Centropyge bicolor
Bicolor angelfish
The bicolor angelfish, known in Italian as pesce angelo bicolore 6, is a small angelfish (Pomacanthidae) 1 that is easy to recognise: yellow head and front, deep blue rear, yellow tail. 5 It lives on coral-rich reefs of the Indo-Pacific, in harems led by a male. 2 4 5
At a glance
Data from the scientific sources listed at the bottom.
Depth in the wild
1–25 m
Size
up to 15 cm
maximum length; FishBase and FAO give it as total length
Conservation
IUCN Red List: least concern (2009). Red List data taken from FishBase and GBIF. 2 6 It does not appear in the CITES lists checked on Species+. 7 It is often exported for the aquarium trade. 2 4
Where it lives
Indo-Pacific: FishBase gives it from East Africa to Samoa and the Phoenix Islands, north to southern Japan and south to New Caledonia, throughout Micronesia. 2 FAO and Fishes of Australia have it starting from the Indo-Malay region and reaching the Line Islands. 4 5 It is also found at Cocos (Keeling) and Christmas Island. 5
How to recognise it
Tap a number on the photo: the key explains what to look for.
Life in the wild
Behaviour
It is seen in pairs or small groups and darts quickly from one hiding place to another. 2 Females rank themselves by size in a hierarchy; groups that get too large tend to split. 5 9 It has strong spines on the dorsal and anal fins and at least one prominent spine at the corner of the cheek (preopercle). 3 FishBase classes it as harmless to humans. 2
Reproduction
It is born female and can become male. 5 The male keeps a harem of up to seven females; if he disappears, the highest-ranking female changes sex and takes his place, in 18-20 days. 2 5 It spawns in mid-water, from November to March according to Fishes of Australia. 2 5 Some become males without a harem and wait for a territory to become free: their advantages depend on how many of them there are. 8
In the aquarium
From the experience of the BallingMania community.
A fish belonging to the family Pomacanthidae, origin: Somalia, South Africa, Madagascar, the Samoa Islands and Hawaii. A very colourful and peaceful fish, very well suited to a tank with small fish and invertebrates, but it does not live peacefully with other Centropyge. It has a rhomboid body, very elongated and laterally compressed; the head is small, the mouth beak-shaped with fleshy lips, and the teeth look like little brushes; on the lower edge of the gill cover there is a large spine pointing towards the rear of the fish.
The livery is very striking, made up of two vertical bands of different colours; the front of the fish is a very bright yellow, the rear a very deep cobalt blue; above the eyes there is a cobalt blue saddle; the pelvic, pectoral and caudal fins are yellow; the dorsal fin is cobalt blue with a yellow outer edge and turquoise shading; the anal fin is cobalt blue with a turquoise edge; the gill cover spine is turquoise too. In the tank it needs excellent water quality, and a fair water flow inside the aquarium is highly advisable, ideally varying over time and coming from different directions. It needs a medium-sized tank, of no less than 300 litres, with plenty of shelters and hiding places, as it is shy and timid. It loves swimming among the corals and taking refuge in rocky crevices when in danger.
Both in the wild and in the aquarium it is omnivorous: in fact it prefers frozen food (brine shrimp, Chironomus and Mysis, or freeze-dried food), dry food in granules or flakes, and it is also very fond of the special sheets of freeze-dried algae, lettuce leaves, lettuce or boiled spinach.
Great care is needed when buying it, as it is very difficult to settle in, because in the first days it is very shy and fearful; for this reason it would be better to buy specimens already perfectly acclimatised by an expert. Specimens of Centropyge bicolor that look healthy at first sight die inexplicably within a week; for this reason, to have at least some certainty of survival, it is better to buy specimens that have been kept in quarantine for 40-60 days.
Species sheet by Massimo Ramognino and photo by Demetrio Emanuele Rosace
Did you know?
Sources
- WoRMS Editorial Board (2026). Centropyge bicolor (Bloch, 1787). World Register of Marine Species.
- Froese R., Pauly D. (eds.) (2026). Centropyge bicolor, Bicolor angelfish. FishBase.
- Pyle R., in Carpenter K.E., Niem V.H. (eds.) (2001). Pomacanthidae. The living marine resources of the Western Central Pacific, vol. 5. FAO.
- Pyle R., in Carpenter K.E., Niem V.H. (eds.) (2001). Centropyge bicolor. The living marine resources of the Western Central Pacific, vol. 5. FAO.
- Bray D.J. (2024). Centropyge bicolor, in Fishes of Australia. Museums Victoria.
- GBIF Secretariat (2026). Centropyge bicolor, common names and IUCN Red List category. GBIF.
- UNEP-WCMC (2026). Search for Centropyge bicolor in the CITES lists. Species+.
- Aldenhoven J.M. (1986). Different reproductive strategies in a sex-changing coral reef fish Centropyge bicolor (Pomacanthidae). Australian Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research.
- Ang T.Z., Manica A. (2010). Unavoidable limits on group size in a body size-based linear hierarchy. Behavioral Ecology.
Sources checked on 5 November 2026. Community texts and ratings are kept separate from the scientific data.
