Blue Angelfish

Care at a glance

Overview

This large angel needs 950 litres or more with big rock caves and open water at 22 to 27 C. It is hardier and more willing to eat prepared foods than the rock beauty, taking spirulina, angelfish preparations and meaty items, but it is aggressive toward other angels. It nips stony and soft corals and clam mantles, so keep it in a fish-only or carefully chosen reef and treat reef safety as caution. House only one angel of this type per tank.

In the wild

The blue angelfish is a large Atlantic angel with a tan-blue body and yellow-tipped fins. It works reef ledges and rocky bottoms for sponges, algae and tunicates. Where its range overlaps the queen angelfish the two species hybridize freely. Adults are dominant and need room.

Good to know

Holacanthus bermudensis reaches about 45 cm and hybridizes with the queen angelfish, Holacanthus ciliaris, producing intermediate fish once called the Townsend angel. Adults lack the crown spot of the queen angel. It ranges through the subtropical western Atlantic.

Did you know

Blue and queen angelfish interbreed so readily that mixed-color hybrids were long thought to be their own species.

Related species

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  Queen Angelfish

  Holacanthus ciliaris

  17.7 in (45 cm)251 gal (950 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  King Angelfish

  Holacanthus passer

  13.8 in (35 cm)151 gal (570 L)72–81°F (22–27°C)

• 

  Rock Beauty Angelfish

  Holacanthus tricolor

  13.8 in (35 cm)90 gal (340 L)73–81°F (23–27°C)

• 

  Annularis Angelfish

  Pomacanthus annularis

  17.7 in (45 cm)219 gal (830 L)73–81°F (23–27°C)

• 

  French Angelfish

  Pomacanthus paru

  16.1 in (41 cm)201 gal (760 L)72–81°F (22–27°C)

• 

  Yellowbar Angelfish

  Pomacanthus maculosus

  19.7 in (50 cm)180 gal (680 L)75–82°F (24–28°C)