🐠 Keyhole Angelfish (Centropyge tibicen)
Marine Reef-Safe-With-Caution Dwarf Angelfish • Dark Blue-Black Body With White "Keyhole" Bar • Largest Centropyge Species • Beginner-Friendly Marine Fish
 
📋 The Keyhole Angelfish (Centropyge tibicen), also known as the Melas or Tibicen Angelfish, has a deep dark blue-to-blackish body with a distinctive egg-shaped white "keyhole" bar across the mid-body, and yellow accents on the pelvic and lower anal fins. It's genuinely understated compared to many flashier dwarf angelfish, but the pattern is unmistakable once you know what to look for.
Native to a wide range across the Indo-Pacific, from Christmas Island and Fiji to southern Japan and Lord Howe Island, this species lives alone or in harems of 3 to 7 individuals among mixed coral and rubble reefs.
As the largest species in the entire Centropyge genus, the Keyhole Angelfish is genuinely worth planning tank size around from the start. It's considered reef safe with caution — it may nip at stony and soft corals, sessile invertebrates, and clam mantles, so this varies by individual specimen, and a diet supplemented with plenty of natural algae growth genuinely helps reduce this risk. It generally gets along with other pygmy angelfish only in genuinely larger tanks, with aggression more likely in smaller systems.
 
⚫⚪ Highlights
🎨 Distinctive White "Keyhole" Bar: Understated but unmistakable dark blue-black pattern
📏 Largest Centropyge Species: Genuinely worth planning tank size around
⚠️ Reef Safe With Caution: May nip at corals, invertebrates, and clam mantles
👫 Naturally Forms Harems: Groups of 3-7 in the wild
🧠 Beginner Friendly: Hardy and adaptable overall