🐠 Half Black Angelfish (Centropyge vroliki)
A Pearly White-to-Tan Front Fading Sharply to Black • A Hint of Orange at the Gills • A Hardy, Beginner-Friendly Reef Favourite
 
📋 The Half Black Angelfish, also known as the Halfblack or Pearlscale Angelfish, has a distinctive two-tone pattern: a pale pearly-white to tan front half with white-centred scales, fading sharply into a deep black rear half, with a hint of orange around the gills and pectoral fin base, and a fine blue line trimming the tail.
It comes from coral-rich lagoons and seaward reefs across the Indo-Pacific, from Christmas Island and Bali to the Marshall Islands, southern Japan, and Tonga, grazing on algae and sponges from live rock down to depths of around 25m. Every Half Black Angelfish we ship is feeding well.
It's reef safe with caution, occasionally picking at zoanthids and LPS corals, so a larger tank and consistent, varied feeding meaningfully reduce the risk of it settling on any one coral as a target. It's territorial once established, so keep just one per tank, and it's best added as the last fish to an already-settled aquarium, since it can behave aggressively toward newcomers, particularly small, placid fish. This species has also been known to naturally hybridise with the Lemonpeel Angelfish and Blacktail Angelfish where their ranges overlap. It reaches up to 12.7cm, so plan on at least 265L.
 
💡 Highlights
🎨 Pearly White Fading to Black: A distinctive two-tone pattern
⚠️ Reef Safe With Caution: May occasionally pick at zoanthids and LPS corals
🐟 Territorial: One per tank; best added as the last fish
🧠 Beginner Friendly: Hardy and active once settled
🧬 Natural Hybridisation: Known to interbreed with related Centropyge species where ranges overlap