Diet
Nocturnal Piscavore
Identification
Sandy to grey upper body and white belly. Black tiger–like markings and bars on the upper two thirds of the body. All fins yellow to red with black spots. Long and flat head with small eyes and a wide mouth with long whiskers.
Typical Location
Prefer darkness and shaded areas during the day. Occasionally enters shallow waters / margins at night to hunt for food.
Barred Sorubim Flyfishing in Thailand
Thailand Flyfishing Season: All Year
Present the fly close to the margins, tight to water hyacinth beds, lily pads or other plant life. The best times to target Sorubim is the first two hours of darkness. Takes are savage and fast, these beautifully marked fish fight hard and deep making repeated long hard runs. They expend all their energy during the fight. They do not posses teeth like most catfish but have tough pads in their mouths.
Tiger catfish are also known as Shovel nosed tiger catfish and Striped / Barred Sorubim. The Tiger catfish has a depressed head that is three times longer than it is wide. They are characterised by a shovel like projecting jaw with an exposed brush like patch of teeth. The eyes of the Tiger catfish are set to enable them to see up and down, coupled with extremely long whiskers they are adept at hunting food items in all conditions. Their body is silver with vivid black stripes. They change shades of colour to match their environment. They also have a characteristic black lateral stripe variable in width that reaches from their snout the entire length of there body, no other member of the catfish family posses this feature. They have distinct speckled fins which together with their stripes make perfect camouflage for hiding in weed beds to ambush passing prey.
The Tiger catfish originates from the Americas were they are distributed in 10 countries between the Amazon, Orinoco, and Parana and Paraiba river basins. These catfish do not breed in still water as they need a sandy bottom in moving water to build a nest and protect there young. Their spawning periods are regulated by non flood conditions rather than particular times of the year.