Schooling Bannerfish Information

[Koaleigh]

Schooling Bannerfish
(Heniochus diphreutes)

I've been looking around but there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of information on the schooling bannerfish so I decided to post a thread and bring together as much information and experience on this fish as possible.

 

[Angel_Anthias lover]

Theyre pretty similair to pyramid butterflies in behaviour and feeding, can be somewhat prone to diseases from what ive read

 

[Koaleigh]

Theyre pretty similair to pyramid butterflies in behaviour and feeding, can be somewhat prone to diseases from what ive read

We've had this fish before years ago and found it highly susceptible to ich which ended up being fatal. We had to start our tank over again months ago after moving house and have made sure to quarantine our fish before going into the display tank in order to prevent this from recurring. There's never any guarantees in this hobby but we are trying our best to have this fish happy and healthy for a long time.

 

[Koaleigh]

Visually Separating the Bannerfishes: Longfin versus Schooling
The two fish, Longfin Bannerfish, Heniochus acuminatus, and Schooling Bannerfish, H. diphreutes, are very similar. People often confuse the two and misidentify which fish they buy. To distinguish between to two fish there are three field marks to look for in adults.

Examine the lower rear corner of the fish where the anal fin forms a point. This point will be part white and part black. Where that transition happens is different in the two species. In the Schooling Bannerfish, the dividing line between white and black exactly hits the corner. In the Longfin Bannerfish, the division is just a little further back, so that the corner itself is clearly white, and the black starts a little beyond the corner.
Look at the base of the pennant, the long white spine of the dorsal fin. There are a few spines in front of it that are short and black. These are different lengths on the two species. On the Schooling Bannerfish, the black in front of the pennant is long, sticking far enough up the front of the pennant that when the pennant is folded back it will be above the top of the rear black body bar. On the Longfin Bannerfish, that black spine in front of the pennant is much shorter, it could never reach across the white to the second black body bar.
Finally, the shape of the breast is different in the two species. In the Schooling Bannerfish, it is clearly rounded, while in the Longfin Bannerfish it is more flattened.
If you have a really sharp close photo, you can reliably separate them by counting the spines in the dorsal fin. The Schooling Bannerfish has 12, whereas the Longfin Bannerfish has only 11. Note this is just the stiff spines (including the one in the pennant), not the soft rays. This applies to juveniles as well as adults.

 

[Koaleigh]

BEWARE!!!
The schooling bannerfish is a known jumper, we did not know this when we got our first one years ago and found it on the floor. Make sure you have a cover on your aquarium before you get a schooling bannerfish.

 

[Paul B]

They are very common in the South Pacific and I have dove with them while I was studying Moorish Idols as they share the same places. I have kept them a few times and they are definitely easier to keep than Idols. I have not had then in many years so unfortunately I don't remember to much about them.

 

[Koaleigh]

Reef Safe?
The schooling bannerfish is considered reef safe with caution, it will leave coral alone if well fed.

We are feeding ours twice a day with frozen food, we have frozen Mysis Shrimp, frozen Emerald Entree, and frozen Spirulina Brine Shrimp, we give a different cube each time so the fish get a varied diet and not get used to just one food.
We also give a piece of Nori green seaweed at the beginning of the day, and since the bannerfish seems to never sleep and swims around all night, we put a piece of Nori in the tank once all the other fish have gone to sleep for the bannerfish to graze on throughout the night.

We had started our aquarium over months ago due to moving to another house so we have just now started adding frags.

The coral we now have in the aquarium are;
Torch
2 Acans
Cady Cane Trumpet
Purple Stylo
Green Stylo
Red Monti Cap
Green Birdsnest
Chalice

The coral he has been observed eating are;
Acan

I will update this list as our variety of coral grows and what if any other coral he may decide to eat.

 

[Koaleigh]

Tankmate Aggression
The fish we have are;
Schooling Bannerfish @ 4"
Yellow Tang @ 4"
Naso Tang @ 4"
Regal Blue Tang @ 3"

The Yellow Tang was the first put into the tank so was straight up the dominant fish starting at 4".
The Regal Blue Tang was added next and was at the time 2.5", there was no aggression.
The Naso Tang was added 2 months later and was 3" at the time. There was a few initial tail slaps from the Yellow Tang but the Naso didn't react back so the Yellow Tang was ok after a few hours.
The Schooling Bannerfish was added 4 months later which is now 2 weeks ago and is 4". The Yellow Tang was not accepting to this addition at all, most likely due to them being the same size and very similar shape to each other. The Bannerfish showed no aggression at all to anyone but the Yellow Tang was constantly attacking the Bannerfish with a lot of tail slaps and on a rare occasion would hit him with his nose.
To calm down this aggressive dominance we put a mirror against the side of the aquarium, this confused the Yellow Tang and amused the rest of the fish.
We kept the mirror there for 5 days and now the Yellow Tang mostly leaves the Bannerfish alone, there is a very rare tail slap still when they're at the nori clip, but there are also times where all 4 are eating nori at the same time.

 

[Wolf89]

Great thread!

 

[Koaleigh]

Great thread!

Thanks, I hope it helps others in learning more about this beautiful fish, and be able to happily keep one for a long time should they choose to purchase one.

 

[EuropeReefAnemones]

do you think a trachyphyllia would get eaten