Cigar Shark Care Guide - Size, Aquarium Needs & Breeding

The Cigar Shark is a large, streamlined cyprinid with the powerful, torpedo-shaped body typical of an open-water river fish. Its silvery to bronze body is complemented by reddish fins, particularly in healthy adults, while the pointed head and deeply forked tail reflect its life in flowing water. Despite the common name, it is a peaceful, non-predatory barb rather than a shark.

Leptobarbus rubripinna is native to mainland Southeast Asia, including the Mekong and Chao Phraya river basins. It occurs in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and parts of Vietnam, inhabiting large rivers and connected floodplain waters.

Cigar Sharks are unsuitable for ordinary home aquariums because they become very large, active river fish. A group requires at least about 2,000 litres as juveniles, with a substantially larger public-aquarium-scale system needed for adult specimens; a footprint of roughly 300 by 100 cm is a bare starting guideline, and more length is strongly preferable. Provide powerful, well-oxygenated filtration, open swimming space, secure covers and smooth sand or fine gravel, with robust rocks, driftwood and hardy plants arranged around the perimeter rather than in the central swimming lane.

Up to approximately 100 cm (39 in) in total length in the wild. Females may become heavier-bodied than males, while captive specimens are often smaller when space and diet limit growth.

This omnivorous species feeds on aquatic insects, crustaceans, smaller fish, seeds, fruits and other plant material in the wild. Offer a varied diet of quality large pellets or sticks supplemented with prawns, earthworms, mussels, insects and occasional vegetables or fruit. Juveniles need relatively frequent meals, whereas adults should be fed carefully because overfeeding quickly adds to their considerable waste production.

Cigar Sharks are generally peaceful but are best kept only with other very large, robust river fish that share their need for space and strong filtration. Suitable companions may include large peaceful barbs, giant danios, bala sharks and appropriately sized non-aggressive catfish, provided the aquarium is genuinely large enough for all of them. They should not be housed with small fish, delicate species or slow, long-finned fish, which may be stressed by their activity or eventually swallowed.

Cigar Sharks are not routinely bred in home aquariums. In nature, they are migratory river fish that reproduce seasonally in flowing waters, and successful spawning appears to depend on changes in river level, current and other environmental cues. Commercial or research breeding requires very large facilities and carefully controlled conditions; normal community-aquarium spawning should not be expected.

Females are usually fuller-bodied, especially when mature and carrying eggs. Males tend to be more slender, but reliable external differences are subtle and difficult to judge in young fish.