Getting a Maldives Regal to eat

[RxMike]

I came across the most incredible maldives regal. it is fat, and beautiful coloration. it is not eating. I have fish on hold for me at the LFS. I am not going to bring it home until i know it is eating. The guys at the store are trying everything black worms, clam, squid etc. The fish just looks at the food but does not do anything.

The fish is fat, but i know it will be futile to bring it home if it is not eating. The guy at the store says in his experience putting fish in reef helps.

No way i am putting fish in without QT. Anyone have any suggestions on how to get the regal to eat?

 

[Dmorty217]

I'm assuming it is at a LFS? I'm guessing they don't have live brine or black worms? Can you source these? Did the fish just come in the the store? Ask them who supplied them with the the angel. You would think that whoever they use as a supplier is shipping fish that are eating. Being that the angel is fat I'm guessing it is in the 5-6" range? If you can get live brine or black worms and the angel is a good price I would purchase the regal, with persistence and if the angel can observe other fish eating will usually begin to eat with 2-5 days with non live food.

 

[Dmorty217]

"The the" LOL sorry

 

[RxMike]

Regal

Regal

It is a good looking fish probably about 4 to 5 inches going off memory. they tried black worms, and just about everything else. it seems like a very good price. I wish they would put fish in tank by itself but they have no room to do this. The other fish in tank are very aggressive and get to food much faster than the regal does. The regal is very submissive. I want to bring it home but have some other fish in main QT. I currently have a Scribble, PB, and a sohal in QT. Introducing the regal might cause world war 3.

I have a smaller 10gallon QT I can set up with some live rock from my fuge. Hope the Regal picks on pods and graze on rock. I might bring it home soon.

 

[bullitr]

My two 1" juvenile will probably die if I qt them
Instead I put them on my cube and leave them there until they eat pellets or mysis
So far they are doing very well but they don't eat mysis or pellets yet but they graze non stop

 

[Philly guy]

I went thru 4 Regal's over about a 3 to 4 month time frame. Every time I brought one home, I would put him in quarantine and he would be dead in 7 to 10 days. Finally on the 5th try I added him straight into my main tank and 8 months later he is doing just fine. He would only pick at rockwork and lettuce for about the first 3 weeks then one day he started eating pellets. Now he eats anything I put in the tank.

I believe in quarantining new arrivals but some fish seem to do better if you can put them right into a reef environment.

 

[albano]

Ask them who supplied them with the the angel. You would think that whoever they use as a supplier is shipping fish that are eating.

What would make you think that a supplier (collector/shipper/importer/wholesaler) would check to see if a fish is eating?

IMO... At that level of the supply chain... If its alive its shipped!
(Slight exaggeration)

 

[ca1ore]

I do think that putting some fish (Regals, leopard wrasses) into a bare QT tank can be problematic, but putting any fish directly into the DT is risky. The best alternative IME is to have a second, smaller tank setup as a full reef for observation. I have done this in the past with really sensitive fish, and it works well. Downside, of course, is you have to keep up a second tank.

 

[alton]

My male Regal took two weeks to eat, my first female took three weeks, my juvenile took one day, and my last female only took one day. I had a Chrysurus that took four weeks to eat. Around 1995 my LFS got in a 10" blueface and for two weeks I watched him stave to death because he would not eat. Finally I felt sorry for him bought it and took him home, he ate the next day. Unless your fish store has a QT department you will do the fish a giant favor of taking it home. And yes you are taking a chance, but have you ever been to Vegas? Oh yea and the purchase price for the 10" blue face? $80, my wife liked to killed me!

 

[bullitr]

I went thru 4 Regal's over about a 3 to 4 month time frame. Every time I brought one home, I would put him in quarantine and he would be dead in 7 to 10 days. Finally on the 5th try I added him straight into my main tank and 8 months later he is doing just fine. He would only pick at rockwork and lettuce for about the first 3 weeks then one day he started eating pellets. Now he eats anything I put in the tank.

I believe in quarantining new arrivals but some fish seem to do better if you can put them right into a reef environment.

I could agree with you more.
My pair of adult YB was in qt right away eat well even pellets but died mysteriously after few weeks sometimes I think is cyanide since its not from Red Sea.

Juveniles needs a lot of place to graze in my opinion. I throw them on my cube ( acclimation tank for my finicky algae eater. And its working well so far I just need to make sure that I don't have anything very expensive fish in there in case of ick outbreak. After i did that with my first batch of juvenile i try it with my Achilles because its not eating in qt and very scared, then damp it on my acclimation reef it start to graze right away. After few days it start eating pellets so I took it out and do a fast hypo then throw it on the main tank to finish the hyposalinity treatment. Now its so bold after a week.

 

[Dmorty217]

What would make you think that a supplier (collector/shipper/importer/wholesaler) would check to see if a fish is eating?

IMO... At that level of the supply chain... If its alive its shipped!
(Slight exaggeration)

Obviously depending on what supplier was used, and how high up the supply chain it comes from will greatly effect how much hands on care or lack there of said fish would receive. I worked at a saltwater and freshwater wholesaler taking care of all fish and shipping, and I can assure you every fish was eating and I could tell you what they were eating before being shipped. As for the if its alive it ships, if its coming from QM you couldn't be more right

 

[bullitr]

Obviously depending on what supplier was used, and how high up the supply chain it comes from will greatly effect how much hands on care or lack there of said fish would receive. I worked at a saltwater and freshwater wholesaler taking care of all fish and shipping, and I can assure you every fish was eating and I could tell you what they were eating before being shipped. As for the if its alive it ships, if its coming from QM you couldn't be more right

That's great, the fish my friend gets from Sdc is the same way.

But I got a shipment from Hawaii distributor yesterday and they send me dead or half fish all the bags are full of crap and stinky. The fish that are alive have fin rots they are not cheap fish too. its 2 bandit,cross hatch trigger, flames and achilles. No communication neither. Lesson cheap fish doesn't really means saving, dead fish are worthless. I pick up another adult yellow belly yesterday from SDC and its already eating well.

 

[alton]

I could agree with you more.
My pair of adult YB was in qt right away eat well even pellets but died mysteriously after few weeks sometimes I think is cyanide since its not from Red Sea.

Juveniles needs a lot of place to graze in my opinion. I throw them on my cube ( acclimation tank for my finicky algae eater. And its working well so far I just need to make sure that I don't have anything very expensive fish in there in case of ick outbreak. After i did that with my first batch of juvenile i try it with my Achilles because its not eating in qt and very scared, then damp it on my acclimation reef it start to graze right away. After few days it start eating pellets so I took it out and do a fast hypo then throw it on the main tank to finish the hyposalinity treatment. Now its so bold after a week.

I have to agree, if it makes it past 4 weeks it is good to go

 

[Dmorty217]

That's great, the fish my friend gets from Sdc is the same way.

But I got a shipment from Hawaii distributor yesterday and they send me dead or half fish all the bags are full of crap and stinky. The fish that are alive have fin rots they are not cheap fish too. its 2 bandit,cross hatch trigger, flames and achilles. No communication neither. Lesson cheap fish doesn't really means saving, dead fish are worthless. I pick up another adult yellow belly yesterday from SDC and its already eating well.

Well isnt that just special! Sorry to hear about that experience. Did you leave vendor feedback on here? I never do but it may help people in the future since I can't think you will be ordering for them again!

 

[bullitr]

Well isnt that just special! Sorry to hear about that experience. Did you leave vendor feedback on here? I never do but it may help people in the future since I can't think you will be ordering for them again!

No I am giving him a chance to make it right

As far Sdc my friend always gets a great fish from them.

 

[RxMike]

Regal

Regal

Update today is day two in QT for the Regal.

Scribbled angel, powder blue, sohal tang and regal.

The regal is still not eating. Although I was reassured that i saw it eating at the fish store. Today the regal is swimming kind of weird. It spends most of its time either with its mouth pointing up or its tail point up.

I am not sure why it is swimming this way. The fish was at the store for over a week. So I don't think this is swim bladder. I asked the LFS and they said Regals tend to do this.

Fish looks good no signs of any disease. Fins are all intact. I am trying to entice the fish to eat.

Any idea why it might be swimming this way. ( swimming upside down, mouth point up, or tail pointing up)

 

[pktech]

Can you put it it in it's own tank? You can get a new 55 for $55 @ petco. Does the water have meds in it? thinking out loud

 

[MBC2012]

Are all those fish in the same QT tank? IMO it sounds to me that swim bladder. We lost a Rhom to SB that had been in the LFS for 3wks.

 

[RxMike]

Yes all the fish are in the same QT. Copper running at 0.2

I put some clam in the tank this morning and pulled up a chair watching the tank for about ten minutes. The regal stay face down, in the upper corner near the filter. The clam was on bottom of tank below it. When all of the fish swam to the other side of the tank. The regal went down and took a bite out of the clam. The went back to its postion.

I am wondering if the fish is hiding from the others? I am happy to see that it took a bite. I am not ruling out possibility of swim bladder. I just did not see the fish do this at the store. I am wondering if it is afraid of the scribble. The scribble is much bigger than it.

the scribble by the way has been in QT since 8/16. I am thinking i could move it into the my huge. I have added some new additions after the Scribble. I know this resets the QT clock. None of the fish have any signs of disease and they have all except regal been there for over two weeks.

 

[MBC2012]

From what I have learned the shoal needs a min tank of 250 - I understand this is a QT. How big is the QT tank? Is there any structures for the regal to hide? IMO the regal might be using up a lot of energy trying to stay away and if it is now eating much is could run out of reserves. Your DT tank is going to look awesome with this collection.