Flame Angelfish

Overview

• The Flame Angelfish is one of the more striking dwarf angels, a vivid red-orange fish banded with black and trimmed in blue.
• It stays compact at around 10cm and is moderately hardy, making it a rewarding intermediate reef fish.

• With good water and a mature tank it is bold and active.
• Captive-bred specimens are increasingly available and tend to adapt more readily than wild-caught fish.

Housing

• Provide a mature reef of at least 200L (55 gallons) with plenty of live rock for grazing and numerous caves and crevices to retreat into.
• It settles best in established tanks with algae film and natural microfauna.

• Keep temperature 24-27C (75-81F), salinity 1.024-1.026, pH 8.1-8.4, and ammonia and nitrite at zero.
• Stability and good rockwork are key to a confident, healthy fish.

Diet

• Feed a varied omnivore diet: spirulina and algae-based flakes, marine pellets, dried nori, and frozen mysis and brine shrimp two to three times daily.
• Natural grazing on rock algae supplements prepared foods.

• A diet heavy in vegetable matter maintains the red colour and reduces the urge to nip corals.
• Well-fed angels are the least likely to sample reef invertebrates.

Health

• A reasonably hardy species once acclimated, but prone to the usual marine parasites, so always quarantine new fish.
• Newly imported specimens can be shy and slow to eat, so choose established, feeding individuals.

• Watch for hiding, refusal to feed, white spots, or laboured breathing.
• Most problems stem from stress, immature tanks, or poor water quality rather than the fish itself.

Temperament

• Generally reef-safe but, like other Centropyge, some individuals nip LPS, SPS, or clam mantles, and this varies by fish.
• It is semi-aggressive and territorial toward other dwarf angels and similar-shaped fish.

• Keep only one flame angel per tank unless it is very large.
• It usually integrates well with peaceful community reef fish once it has claimed a territory among the rocks.

Is your enclosure big enough?

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

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 flame angelfish