Keyhole angelfish

Care at a glance

Overview

The keyhole angelfish is a hardy dwarf angel for a roomy, mature saltwater tank. It is best kept by someone with a little experience.

Caring for the keyhole angelfish

Give the keyhole angelfish at least 70 gal (265 L), with generous, mature live rock structure. It is the largest of the commonly kept dwarf angels, and it needs that rock to establish a territory.

Keep the water at 72 to 79°F (22 to 26°C) and a pH of 8.1 to 8.4. It is a hardy grazer that eats a wide mix of algae-based and meaty foods once settled. It often starts out shy and takes time to come out and feed confidently in a new tank.

The keyhole angelfish is mostly peaceful, but once established it turns bold and territorial. Do not house it with other Centropyge, pygmy angels or similarly shaped fish. Keep only one male per tank.

It has a stronger reputation than most dwarf angels for nipping large-polyp stony corals and soft corals. It may pick at clam mantles or tubeworms too. Reef keepers rate it caution. It is hard to breed.

Good to know

Centropyge tibicen belongs to the family Pomacanthidae, and it also goes by keyhole angel and black angelfish. It is a protogynous hermaphrodite that lives in a harem led by one male. Its coloring changes dramatically with age. Juveniles are mostly black with a single white vertical bar. In the mostly blue-black adult, that bar becomes an elongated white blotch on the flank. The adult's fins are yellow, with a blue edge on the dorsal fin and tail.

In the wild

The keyhole angelfish ranges across the western Pacific, from Christmas Island in the eastern Indian Ocean to Fiji. It reaches north to southern Japan and Taiwan and south to Lord Howe Island. It lives in lagoons and on coral reefs, typically in mixed coral and rubble zones with plentiful hiding places. It grazes algae and picks at sponges and other growth on the rock through the day.

Common questions

Related species

• 

  Bicolor angelfish

  Centropyge bicolor

  5.9 in (15 cm) · 55 gal (210 L)

  5.9 in (15 cm)55 gal (210 L)72–81°F (22–27°C)

• 

  Eibli angelfish

  Centropyge eibli

  5.9 in (15 cm) · 55 gal (210 L)

  5.9 in (15 cm)55 gal (210 L)72–79°F (22–26°C)

• 

  Lemonpeel angelfish

  Centropyge flavissima

  5.5 in (14 cm) · 55 gal (210 L)

  5.5 in (14 cm)55 gal (210 L)72–79°F (22–26°C)

• 

  Potter's angelfish

  Centropyge potteri

  5.1 in (13 cm) · 65 gal (245 L)

  5.1 in (13 cm)65 gal (245 L)72–79°F (22–26°C)

• 

  Multibarred angelfish

  Centropyge multifasciata

  4.7 in (12 cm) · 59 gal (225 L)

  4.7 in (12 cm)59 gal (225 L)72–79°F (22–26°C)

• 

  Coral beauty angelfish

  Centropyge bispinosa

  3.9 in (10 cm) · 50 gal (190 L)

  3.9 in (10 cm)50 gal (190 L)72–79°F (22–26°C)