Reef fish are expensive, but owing to overdevelopment, environmental pollution, and global warming, reef fish resources are collapsing and their habitats are undergoing varying degrees of degradation. In order to solve the stress in the global marine ecological environment and its resources, the construction of marine ranching based on artificial reef and stock enhancement and release has become the main strategy for protecting aquatic organisms in coastal countries. By researching the behavioral ecology of reef fish, analyzing their reaction to reef structure and artificial habitat and the effect of artificial environments on fish, the fish release strategy will be optimized, survival rate will be increased, resources will be protected, and artificial reef constructions will be more scientific. Therefore, in this paper, research progress on the behavioral ecology of reef fish, both in China and abroad, was summarized, including habitat selection and foraging, aggression, territorial and defensive behaviors. Moreover, the importance of reef fish behavioral ecology on resource protection and development was analyzed. Meanwhile, existing problems in the behavioral ecology of reef fish were discussed, and suggestions put forward, to provide a more scientific theoretical basis and more efficient technical scheme for the development of marine ranching in China.