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Tiger Shovelnose Catfish

Pseudoplatystoma fasciatum

The 'Tiger Missile' of the Amazon (100-110 cm / 3.5+ feet). If the Redtail Catfish is a massive, slow bulldog, the Tiger Shovelnose is a sleek, hyper-fast, armored greyhound. It is stunningly beautiful, covered in stark black tiger stripes, and features one of the most bizarre heads in nature: completely flattened out like a massive, bony duck's bill or a literal shovel. It is a blindingly fast, incredibly nervous pursuit predator that requires massive, empty swimming 'runways' in a 1,000+ gallon tank, otherwise, it will panic, blindly ram the glass at high speed, and permanently shatter its long, delicate face.

Taxonomy

Class:Actinopteri

Order:Siluriformes

Family:Pimelodidae

Genus:Pseudoplatystoma

Species:Pseudoplatystoma fasciatum

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Water Temperature

22 - 28 °C

pH Value

6 - 7.5

Water type

Freshwater

Tank level

Bottom

Adult size

100 cm

Minimum tank volume

>= 500 L

Minimum group

>= 1

5 - 15 dGH

2 - 7 dKH

TDS

95 - 295 ppm

Conductivity

148 - 461 uS/cm

Species description

Geographical Origin and Habitat: Broadly and natively dominant across the massive Amazon, Orinoco, Paraná, and Essequibo river basins in South America. They absolutely thrive in the deep, flowing main river channels, dark flooded forests, and submerged riverbanks. They are hyper-evolved ambush and pursuit predators: they use the chaotic, dappled shadows of submerged tangled roots and flooded trees to completely disappear using their incredible, broken tiger-stripe camouflage, bursting out at lightning speeds to chase down massive, fast-moving prey.

Taxonomy and Morphology: The Duck-Billed Greyhound (Pimelodidae). It is a scaleless, long-whiskered giant catfish perfectly built for speed and hydrodynamics. The body is an incredibly long, sleek, muscular cylinder, vastly thinner and more streamlined than the massively bulky Redtail Catfish. The defining characteristic is the skull: it is grotesquely elongated, completely depressed (flattened top-to-bottom), and shaped exactly like a massive, bony spatula or a duck's bill. The huge, wide mouth opens massively to engulf prey. It possesses three sets of extremely long, rigid sensory 'whiskers' (barbels) to feel vibrations and sniff blood and prey in murky, dark water.

Social Behavior: The Nervous, Fast-Paced Predator. During the bright day, it is a master of statuesque stillness. It will rest entirely flat on its belly on the fine sand or wedge itself under a dark log, remaining completely motionless and perfectly camouflaged, observing the tank. But at dusk and night, it transforms into an incredibly fast, active cruiser, darting smoothly across the bottom. They are famously 'skittish' and highly nervous: if you suddenly turn on the room lights at 3 AM or drop the heavy glass lid, the fish will panic, blindly 'detonate', and launch forward like a torpedo at massive speeds in a sheer blind panic.

Coloration and Sexual Dimorphism: The River Tiger. It is a visually breathtaking showpiece. The smooth, scaleless back and upper flanks are a stunning, shimmering silvery-grey, soft bronze, or dull olive-gold. The magic lies in the bold, stark, ink-black or deep brown TIGER STRIPES that slash vertically across its entire back and sides. These stripes are often beautifully fragmented, broken, or interspersed with massive, solid black 'spots' and polka-dots that trail down to the bright, creamy white belly. Males and females are entirely identical to the naked eye.

Care, breeding and tankmates

Aquarium Setup: The 'Long Runway' Danger Tank (Strictly Ponds or 10-Foot Tanks). They do not grow as massively 'fat' and heavy as a Redtail, but they grow incredibly LONG and require massive 'sprinting' room. An adult requires an absolute minimum of an 8 to 10-foot long (250-300+ cm / 400-1000+ gallons) swimming footprint. THE BROKEN SNOUT HAZARD: Because they are highly skittish 'sprinters', if you keep them in a short tank or clutter the middle of the tank with a massive piece of driftwood, the fish will panic, hit the gas, and violently smash head-first into the glass wall or the wood. Its long, delicate, flat 'shovel' snout will bend backward, fracture, and permanently break, disabling the fish for life and dooming it to a horrible, ugly death. KEEP THE SWIMMING LANES WIDE OPEN. Soft sand is 100% mandatory to prevent bloody, infected belly sores.

Diet and Feeding: The Sleek Vacuum Cleaner (Benthic Piscivore). They are slightly less 'bottomless-pit' gluttonous than the Redtail, but they are still massive carnivores. They strictly require heavy, chunky, meaty foods 2 to 3 times a week as adults to stay healthy without getting obese. Feed them massive, whole thawed prawns (leaving the crunchy shell on is incredible for their color and digestion), huge chunks of raw white fish fillet (tilapia, smelt, cod), raw squid, and giant earthworms. They easily train onto massive jumbo sinking carnivore pellets. Never feed them warm-blooded mammal meat (beef, poultry) or diseased live feeder goldfish.

Water Quality: The High-Flow Amazon Cruiser. Very hardy as long as the water is warm and pristine. They thrive in standard, very warm tropical water (25-28°C / 77-82°F) to keep their fast metabolism and immune system functioning perfectly against fungal infections. They do exceptionally well in neutral, moderate pH (6.5 to 7.5). Despite being thinner than Redtails, a 3-foot carnivore still produces catastrophic amounts of rotting fecal ammonia. You absolutely must run massive, industrial-scale Pond Bead Filters or huge Sumps, paired with brutal 50% weekly water changes to prevent the water from turning toxic and burning off their delicate sensory whiskers.

Compatibility and Cohabitation: THE 'GAPE-LIMITED' SWALLOW RULE AND VIP GIANTS. It is an outstanding, absolutely peaceful, minding-its-own-business giant in a community of equally massive elites. It happily shares the bottom sand peacefully with colossal Freshwater Stingrays, massive Datnoids, giant Pacus, and large adult Arowanas hovering above. THE FATAL MISTAKE: Its duck-billed mouth opens incredibly wide and stretches like a rubber sack. The Tiger Shovelnose is a relentless, sneaky nighttime predator. It will blindly, effortlessly inhale and swallow whole ANY expensive, beloved tankmate (like an Angel, Severum, or even a medium Oscar) that is small enough to physically fit inside its massive, yawning mouth while the tankmate is sleeping. Keep only with fish that are too massively tall or wide to be swallowed.

Aquarium Breeding: The Massive Mud Farm Secret (Impossible in Glass Tanks). It is totally, fundamentally, and physically impossible to breed a 3.5-foot migratory river catfish in a standard 300-gallon glass box in your living room. The only successful breeding occurs in massive, commercial, multi-acre outdoor mud ponds in Asian and South American fish farms. The farmers literally catch the massive, sexually mature adults from the mud ponds, inject them directly with artificial hormones (pituitary extract), and force them to scatter hundreds of thousands of sticky, yellowish eggs blindly into the muddy water to hatch into tiny, aggressive fry.

Risks and Diseases: 1. THE 'BROKEN SHOVEL' HORROR (Snout Fracture/Crash): The most infamous and common tragic death for this specific species. Kept in a cramped tank, the fish gets spooked by the room lights turning on, accelerates like a missile, and slams head-first into the unyielding glass. The long, delicate, flattened bone structure of its 'shovel' nose snaps, bends upward into a horrifying 'U' shape, or splits open. The fish becomes permanently disfigured, unable to eat properly, and slowly starves to death or dies of shock and infection. KEEP THEM IN 10-FOOT TANKS WITH OPEN SWIMMING LANES. 2. STUNTING TORTURE (The Spinal Bend): Locking a 40-inch fish in a 24-inch wide tank forces its massive spine to permanently curl and deform, crushing its internal organs and killing it slowly and painfully. 3. BARBEL ROT (Sensory Loss): Poor water quality and high nitrates instantly burn and rot away the catfish's long, beautiful, essential sensory whiskers, turning them white with fungus, blinding its ability to smell food, and depressing the animal.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

Broadly and natively dominant across the massive Amazon, Orinoco, Paraná, and Essequibo river basins in South America. They absolutely thrive in the deep, flowing main river channels, dark flooded forests, and submerged riverbanks. They are hyper-evolved ambush and pursuit predators: they use the chaotic, dappled shadows of submerged tangled roots and flooded trees to completely disappear using their incredible, broken tiger-stripe camouflage, bursting out at lightning speeds to chase down massive, fast-moving prey.

Origin

Cosmopolitan or introducedAmazon, Orinoco, and GuianasNorth AmericaTropical oceans and reefs

Fish profile

Temperament: Semi-aggressive
Diet: Omnivore
Sex ratio: Solitary
Feeding frequency: Twice daily
Bioload: The Barred Sorubim creates a massive bioload. Heavy-duty canister filters and large water volume are mandatory. They grow incredibly fast and pollute water rapidly.
Flow: Stagnant
Reproduction: Oviparous
Compatibility & tankmates: This is an apex predator that swallows anything smaller than itself. Keep them exclusively with very large, robust fish like Pacu or large Plecos. Small tank mates will vanish overnight.
Tank level: Bottom

FishBase

Window to the official scientific data of the species

Data synced on: 06/15/2026

Scientific Parameters & Models

Trophic level: 4.4 ± 0.78 se
Resilience: Medium (1.4 - 4.4 years)
Phylogenetic uniqueness (PD50): 0.5039
Bayesian Length-Weight: a = 0.00794, b = 3.06

Image gallery

Licensed images linked to the species or, when marked, to the closest representative taxon.

Related species

Recommendations grouped by close relatives, companion choices, and similar care.

Variants and close relatives

Same atlas type, nearby scientific identity, genus, or family.

Spotted Shovelnose Catfish

Pseudoplatystoma corruscans

Species description

Care, breeding and tankmates