How to Keep the Bannerfish? Detailed Guide to Care Methods and Tips

The bannerfish, also known as the “hooded butterflyfish”, belongs to the family Chaetodontidae and is a relatively common tropical marine fish. Its gracefully curved dorsal ridge is the hallmark of the bannerfish and is the origin of its Chinese name. So, how do you keep a bannerfish?

1. How to keep a bannerfish?

The bannerfish can reach a body length of 25cm, so an aquarium of more than 250 liters should be chosen to keep it. The water temperature should be between 24-27°C, the relative density of the seawater between 1.022-1.023, and the seawater pH between 8.1-8.4. For feeding, you can offer fish meat, shrimp meat, crab, shellfish, tubifex worms, marine fish pellet feed, and so on. It is suitable for keeping with mild-tempered fish and other fish of the same species; when keeping them together, they should be introduced into the tank at the same time. Use old water as much as possible, and do not replace all the water with new water.

2. Characteristics of the bannerfish

1. Body length 18-25CM, body flattened and disc-shaped. Pointed mouth, triangular head. Silver-white base color, with a black band between the two eyes, a black ring band running from the front of the first dorsal fin to the pectoral and pelvic fins, and a black ring band running from behind the first dorsal fin to the end of the anal fin; the first spine of the dorsal fin is long and pointed, silver-white. The second dorsal fin, caudal fin and pectoral fins are golden yellow. The pelvic fins are black. The fish's body is strikingly black and white, very beautiful. It lives in the middle and upper layers of the water. It moves in small groups in sea areas from about 25 meters to 200 meters, and at night lies across the bottom of the tank, belly up, to rest; after light returns, it returns to normal within a few minutes.

2. Habits: it inhabits the reef flat areas of the subtidal zone, lagoons and sea-facing coral reef areas at water depths between 2-40 meters, and usually lives in places where corals grow densely. Adults mostly live in pairs, while juveniles usually live alone in estuaries and lagoon areas. It mainly feeds on coral polyps.

Since the bannerfish is a marine fish, regularly testing water quality is a very important task for all marine aquarium keepers. Marine fish have poor tolerance for poor water quality and sudden environmental changes, so whether changing the water quality or the environment, changes should be made as gradually as possible to avoid causing stress to the fish.