Cherub angelfish (argi)

Care at a glance

The cherub angelfish is one of the smallest angelfish in the trade: a dark blue fish of under eight centimetres with an orange-yellow head and chest, from the Caribbean. That size makes it one of the few angelfish that fit in a small reef tank.

Small does not mean modest: it fiercely defends its rocks against other dwarf angels and sometimes against newer, smaller fish. Keep it as the only angelfish in a tank with plenty of live rock to graze on. It is largely reef safe, but may nibble at LPS corals and clams; keep an eye on that in the first weeks.

Good to know

• Territorial

Best not combined with

• Coral beauty angelfishCentropyge bispinosa
• Flame angelfishCentropyge loricula

Related species

• Miniatus grouper (coral hind)Cephalopholis miniata
• Springer’s damselfishChrysiptera springeri
• Azure damselfishChrysiptera hemicyanea
• Banded pipefishDunckerocampus dactyliophorus
• Four-stripe damselfishDascyllus melanurus
• Longhorn cowfishLactoria cornuta