Tiger Fish is what several species are called due to the fact that they have tiger like coloring, as well as sharp and jagged looking teeth like a tiger that can rip through someone’s skin. These fish are considered great game fish.

Some of these involve fish in the family “Alestiidae,” which includes the Goliath Tigerfish, and the Tigerfish. The Goliath Tigerfish has actually been known to attack humans and several real attacks are on record.
Some varieties of African cichlids are also called Tigerfish, as well as some types of Datniodides from Southeast Asia. Another tigerfish is the big South American Characins from the family of Erythrinidae.

Physical Characteristics

The Goliath Tigerfish is silver with big teeth and can reach 50kg in weight. The next largest in this family is the Tigerfish, which weighs in at 15kg. The African cichlid tigerfish are huge, silver colored fish with a black strip down their body. They have been known to get up to more than six and a half feet long and weigh up to 105 pounds. Even so, they are not known to eat or attack people.

The Datnioides tigerfish are big, deep body fish with long black vertical stripes and grey, white or brown bodies.
Tigerfish are very ferocious fish and not unlike the piranha of South America. Besides their sharp teeth, they are vicious hunters and very speedy. The younger ones hunt in packs and if there isn’t enough food, they sometimes attack and eat each other.

They will attack just about any animal, and sometimes people.  A tigerfish is equipped with a unique organ that is a gas filled sack it uses to receive sound waves to help it find its prey.

Habitat and Location

Alesttidae are found in African rivers and lakes such as the Congo, the Okavango and Zambezi rivers and Lake Tanganyika, Lake Kariba and Cabora Bassa. The African cichlid tigerfish is in Lake Malawi. The Datnioides tigerfish are in Southeast Asia and live in both fresh and brackish water.

Diet

Tiger fish are all hunters and they stalk, circle and attack their prey and kill and eat other fish or even animals that get close to shore or swim out onto the water. They mainly eat snakes, fish, birds, frogs, mice and even small baby crocodiles.

Breeding Facts

Tiger fish spawn in the spring and may spawn twice if the water is hot enough in the early spring. They then make, and head up the river to lay their eggs in the shallow water.

Tiger Fish – World Of Nature – Alestiidae