The Siamese tigerfish was first formally described as Coius pulcher in 1998 by the Swiss ichthyologist Maurice Kottelat with its type locality given as Bung Borapet in Thailand.

[7] The Siamese tigerfish has the specific name pulcher, meaning "beautiful", a choice Kottelat did not explain but is thought to be an allusion to its barred colour pattern.

[1] The Siamese tigerfish is a predatory species, fish and shrimp make up most of its diet.

This, combined with damming of the watercourses it lives in, has caused drastic declines in its population.

It has been locally extinct in Thailand since the 1990s and only Vietnam, occasionally exports live specimens into the trade.