Row about German animal (5)
I believe the answer is:
tiger
'animal' is the definition.
(tiger is a type of animal)
'row about german' is the wordplay.
'row' becomes 'tier' (a tier is a row of things).
'about' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'german' becomes 'g' (abbreviation).
'tier' enclosing 'g' is 'TIGER'.
(Other definitions for tiger that I've seen before include "Formidable competitor" , "Carnivorous large cat" , "he got his stripes" , "fierce animal" , "Fierce Bengal beast" .)