Orbiculate batfish

Platax orbicularis

Also known as Orbic batfish, Circular batfish, Round batfish, Orbiculate spadefish

SaltwaterFish

Orbiculate batfish (Platax orbicularis) — Diego Delso · CC BY-SA 4.0

Care at a glance

Temperature: 75–81°F (24–27°C)
pH: 8.0–8.4
Adult size: 19.7 in (50 cm)
Minimum tank: 185 gal (700 L)
Temperament: Mostly peaceful
Social behavior: Social
Swim level: Middle
Difficulty: Difficult
Breeding: No record
Rarity: Common
Reef safe: Not reef safe
Origin: Native to the Indo-Pacific, with juveniles sheltering in mangroves and lagoons and adults schooling on open reefs and wrecks.
Family: Ephippidae

Overview

This is a big, tall fish that needs a deep tank of at least 700 litres, and the taller the better since the body is so high. Keep it at 24 to 27 C and pH 8.0 to 8.4 with strong filtration. It is not reef safe and will eat invertebrates, anemones, small fish and pick at corals, so keep it in a fish-only system with peaceful, larger tankmates. Newly imported fish often arrive thin and stressed and can be hard to start feeding, so buy a fish that is already eating. Offer a varied diet of meaty foods and marine algae.

In the wild

The orbiculate batfish is a tall, disc-shaped fish that is almost as high as it is long, silvery with a couple of dark bars through the head. Juveniles are reddish-brown and drift on their side to mimic a dead leaf among mangrove roots. Adults become large, round, plate-like fish that cruise the open water in loose schools.

Good to know

Platax orbicularis reaches around 50 cm in length but grows even taller through the fins, so it needs surprising vertical space. Juveniles mimic drifting leaves for protection, lying flat and swaying with the current. Adults grow fast and lose the tall juvenile fins as they fill out into a rounded disc.

Did you know

Juvenile orbiculate batfish float on their sides and drift with the current to imitate a dead mangrove leaf, a disguise so convincing that predators swim right past them.