Coral beauty angelfish

Care at a glance

The coral beauty is one of the most affordable and hardiest dwarf angels: dark blue with an orange flamed midsection, and far less fussy than most of its family. It rummages through the rockwork all day, grazing algae and film as it goes.

Reef-safe comes with a caveat. Most specimens leave corals alone, but some will one day start picking at zoanthids, mushrooms or the mantle of a clam, and that habit does not go away. So feed vegetable food generously, which minimises the risk. Keep one per tank: dwarf angels do not tolerate their own kind.

Good to know

• Territorial

Best not combined with

• Flame angelfishCentropyge loricula
• Bicolor angelfishCentropyge bicolor
• Lemonpeel angelfishCentropyge flavissima
• Potter’s angelfishCentropyge potteri
• Cherub angelfish (argi)Centropyge argi

Related species

• Flame angelfishCentropyge loricula
• Spotted mandarinSynchiropus picturatus
• Green chromisChromis viridis
• Mandarin dragonetSynchiropus splendidus
• Banggai cardinalfishPterapogon kauderni
• Blue reef chromisChromis cyanea