Thank you for visiting! By the way… any links on this page that lead to products on Amazon and other stores/partners are affiliate links Aquarium Store Depot earns a commission if you make a purchase.
Welcome to the fascinating world of the Emperor Angelfish (Pomacanthus imperator), a captivating creature that features as the crown jewel in many saltwater tanks. With its striking colors and intricate patterns, no wonder it’s highly sought after among aquarists. But what does it take to provide optimal emperor angelfish care? Let’s dive in and find out!
Key Takeaways
- The Emperor Angelfish is a unique species from the Indo-Pacific region with striking physical characteristics.
- Caring for them requires specific conditions, stable conditions, and a large aquarium
- They are territorial creatures that will become dominant in a tank.
- They are typically listed as not Reef safe, but with careful planning, you can keep one in a reef tank
- Tank bred species are now available and highly recommended to purchase
Species Overview
| Scientific Name | Pomacanthus imperator |
| Common Names | Emperor Angelfish, Imperator Angelfish |
| Family | Pomacanthidae |
| Origin | Indo-Pacific, Red Sea, Austral Islands, New Caledonia |
| Diet | Omnivore |
| Colors | Purplish-pink, blue, yellow, orange, green |
| Care Level | Moderate |
| Temperaturement | Semi-aggressive to Aggressive |
| Minimum Tank Size | 125 gallons (473 liters) 200+ Gallons recommended (757 liters) |
| Max Size | 12 inches |
| Temperature Range | 76 – 82 degrees F (24 – 27 C) |
| pH Range | 8.0 – 8.4 |
| Salinity | 1.025 or 35 PPT |
| Reef Safe | With Caution |
Introduction
Uniquely colored in yellow and blue, the Imperator Angelfish (otherwise known as Emperor Angelfish) can be found within Indian and Pacific oceans. This species of marine angelfish stands out due to its neon stripes when compared to other members from the same reef tank environment, making them popular among hobbyists all around. Though they appear beautiful, these angelfish are considered prey for larger carnivorous creatures such as sharks or marine mammals like whales & dolphins, which challenges their survival rate in wild ocean water bodies.
With proper care, you will have no trouble raising one at home inside your own saltwater aquarium set-up! The appropriate conditions must first be met through adequate space along with large shelter spots that can fit its eventual adult size, so it is essential any potential keeper understands what is involved with successfully keeping one.
Origin And Natural Habitat
The Emperor Angelfish, which is a fish species that inhabits Indian and Pacific oceans near the equator, can be found in other parts of the world, including East Africa, Japan, The Great Barrier Reef or French Polynesia. Adult emperor angelfish prefer to take cover on calm coral reefs, whereas juvenile ones dwell in shallow rock-filled areas such as reef holes and cavities near ledges at lower levels within surge channels. Regarding reproduction time, the female emperor angelfish releases up to 1000 eggs into the water column for fertilization performed by males.
Physical Characteristics
The Emperor Angelfish is easily recognized by its eye-catching appearance of alternating sapphire blue and yellow stripes along the body. The dorsal fin has a white marking, while the caudal fin is transparent. As juveniles, they show a dark navy hue with light blue and white bands that contrast other angelfish in aquaria. As this fish matures it goes through quite an amazing change, transitioning to horizontal streaks of both yellow and deep blue, which marks them apart from all the other species within their family tree.
Juvenile To Adult Transformation
Emperor Angelfish go through a two year-long process of transformation from juvenile to adult, during which their body changes from a dark blue hue with white and light blue stripes to having distinctive yellow and blue horizontal stripes for its distinct adult coloration. This change in habitat is quite remarkable too. The fish shift positions over time, starting near rocks on the shallow reef side before finally settling into the main coral reef as a mature species. Their adaptability speaks volumes about this majestic angelfish!
Life Expectancy
It is very attractive to have an Emperor Angelfish due to its extended lifespan. In the wild, these fish can live for over 20 years, but in captivity, this drops slightly between 15-18 years. There are a variety of elements that could potentially impact how long your pet angelfish will last, such as water quality levels and their diet or the level of stress they experience regularly. To make sure that you give them the best chance at living out their full potential, it’s important to pay attention to keeping tank conditions as close as possible to natural ones and also by making sure not to let anything disturb them too much or cause any sort of trauma while under our care.
Average Size
In the wild, fully grown Emperor Angelfish can reach up to 15 inches in size in the wild, making them stand out with their bold presence. When kept in an saltwater tank setting, they tend to be a bit smaller at around 12 inches as various factors such as diet and tank size play into this difference. The males are often larger than the females too! Providing a good care regimen for these beautiful fish is key if you want your angels to thrive!
Caring For Your Emperor Angelfish
If you wish to properly care for emperor angelfish, the tank needs ample room to swim as well as hiding places and water that meets their specific requirements. Keeping an Emperor Angelfish is quite rewarding, yet challenging too – for this reason, it’s a great idea to purchase one which has grown 4-6 inches in size (a juvenile), showing signs of curiosity instead of looking extremely stressed and confused. Acquiring such fish allows them enough time to adapt faster to their new home.
The size recommendation is for wild-caught species, which will become less common in the future. Tank bred species can be smaller and are preferred to be purchased over wild caught specimens. More on tank bred availability later in the article.
Tank Setup And Size
For a juvenile Emperor Angelfish, setting up an ideal reef tank entails the inclusion of live rock for providing habitat and food as well as plenty of room to swim. A minimum size requirement is 125 gallons, with a recommendation of 200 gallons are best to fully showcase their vibrant colors. Having some spots for hiding would also help emulate their natural environment better. These fish like to hide behind and under rocks when they sleep. Knowing they get a foot long means you will need rock structures that can accommodate their size.
Lastly, adequate filtration should be established properly within the aquarium system itself so that water quality can remain optimal at all times throughout this fish’s lifecycle. The usual placement for them is in fish only tanks. These tanks are best equipped with aquarium sumps and protein skimmers that can export nutrients and keep the parameters balanced. They can be kept in reef tanks with proper research, which I’ll touch on later in the article.
The Best Protein Skimmer
German made, super silent, and world class performance. This is the pinnacle of skimmer technology today!
Water Parameters
The health and welfare of Emperor Angelfish is greatly dependent on correct water parameters that match their ocean environment, which must stay steady. Prior to introducing the angelfish into its new habitat, you should have your tank fully cycled and have a period of around six months for your tank to mature and stabilize before adding them.
This actually works in your favor, as given the Emperor Angelfish’s temperament, they are best added last. Here are the parameters to stick to when keeping these fish:
- Temperature: 76 – 82 degrees
- pH Range – 8.0 to 8.4
- Salinity – 1.025 or 35 PPT
- Ammonia – 0 PPM
- Nitrite – 0 PPM
- Nitrates – Under 40 PPM
Consistent testing of the water is important. Consider going with a comprehensive water test kit to monitor and do water changes when you are off from these parameters. If you have a reef tank, consider monitoring key reef parameters such as alkalinity, calcium, and magnesium to main the health of your corals and your fish.
The Aquarium Test Kit For Saltwater
This kit from Red Sea has all the essentials need to start your Saltwater Aquarium journey!
Feeding & Diet
Once the Emperor Angelfish have been settled, it is recommended to feed them one to two meals daily. They need a variety of foods to stay in prime condition. Lack of nutrition is a common cause of stress with these fish. Frozen food is the preference, with pellet foods in between if you need to use an automated feeder when you aren’t available. Here is a list of foods I would recommend:
- LRS Foods Reef and Herbivore Frenzy
- Mysis Shrimp
- Masstick (great for finicky eaters)
- Sea Veggies by Two Little Fishies
- Reef Nutrition Chroma Boost – Medium when Juveniles and Large when Adults
- Cultivated live foods such as California Blackworms
It’s also good for me to note that your Angelfish will also feed off algae on rocks and fauna growing in your rocks or ones that come from your sump. Consider maintaining a refugium in your sump to cultivate these critters for your fish to always have things to feast on when you aren’t around.
Masstick is an amazing fish food formula that works for picky food. Great for hard to feed fish like Cooper Band Butterflies and Angelfish
Remember that you must keep your nutrition intake of your Emperor Angelfish at the highest level possible for them to thrive. Do not skip this step. I’ve seen many Emperors fall ill due to poor nutritional practices by newbie hobbyists. I only list out foods I would trust to feed in my own tanks!
Behavior & Social Dynamics
Your Emperor Angelfish as a Juvenile will be considered a great community fish, but as it transitions into an adult, it will push to become the dominant member in your aquarium. These fish prefer solitude, swimming around shallow reefs. Males, in particular, can be hostile and aggressive if they feel their domain is threatened. Don’t assume your Juvenile will remain peaceful forever. They will assert their dominance when they come into their own! Tankmates must be picked out carefully, knowing their eventual adult temperament!
Choosing Tank Mates
It is important to select the appropriate tank mates for an Emperor Angelfish. Due to their aggressive adult demeanor, it’s advisable to pair them with larger fish that can defend themselves in a fight. That being said, here are a few safe choices:
- Tang Fish
- Wrasses
- Dwarf Angelfish such as the Flame Angelfish or Coral Beauty
- Clownfish
- Rabbitfish
- More docile trigger fish like the Blue Throat
- Basslet fish
- Damselfish
- Any type of cleaner fish
Tank Mates To Avoid
There are some really poor choices you can make with tank mates if you aren’t careful. To helpful, here are a few obvious bad choices:
- Other large angelfish species like the Passer or Queen Angelfish
- Aggressive Triggers like the Clown Trigger
- Firefish Gobies
Health Concerns & Disease Prevention
Emperor Angelfish are just like any other fish and can be subject to health issues, particularly Ich, Marine Velvet, and Head & Lateral Line Erosion Disease. It is important that people become aware of these diseases in order to prevent them from occurring through the use of proper tank conditions and keeping stress levels low for the angelfish.
The best way to avoid these diseases would be to quarantine your Emperor Angelfish. This is highly recommended. Not only are they sensitive when it comes to accumulating to aquarium life, but they are also pretty expensive and often will be added last. You don’t want your entire livestock collection to be at risk because your Emperor Angelfish came aboard with an infectious disease!
I have an entire post about the saltwater fish quarantine process that I recommend you review. It goes over how to successfully quarantine. Altnerativally, these fish are so pricey you can often find them available for online retailers that will actually quarantine their fish like TSM Aquatics.
Breeding Challenges
Fish like Emperor Angelfish have specific needs to breed in captivity, and the process is not for those looking for an easy endeavor. These fish require precise environmental requirements as well as spacious accommodations. Replicating wild spawning conditions at home isn’t advised due to these needs. The timeframe that this usually takes place over in nature tends to be quite short too, typically happening towards the end of a calendar year, making it difficult to create similar conditions with little time available and limited resources.
Tank Bred Availability
You are in luck if you are reading this now because you have the opportunity that many of us who started in this hobby before you never had – the opportunity to purchase a tank bred Emperor Angelfish. In 2023, The Biota Group, one of the premier leaders in saltwater aquaculture, obtained a breakthrough where they successfully captive bred the Emperor Angelfish. This is the same group that brought us the tank bred Yellow Tang, which came at the perfect time, right when Hawaii intuited their bans on collecting the aquatic animal.
Also, the ban was lifted in early 20231. There is always a possibility that the ban made be done not only for th Yellow Tang, but for the Emperor Angelfish in the future. I have always recommended that you purchase a tank bred species if it is available and stick with only tank bred if you are able to. I’m personally very happy to see Biota’s progress over the years with new fish they have brought into the hobby that we could never get tank bred in the past!
Reef Tank Considerations
Now to the juicy part of this post. Can an Emperor Angelfish be kept in a Reef Tank? The answer to this question is YES – as long as you are careful about what corals you are keeping. Here are a few other points to consider with Emperor Angelfish:
- Emperor angelfish will typically eat many ornamental shrimp. They may eat cleaner shrimp, but your risk is lower with that
- They will pick at many inverts, including crabs
- They will also pick at fan worms and many beneficial worms in the aquarium
- They will happily eat your clams – so don’t keep one with them!
- They won’t touch Anemones
Now with the invert question out of the way, let’s dive into the answer here. Here are a few general points with the Emperor Angelfish and corals:
- They are generally safe with SPS corals
- They will generally eat fleshy LPS corals
- They will avoid some Soft corals
Let’s break down the list:
| Type Of Coral | Notes |
| SPS Corals | Generally Safe |
| LPS Coras | Known to eat Duncans, Favia, Acan corals |
| Soft Corals | They are known to NOT eat Xenia, Palys, and Leather corals |
Keep in mind that every Emperor Angelfish is different. Some will be coral crazy, and others won’t be. These guidelines are based on what has typically been observed in the hobby.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are emperor angelfish easy to keep?
Emperor angelfish possess an intermediate to advanced difficulty level for care, making them a challenging species for aquarists. Consequently, this makes it unsuitable as a first-time fish to keep in a tank and needs the expertise of experienced enthusiasts so they can remain healthy and active.
How big does an emperor angelfish get?
In the open sea, emperor angelfish can become up to 15 inches in length. When kept as pets, they typically reach 12 inches. Properly caring for them and providing suitable tank conditions allows these fish to live between 10-15 years of life. They can easily live over 20 years with the correction care and stability.
Are emperor angelfish coral safe?
The emperor angelfish is not usually considered a suitable choice for reef tanks as it has the potential to cause damage, but some fish-keepers have seen success in keeping them with corals – notably small polyp stony (SPS) varieties. Some soft corals have been observed as reef such as leather corals. Every Angelfish is different. Be sure to have a backup plan if they decide to snack on your prized corals.
What size tank does an emperor angelfish need?
A minimum tank size of 125 gallons is needed to house an Emperor angelfish on its own, and 200 gallons should be provided if more fish are desired. For larger individuals, it’s suggested to go higher in size for optimal swimming space, to curb aggression, and to supply it with hiding places amongst the rockwork.
What is the lifespan of an Emperor Angelfish?
The Emperor Angelfish has the potential to live for up to two decades in its natural habitat and can live for 15-18 years when living under human care. They have been known to live well beyond 20 years with proper care and stability.
Summary
Adding an Emperor Angelfish to your saltwater aquarium is a rewarding experience, as these stunning creatures boast vibrant hues and intricate patterns along with fascinating behavior. It does take some effort to care for them correctly. The outcome of having this jewel in its natural environment could be seen long-term if optimal tank conditions are met alongside a healthy diet plan. Allowing it thrive without compromising any essential details ultimately allows one to witness their mesmerizing beauty up close over time.
Have you kept an Emperor Angelfish in the past? Let us know in the comments and let’s start a conversation. Until next time!
- About the Author
- Latest Posts
I’m thrilled that you found Aquarium Store Depot! Here you’ll find information on fish, aquariums, and all things aquatics related. I’m a hobbyist (being doing this since I was 11) and here to help other hobbyists thrive with their aquariums! I adhere to a high quality Editorial Process and Review products with real life field usage and practical analysis.
