Help me feed my Regal Angel

[Chihuahua6]

I received a beautiful 6" Regal Angel from Live Aquaria 13 days ago along with some other fish. He's in a 55 gallon quarantine tank with live rock along with two of the Royal Grammas I purchased.

He ate sponge from the rocks and some yellow polyps I put in there. He also seemed to consume the Halimeda that was growing off one of the rocks. I'm not sure if he actually ate it or just ripped it apart. I think he ate it. I have been adding all kinds of foods and he took a liking to oysters on the shell. He also eats a small piece of nori.

I figured as long as he was eating something all was well. Well now that he's getting comfortable he ate with me sitting right in front of the tank to observe him. He immediately went for his daily oyster and ripped at it. He ripped pieces off and spit them all out. The Royal Grammas ate the pieces as they floated around.

Why would he tear into it every time I add it to the tank only to spit out the pieces? I have tried frozen Angel formula, mysis, homemade fish mash, clams, mussels. I tried stuffing food into the shells with the oyster and stuffing it into a crevice in the rocks.
I have some Spectrum pellets coming in the mail to try as well.

Is the fact that he's ripping into the oyster a good enough sign that he will start to try more foods? Do you have any other suggestions? He seems healthy and active otherwise.

 

[jimmyl]

Hello, I too purchased a Regal from them. He's been with me for 1 year .. he loves the New Life Spectrum Marine Pellets.. thats all he eats. Hopefully yours will take a liking to the spectrum.

 

[dfs/la2]

Chihuahua6,

Thank you for your post. While in our facility, Angelfish are fed frozen Spirulina brine shrimp, frozen mysis shrimp, marine pellet foods and dried seaweed strips. We would recommend continuing to observe the fish for any changes in health or behavior.

Dallas R.
LiveAquaria
Drs. Foster & Smith

 

[michael_cb_125]

I have had my Regal for a few months now. Here is what I did to get her eating.

I got her used to eating small clams. I tried oysters, but they are so big that she would never eat the whole thing, and it would start to decay (in a period of hours). Once she got used to the clams, I removed the empty shells and stuffed them with my homemade mash. I threw the stuffed clam in the tank and she went to chow down. At first she was hesitant to eat the mash. But over the course of a few days she began to eat the mash from the clam shells vigorously. After about a week I would just add the mash to the tank. Since she was used to the flavor she ate directly from the water column. Now she will eat ANYTHING and is a little pig.
Good-Luck with yours
~Michael