The mouth of this species is located in a higher position on the frontal side of the fish compared to other damselfish, allowing A. troschelii to successfully feed on suspension floating plankton in the oceanic pelagic zone.

They are commonly found in Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, and the United States to name a few.

This neritic area where A. troschelii are commonly found, is made up of massive corals, deep rocky walls, and shallow exposed reef.

[1] These Eastern Pacific damselfish are feeders whose diet consists mainly of plankton in the pelagic zone and mid-water, but they also graze on benthic invertebrates and algae on their coral reef habitat.

Reproductive patters of this species is beneficial because a hatching taking place at dusk results in favorable tides allowing newborns to be transported away from reef-based predators found at the time of a new moon.

[5] There are no real major threats to the overall population size of A. troschelii, but they are in fact a small percent of the yellow snapper (Lutjanus argentiventris) diet.

[3] Another predator of this species is the Thalassoma lucasanum, the neotropical pacific wrasse, which forms groups of 30 to 300 individuals that will typically overwhelm the parental defense of A. troschelii embryos, ultimately gaining access to an easy unprotected, solitary food source.