorial with its own kind; 'semi-aggressive' fits better than 'aggressive'.
Seriously Fish: Pseudoplatystoma fasciatum · FishBase: Pseudoplatystoma fasciatum summaryDemersal = lives on/near the bottom.
FishBase: Pseudoplatystoma fasciatum summaryLegacy has no range; legacy story calls it an 'Amazon predator', which applies to P. punctifer / P. tigrinum, not P. fasciatum in the strict sense. FishBase and Seriously Fish still give the broad pre-2007 range.
Buitrago-Suárez & Burr 2007, Zootaxa 1512: revision of Pseudoplatystoma · Practical Fishkeeping: Tiger shovelnose genus split into eight species · FishBase: Pseudoplatystoma fasciatum summaryFishBase: maturity at about 56 cm (females) and 45 cm (males). Farm hormone induction not checked.
Seriously Fish: Pseudoplatystoma fasciatum · FishBase: Pseudoplatystoma fasciatum summaryLegacy 'Amazon predator' corrected for the 2007 taxonomy. Nocturnal feeding confirmed by FishBase ('feed at night').
FishBase: Pseudoplatystoma fasciatum summary · Seriously Fish: Pseudoplatystoma fasciatum · Practical Fishkeeping: Tiger shovelnose genus split into eight species