Bannerfish

About

False Moorish Idol (Heniochus diphreutes) is one of those fish that turns heads for the right reasons. It delivers the dramatic black, white, and yellow banding with that long trailing dorsal filament that makes the true Moorish Idol so desirable, but without the reputation for being nearly impossible to keep. In the wild, this species ranges across a huge swath of the Indo-Pacific, from the Red Sea and East Africa all the way out to Japan, Australia, and Hawaii. Adults are genuinely open-water fish, forming large schools that hover well above the reef in current-swept channels and outer slopes, often at considerable depth. Juveniles tend to gather around isolated patch reefs and, interestingly, have been observed performing cleaning behavior, picking parasites off other fish, a habit that occasionally persists into adulthood. In the aquarium, the False Moorish Idol is peaceful toward most tankmates, though it can show some pushiness toward its own species if space is tight, so a roomy tank is important. It is generally considered reef-safe, with only occasional reports of nibbling on sessile invertebrates. Planktivorous by nature, it accepts a variety of meaty and prepared foods without much fuss, making it a workable choice for intermediate marine keepers.