getting a regal angel to eat....

R

rgentry123

Member
so i received my regal from LA on friday and he hasnt eaten yet. hes about 4.5" and pretty fat already. im not really freaking out at this point becuase i know they are they take a while to get eating but i want to just find out what has worked for others to get them to start so far this is what i have on hand:
live clams
pe mysis
spirulina brine
brine/bloodworm/mysis mix
nori
marine angel formula
i also have garlic that i have been trying to soak the food in.

anything else i should try? what else has worked for everyone to get them eating?
 
My regal started eating Ocean Nutrition Formula One and New Life spectrum pellets and now eats mysis, bloodworms, Angel Formula sponge but still wont eat nori.
 
Re: getting a regal angel to eat....

Each regal is different. My adult only ate mussel and clam at first. I had to wean it to brine, mysis, and nori. Now he eats everything.

My new little one amazingly eats everything right off the bat including NLS pellets. She is pretty awesome!


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I got my new Red Sea Regal from bluezooaquatics 10 days ago. At first, I had him in the QT for 3 days. He was not eating anything and didn't look happy. I've since moved him to my DT. Still he did not touch any food. I've tried everything: pellets, fresh clams, angel formula, mysis, nori, garlic soaked food. On top of that my Juv emperor angel was harassing the regal. So I shipped the emperor out. I was like you, worried sick that I would lose this beautiful angelfish. Then on the 10th day, out of the blue I see the regal trying some mysis. He went after some more. Next I put in the nori on a clip that he has never touched. All of a sudden he comes up with my bellus angel and blue tang and joined in on munching the seaweed. What a relief. So what I am trying to say is be patience and keep trying to feed him everything you can. Eventually, he'll get comfortable with the environment and start eating. Good luck.
 
Regal

Regal

i just got my baby regal yesterday(1 1/2),didnt feed the others in the tank so it would be quiet,hes already picking at the rocks and today ill see what he or she does with regular feeding.....
 
rgentry123 said:
so i received my regal from LA on friday and he hasnt eaten yet. hes about 4.5" and pretty fat already. im not really freaking out at this point becuase i know they are they take a while to get eating but i want to just find out what has worked for others to get them to start so far this is what i have on hand:
live clams
pe mysis
spirulina brine
brine/bloodworm/mysis mix
nori
marine angel formula
i also have garlic that i have been trying to soak the food in.

anything else i should try? what else has worked for everyone to get them eating?
Click to expand...


I got my 5.5" Indo Regal from BZ about 7 weeks ago. Nice fat healthy looking fish. In addition to what you have listed above, I have tried all frozen foods available, fresh oyster, all flake foods, all freeze dried foods (it did eat some tubiflex worms or should I say picked at), garden worms, black worms, bread soaked in zoe(picks and spits out...duh), lettuce.

Anyway, it is hopeless in my 50g QT. Not sure what else to do except watch it starve to death. Have a Aurigua butterfly in with it that will only eat the oyster on a clip, but it remains alive as well.

Tough fish to get eating!

The Regal is definitely interested in something floating (yes, tried floating pellets), since it is usually checking out the surface. Wish I could supply what it wants....DFS (Dead Fish Swimming). :sad2: It does pick a black worm, brine shrimp at times, but not what one would expect a fish this size to eat.

btw, the photo (avatar) is my Regal that I photographed in my 135g in 1978!!
 
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I fragged some zoes from my reef and put with my regal and added a rock with lots of sponge growth, she never did eat these but maybe yours would. I don't know why but flakes are her favorite, I wish she would eat nori or some type of seaweed.
 
Tracey2 said:
I fragged some zoes from my reef and put with my regal and added a rock with lots of sponge growth, she never did eat these but maybe yours would. I don't know why but flakes are her favorite, I wish she would eat nori or some type of seaweed.
Click to expand...

tried that :D very willing to sacrifice zoo's to get this fish to eat.
 
sowellj said:
I believe that in the primer people have had luck w/raw mussels.
Click to expand...

mine is eating at store bought clams on a half shell... i'm thinking since it is nipping at these i might try to slice some up and feed it like i normally would feed frozen food to see if this works. i'll let everyone know how it turns out.
 
eho72 said:
I got my new Red Sea Regal from bluezooaquatics 10 days ago. At first, I had him in the QT for 3 days. He was not eating anything and didn't look happy. I've since moved him to my DT. Still he did not touch any food. I've tried everything: pellets, fresh clams, angel formula, mysis, nori, garlic soaked food. On top of that my Juv emperor angel was harassing the regal. So I shipped the emperor out. I was like you, worried sick that I would lose this beautiful angelfish. Then on the 10th day, out of the blue I see the regal trying some mysis. He went after some more. Next I put in the nori on a clip that he has never touched. All of a sudden he comes up with my bellus angel and blue tang and joined in on munching the seaweed. What a relief. So what I am trying to say is be patience and keep trying to feed him everything you can. Eventually, he'll get comfortable with the environment and start eating. Good luck.
Click to expand...

i may try putting him straight into the DT if all else fails. i really wanted to avoid this becuase i know these fish like a lot or large angels are prone to flukes and i want to treat it in QT for this problem. i have been delaying treating becuase i know that prazipro can suppress their diet even further and i wanted to get him eating really well before i started treating. if i cant get him to eat in QT i may just roll the dice though and hope he doesnt have any kind of parasite and put him straight into the DT in hopes that he will take a hint from the other fish and start eating prepared foods
 
How do you guys feed your angel? Do you go to the market and just buy fresh clams? Do you wash them slice them up or just stick them in the tank. I have a Yellow belly Angel coming tomorrow and I have all kinds of prepared foods ready but no clams. Does your other fish eat the clams as well?
 
just got mine 4 days ago, 4.5" indo in the qt @ 1.018 sg as they were in the lfs. have tried most the food mentioned above, no luck yet. i hope he can make it thru!!!
 
Do you have any liverock, a nice small piece with some sponge growth would be perfect to add to your qt, if you can get her to nibble then add some nori soaked in garlic to the rock, good luck. Also have you tried a clam and nls pellets?
 
Hi tracey. am from Toronto. yes, tried nori, frozen fresh clam, chopped fresh shrimp, nls pellets, mysis, flakes. Is there a difference in soaking the food in garlic? the liverock i can move in the dt have no sponge on it so....
 
Hello fellow Canadian, I have had luck moving a small piece of lr from the DT to the QT even if there is no sponge, they may find a pod or algae etc just to start them nibbling, you could also add some cheato if you have a fuge to make the qt more natural and at the same time add pods. Sometimes garlic seems to get a feeding response, I have also had luck soaking some brine, mysis or nori with entice. Also, make sure your water in the QT is pristine clean and oxygenated and lighting is low.

Jedi, I have used clams from the grocery store and just rinsed first and feed on the half shell. I think they are all different though and some regals may prefer it chopped up, its an experiment.

One other thing I have found can stimulate the appetite is cyclopeeze mixed with mysis.

Good luck

I have a question for those of you who have kept this fish long term. My regals eat everything I put in the tank now and are nice and plump but I have read 5 years or less seems to be their lifespan in our care, can anyone comment on this, and give me some advice as to what I can add to their diet to keep them long term? I was feeding marine angel by Hakari containing sponge but it is no longer available in Canada.
 
rgentry, how's the regal, any luck yet? Sorry for my question on your thread, when I wrote it I was thinking it was the regal angel primer thread, I'm getting old.
 
yeah, doing great. eats absolutely everything except nori. wont touch the stuff for some reason and i've tried all the different types.
 
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