Regal Angel Primer

[mmmmsushi]

GS,
While what you said I guess logically makes sense, I wouldn't bank on that. Quarantine tanks frequently have few hiding places and often are not good places to reduce stress. As you pointed out they are ideal for battling infections and such because you can dose the water. Basically a quarantine process is for keeping the new member seperate from your display until you are sure it is healthy or cure any disease it may have. It is not for settling in, in the sense of reducing stress from surroundings.

We also know that some species of fish just don't handle the transition from the ocean to captivity well. The regal angel being one of them. I just don't want people to think that if they properly quarantine a regal it will negate all the previous experiences people have had where they lost the fish.

For your info, I did NOT quarantine my Regal. I did a drip for a long while and when the temperature, PH and salinity were the same I dropped her in. She did get some lymphocystis, but now she is doing great. In the store she was showing signs of Ich, but after a week of medicine at the LFS I brought her home. My thought was that it would be less stress with her in a 120g rather than a 20g Q tank.

 

[HOZERTHEBONEFISH]

dvmsn

Was it a red sea regal? I agree that you have to get a good specimen before you stand a chance. From what it sounds like you had a reasonably healthy specimen to begin with. What other factors were involved, ie tankmates water condition.

One thing I noticed with my regal is that it is exquisitely sensitive to every facet of water quality,even more so then the appearance of my sps corals. If the ph or alk is off, fish doesnt want to come out and eat.

 

[dvmsn]

It was an Indo Pacific Angel. I should have been more descriptive of what I meant by heavy eater, which was probably about the worse choice of words possible. It was an active eater at the lfs, the amount of food it ate was relatively small. It wasn't fed a whole meal, just enough to see what its feeding response was like, which was good. It continued to come out and actively feed until the end (except for the last day before I found it dead). It would get very excited when food was in the water. Eat a couple pieces aggressively and not spit them out. Then it would appear to get full and stop eating. The amount of time it took to get full got smaller as the week went on. I don't know what killed it. I installed a new chiller and several seios that day as well. Maybe some environmental change caused his demise. My pont is simply this, healthy fish don't drop dead from installing powerheads and a chiller. When I say healthy, I don't mean disease free. While stress is not really a disease, I think that these are nervous animals and just don't handle shipping and acclamation well. A stressed animal is not a healthy animal.

 

[Steve Atkins]

Down here itââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s ââ"šÂ¬Ã‹Å“so far so goodââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢ - after 11 days.

Fish still spends most of its time round the back of the reef, at least when I am there, but still manages to come out for brief periods. It is pecking at rocks continuously and shows no signs of any sort of ââ"šÂ¬Ã‹Å“skin problemââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢. It is easy for me to get food to it as the main water return comes out behind the reef and I can easily insert food into the return flow. It is enthusiastically eating the food I put in this way and I can see it peeking out at the activities when I feed the other fish, many of which take food out of my hand, but it has not quite got brave enough to come out when there is a big hand in the water.

In NZ there is a mandatory 3-week quarantine period at a registered quarantine station and this fish apparently adapted well to its time in the quarantine tank with some of its fellow importees.

Still, I remain nervous.

Steve

 

[zfunk007]

Interesting stories everyone, I need to read through this ENTIRE thread to prepare myself for this. I took the plunge today and got a Regal Angel. I am lucky enough to be able to visit alot of the wholesalers in Miami and I see ALOT of Regal Angels. Alot of the time they don't look that great. Either they have signs of ich, or they are sluggish, or twitching, not very alert.

Today however, I saw a Regal Angel that really caught my eye. He is an Indo Pacific one because he has a blue chest, correct? I noticed him because he came right up to the glass and seemed very interested in me. He was very alert, very active and lively. I watched him for a while, left, came back, left again and finally I saw him picking at some algae on the glass and that sold me.

I brought him home and put him in my 55 gallon quarantine tank. I also bought him a big live piece of sponge that was also at the wholesaler. Within 2 minutes of me putting the sponge in he was eating it. Hes also picking at the algae on the rocks in my quarantine tank.

Tommorow I am going to try feeding him what I feed my Moorish Idol. A mix of Blood Worms, Mysis Shrimp, Angel Formula with sponge, Brine Shrimp Plus, Cyclopeeze, Formula Two, Spectrum Finicky Fish Pellets all treated with Garlic Xtreme and Selcon.

HOPEFULLY out of all that food he will find something he likes. I'm sure he will, he's the best looking Regal I've ever seen. He's about 3 1/2" long and his body is full. I'll post some pictures later when I can get a good one. Obviously he hides alot, although he isn't afraid of me. I'll keep you all updated and read the rest of this thead.

Thanks for all the great info everyone!

 

[Steve Atkins]

Good luck. I also, only discovered this thread after getting my Regal.

Interesting, mine doesn't seem interested in sponge. I have access to a tank that is a bit of a sponge factory so I 'borrowed' several varieties and placed at least one of them on his main swimming route. So far they have remained untouched, although the Regal is a keen consumer of a frozen mysis shrimps, a 'marine green' mix (includes all sorts of things but not sponge) and freeze dried brine shrimp. I guess it will make life easier if he isn't interested to include sponge in his diet.

He seems to be quite interested in what is going on and several times when I have been working near the end of the tank he has come along and just sort of hovered there watching me for a while. On such occasions I often get a good top view and he is certainly not loosing any weight so far.

 

[Aquaduck]

....He was very alert, very active and lively. I watched him for a while, left, came back, left again and finally I saw him picking at some algae on the glass and that sold me....

zfunk, you have the same type of Regal that I have. It would appear that the Indo-Pacific species has a greater preference for algae than the Red Sea version. Mine picks at the glass and rocks all day long and when I put Nori on a clip, he's eating it before I even have the suction cup stuck to the glass. My yellow tang actually has to wait his turn to get some. Mine will eat all three types of Nori, green, red, and brown. Try feeding yours some. It may take a while for him to discover what this chunk of algae hanging on a clip is, so be patient and try a little bit each day.

 

[zfunk007]

Ugh!! Bad news, something went wrong in my quarantine tank. (I started a thread in the Reef Discussion forum to help me with this). Almost all my fish in it died for no apparent reason. Water perfect, everything perfect.

The Regal is alive, but he was breathing very hard and not looking good so I took him out immediatly and put him directly into my 210. He is hiding behind a rock. I can see him a little and he is still breathing hard. Ugh!!!!! He was the perfect Regal and now he may die from something stupid!!! I'll let you all know if he lives through the night. Hopefully he is strong!!

 

[HOZERTHEBONEFISH]

zfunk

Sorry about the bad news.

I wish best of luck with your regal and solving the mystery of the deadly Q-tank.

 

[zfunk007]

I think the Regal is going to live, but I'm not totally sure yet. I'll let you know when I get home how he's doing.

 

[zfunk007]

My Regal is eating Formula Two and Angel Formula with sponge and seemingly doing well. I'll post a pic when I can get one.

 

[HOZERTHEBONEFISH]

Good to hear. Did you figure out the cause of the q tank crash?

 

[zfunk007]

I've talked to quite a few people about it, including some people I work with and ones that come into my store and they all agreed that it was the piece of sponge I put in my quarantine tank.

Like an idiot I put the piece of sponge in there and didn't even bother to think about the fact that my quarantine tank was at hyposalinity levels. This was no doubt the cause. Over night the sponge started dieing because of the low salinity and emitted some sort of toxin into the water that killed all the smallest fish in my tank. I think the Regal lived because he was bigger and thankfully because he was a healthy specimen (which is why I got him in the first place).

He is now swimming around my tank, eating and looking like hes at 100%. I'm VERY happy about this and hope he continues to do well. I treat all my fish food with Selcon and Garlic, mostly for my Moorish Idol. I think this helped stimulate my Regals appetite as well because when I fed him last night he seemed to be eating most of the stuff I put in. Now I just gotta get him eating Spectrum Pellets and we'll be all set. Pictures to come.

 

[Typhon]

After reading this thread and many hours of research I decide to purchase a Regal Angel for my 225g Reef.

The one I have orginated from the "Red Sea". Had him since Thursday and currently he is still in my Q - Tank. He wouldn't eat anything for the 3 days ,but today after cracking a small clam for him. Seems to really like fresh clams.

Here are some pics of him:

 

[HOZERTHEBONEFISH]

Typhon

Nice regal. Wish you success.

Mine wouldnt eat really for first few days. I gave mine selcon/garlic extract(kent) enhanced live brine to get him started and then slowly mixed frozen and dried foods into the mix.

Ive read that they like clams in this thread. Ive avoided feeding clams as food as my tank has bunch of maximas and croceas!!.

Didnt want to start my regal on any bad habits.

 

[zfunk007]

Typhoon, nice Regal. How big is he? He's certainly a Red Sea specimen. How many of you have Indo-Pacific Regals? Mine is a Pacific one.

He was eating the spectrum pellets when I fed him tonight!!! And its only day 2... amazing. I knew this was an incredible fish from the moment I saw him. I kept comming back to him and he gave me that "take me home I'm a healthy fish" look. I think hes going to be ok.

 

[Typhon]

Thanks...

I was thinking the same thing because I do have 2 large clams in my tank, but he wouldn't eat live brine shrimp with garlic extract/selcon. So yesterday (4th day of not eating), I decided to break down and buy him some live clams.

And bingo it worked, now I just hope it does become bad habit..

Typhon

Nice regal. Wish you success.

Mine wouldnt eat really for first few days. I gave mine selcon/garlic extract(kent) enhanced live brine to get him started and then slowly mixed frozen and dried foods into the mix.

Ive read that they like clams in this thread. Ive avoided feeding clams as food as my tank has bunch of maximas and croceas!!.

Didnt want to start my regal on any bad habits.

 

[Typhon]

zfunk007 .. Thanks..

He is little over 4" and he is becoming less shy. Yesterday I was able to walk up the Q-Tank with him running behind a rock.

Typhoon, nice Regal. How big is he? He's certainly a Red Sea specimen. How many of you have Indo-Pacific Regals? Mine is a Pacific one.

He was eating the spectrum pellets when I fed him tonight!!! And its only day 2... amazing. I knew this was an incredible fish from the moment I saw him. I kept comming back to him and he gave me that "take me home I'm a healthy fish" look. I think hes going to be ok.

 

[Typhon]

By the way, how long can you leave a cracked open clam in a tank before it starts to go bad?? Because the clam is large and the Regal is just taking small bits out of it.

Few hours??

 

[zfunk007]

How big is your tank? I wouldn't leave it more than a few hours.... You saw what happend with me and that darn sponge...