Saltwater Fish

Coral Beauty Angelfish

Centropyge bispinosa

Hardy, colourful dwarf angel for reef tanks · Intermediate

Lifespan: 5-10 years
Adult size: 8-10cm (3-4in)
Min. habitat: Aquarium 200L+ / 55gal+
Social needs: Usually one dwarf angel per tank
Diet: Omnivore, algae and meaty foods
Time: Medium
Cost: Medium

Overview

The Coral Beauty is one of the hardier and more popular dwarf angelfish, known for its deep blue and orange colouring.
It stays small at around 10cm, making it suitable for medium reef tanks where larger angels would not fit.

It is a good intermediate species: forgiving of minor mistakes but still needing a mature system with plenty of live rock for grazing and stable marine chemistry.

Housing

House in an established reef of at least 200L (55 gallons) with abundant live rock that provides algae growth, grazing surfaces, and hiding caves.
A mature tank with natural microfauna and algae film suits it best.

Maintain temperature 24-27C (75-81F), salinity 1.024-1.026, pH 8.1-8.4, and ammonia and nitrite at zero.
Good filtration and stable parameters keep this fish thriving.

Diet

An omnivore, the Coral Beauty grazes on algae, diatoms, and microfauna among the rocks.
Supplement with spirulina-based flakes, marine pellets, dried nori, and frozen mysis or brine shrimp several times daily.

A varied diet rich in vegetable matter keeps colour vivid and reduces nipping at corals.
Well-fed angels are less likely to sample coral polyps or clam mantles.

Health

Generally robust, but like all marine fish it is susceptible to ich and velvet, so quarantine new arrivals.
Stable water and a varied diet support a strong immune system and good colour.

Watch for hiding, reduced appetite, white spots, or rapid gilling.
Most health issues trace to poor water quality or stress from an immature tank or aggressive tankmates.

Temperament

Reef-safe with caution: most individuals leave corals alone, but some nip at LPS, SPS, or clam mantles, and behaviour varies between specimens.
It is semi-aggressive and territorial toward other dwarf angels.

Keep only one Centropyge per tank unless the system is large.
It generally coexists peacefully with most community reef fish once established and given its own territory.

A good fit for

Reef keepers wanting a hardy dwarf angel
Medium tanks too small for large angels
Aquarists with mature, algae-rich rock
Intermediate hobbyists building experience

Common mistakes to avoid

May nip corals and clam mantles
Added to immature tanks with little algae
Keeping multiple dwarf angels together
Skipping quarantine and risking ich

Is your enclosure big enough?

Minimum volume200 litres (53 US gallons)

CompanyMust be housed alone. Usually one dwarf angel per tank

Check your own enclosure against this

Is this urgent?

In a reef, stability matters more than any single target number. A parameter moving fast does more damage than a parameter sitting slightly off.

Go now

Any detectable ammonia or nitriteWater change now with matched, mixed and aerated saltwater. Stop feeding. Directly toxic, and a marine system has less margin than a freshwater one.

Now

Temperature or salinity has moved sharplyCorrect slowly, over hours, not minutes. Check the heater and the top-off. The speed of the change does the damage. Correcting fast repeats the injury in the other direction.

Now

Rapid gilling, or a fish hanging in the flow breathing hardIncrease aeration and check temperature and salinity. Warm water holds less oxygen, and a heater failure shows up here first.

Now

Today

White spots, or a fine dusting like icing sugarIdentify which parasite before treating. Most reef tanks cannot be treated in place. The two common parasites look similar and need different handling; velvet can kill a tank in days.

Today

Corals closed for more than a day, or receding tissueTest alkalinity first, and compare it against the last reading rather than a target. Unstable alkalinity is the most commonly cited coral killer, and a swing shows up in the trend, never in a single point.

Today

A new fish added without quarantine now looks unwellRemove it to a separate system today if you can. Nearly every wipeout in a reef tank traces back to a skipped quarantine.

Today

Quarantine every new animal, including corals and inverts. It is the single practice that separates a reef that lasts from a reef that restarts.

This is general guidance for a healthy adult, not a diagnosis. An exotics vet who knows your animal always overrides it — and the time to find one is before you need one.

What it really costs

Setup, monthly, first year and across a whole life, itemised and with the electricity worked out from the actual wattage. Published figures for the same animal disagree by a factor of four, so the calculator shows ranges rather than picking one.

Work out the cost of a coral beauty angelfish

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