New Guinea Tigerfish (Datnioides Campbelli)

New Guinea Tigerfish (Datnioides Campbelli) are also known as Campbell’s Tigerfish, Freshwater Tripletail or just Tigerfish by tropical fish keeping enthusiasts and are one of just five species of Siamese Tigerfish (Indo-Pacific Tigerperches).

New Guinea Tigerfish are found in the brackish water river mouths, the river waters that are beyond the influence of tidal changes, and the coastal lagoons of Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.   They are quite common in the Fly, Oriomo, and Lorentz rivers where they are also considered a food source.

The New Guinea Tigerfish is a beautiful carnivore that is rarely available to tropical fish keeping enthusiasts.

Datnioides Campbelli have a gold base body color with five or more indistinctly edged vertical black bars and irregular black spots covering the flanks.   The heads of the adults are black but can appear greenish in color, and the body color can become extremely dark, especially in stressed specimens.   The sexes are indistinguishable from each other.

New Guinea Tigerfish grow to over 18″ in length and require a large tank of at least 100 gallons or more to provide them with ample swimming space.   They prefer subdued lighting and should be maintained in a brackish water or medium hard alkaline freshwater environment to keep them healthy.

A dark sandy or fine gravel substrate with some
driftwood
and river rock can be used to aquascape their aquariums.

They can be kept with other large non aggressive species as well as other species of Datnioides tigerfish but they can be territorial and aggressive towards others of their own species and fish small enough to make a meal of.   They can be kept in a single species tank as juveniles, but as adults they usually become aggressive towards others of their own kind.

New Guinea Tigerfish have never been bred in an aquarium environment and little is known of their breeding habits.

Datnioides Campbelli are predators but can be taught to eat dead meaty foods.   Whitebaits, mussels, shrimp, prawns, ghost shrimp, krill, bloodworms and live earthworms can all be fed to juveniles as well as adults.

The New Guinea Tigerfish is rarely available to tropical fish keeping enthusiasts and is usually very  expensive at any size when they are found.

New Guinea Tigerfish (Datnioides Campbelli)

New Guinea Tigerfish (Datnioides Campbelli) Photo courtesy of Mr. Hampus Hertzman

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Minimum Tank Size: 100 gallons
Care Level: Moderate
Temperament: Relatively Peaceful with similar sized fish
Aquarium Hardiness: Moderately Hardy
Moderately Hardy Water Conditions: 73°F-81°F°, KH 15-25, pH 7.0-8.0
Max. Size: 18 inches or more
Color Form: Green, Yellow, Black
Diet: Carnivorous
Compatibility: OK with other similiarly sized fish
Origin: Sri Lanka
Family: Datnioididae
Lifespan: 6-8 years
Aquarist Experience Level: Advanced

3 Responses to “New Guinea Tigerfish (Datnioides Campbelli)”

  1. Tho Nguyen says:

    I want buy fish Datnioides Campbelli,,color form:Green,Yellow,Black

  2. Hampus Hertzman says:

    How come you’ve chose to use my pictures with out my permission? Take them down and use pictures that you own, or at least give the photographer credit when you steal their photos. Thanks…

    Proof:

    Pic number 1: https://www.flickr.com/photos/svampus/6771875647/in/photolist-bqBAvd-bjpCGF-b99Npa-prujSm-dj6Bna-jp7zqg-b99QEx-dH2q3u-e3qpX2-9c6N47

    Pic number 2: https://www.flickr.com/photos/svampus/8081072671/in/photolist-bqBAvd-bjpCGF-b99Npa-prujSm-dj6Bna-jp7zqg-b99QEx-dH2q3u-e3qpX2-9c6N47

    • Fishkeeper says:

      The images were obtained from public domain google image search results at https://www.google.com/search?q=New+Guinea+Tigerfish+%28Datnioides+Campbelli%29&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjQleSN2sXLAhXCYSYKHV2WC-YQ_AUIBygB&biw=1920&bih=919#imgrc=nTjJZTSEzhSvzM%3A and not from flickr photos not from flickr’s site.

      One of the few really savvy moves that Yahoo made in the last few years was the acquisition of Flickr and the fact that it’s a repository of publicly reusable Web sites.

      I have tons of photos which I have personally taken that are now available as public domain from Google searches which are used by hundreds of individuals, without my permission, from my other web sites, and I do not consider them as “stolen”. Once they are posted in the public domain without a copyright mark, they are considered public domain unless otherwise specified by Creative Commons.

      Tropical Fish Keeping is intended to aid hobbyists in keeping freshwater and saltwater species and is a “work in progress”. Our posts would be littered with photographer credits if we didn’t use public domain photographs and would detract from the content however, in this case we will replace the New Guinea Tigerfish (Datnioides Campbelli) as requested by you.

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