Schooling bannerfish

Care at a glance

Overview

Peaceful with other fish and, true to its name, does best kept in a group introduced to the tank at the same time, where it shoals together rather than fighting over territory. It is reef safe and generally leaves corals, anemones, and gorgonians alone as long as it is well fed, though a hungry fish may pick at ornamental shrimp or other small invertebrates. It adapts to aquarium life more readily than most butterflyfish and accepts frozen mysis, krill, and other prepared foods without much fuss, but still benefits from two or three feedings a day given how much it eats in the wild.

In the wild

Ranges across the Indo-Pacific from East Africa and the Red Sea to Polynesia and Hawaii, north to southern Japan and south to the Kermadec Islands, typically over deep reef slopes and drop-offs where it gathers in large aggregations to feed on plankton in the current. It spends most of the day swimming well off the bottom, so it needs a long, open tank with plenty of vertical swimming room as well as live rock for shelter at night. A single fish needs at least 470 litres (125 US gal), and a school needs considerably more space to spread out.

Good to know

Carries the long, trailing white dorsal filament and bold black-and-white banding typical of genus Heniochus, and is often nicknamed the false moorish idol or poor man's moorish idol for its resemblance to the unrelated Zanclus cornutus. It is easily confused with the similar longfin bannerfish, Heniochus acuminatus, but has a rounder chest profile and a shorter snout, and unlike its relative it is a dedicated open-water plankton feeder rather than a bottom-picking generalist. Reaches around 21 cm.

Common questions

Related species

• 

  Longfin bannerfish

  Heniochus acuminatus

  9.8 in (25 cm) · 127 gal (480 L)

  9.8 in (25 cm)127 gal (480 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Big longnose butterflyfish

  Forcipiger longirostris

  8.7 in (22 cm) · 100 gal (380 L)

  8.7 in (22 cm)100 gal (380 L)73–81°F (23–27°C)

• 

  Copperband butterflyfish

  Chelmon rostratus

  7.9 in (20 cm) · 79 gal (300 L)

  7.9 in (20 cm)79 gal (300 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Golden butterflyfish

  Chaetodon semilarvatus

  9.1 in (23 cm) · 151 gal (570 L)

  9.1 in (23 cm)151 gal (570 L)75–82°F (24–28°C)

• 

  Black pyramid butterflyfish

  Hemitaurichthys zoster

  7.1 in (18 cm) · 106 gal (400 L)

  7.1 in (18 cm)106 gal (400 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Pyramid butterflyfish

  Hemitaurichthys polylepis

  7.1 in (18 cm) · 124 gal (470 L)

  7.1 in (18 cm)124 gal (470 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)