All fish / Pomacanthidae

Herald's Angelfish

Centropyge heraldi

Also known as herald's angel, heralds angelfish, yellow angelfish, false lemonpeel angelfish, golden angelfish, herald angelfish, yellow pygmy angelfish, ヘラルドコガネヤッコ, 黄新娘, 黄天使, 海氏刺尻鱼

Herald's angelfish is a small dwarf angelfish that is bright lemon yellow all over, sometimes with a faint darker patch behind the eye on fish from some areas. Keepers like it for its strong, even colour and lively grazing behaviour among live rock.

Care at a glance

Care level

Moderate

Temperament

Semi

Adult size

10 cm

Temperature

24 to 28 °C

pH

8.1 to 8.4

Smallest tank

200 litres

Keep as

Keep singly, or as a male and female pair in a large tank

Diet

Omnivore: algae and biofilm grazed from rock, spirulina and algae-based foods, mysis, brine shrimp and quality marine flakes or pellets

Swims

Middle of the tank

Lifespan

5 to 10 years

Water

Marine (saltwater)

Wild range

Western and central Pacific: Taiwan and Philippines to the Great Barrier Reef, Fiji, Tonga and French Polynesia

Breeding

It is a protogynous hermaphrodite that lives in small harems, with the dominant fish turning male, and pairs spawn buoyant eggs at dusk. Spawning sometimes happens in large aquariums, but rearing the tiny larvae is very difficult and rarely succeeds at home.

Good to know

It may nip at clams, soft corals and large-polyp stony corals, and it fights with other dwarf angelfish, so add it to a mature tank with plenty of rock. Do not mix it up with the lemonpeel angelfish (Centropyge flavissima), which has blue rings around the eyes and blue fin edges.