Food preparation
Food preparation
In the interests of providing a good quality long term diet for the Regal, and due to the scarcity of specialised angel formulas down here, I have embarked on an exercise to produce my own frozen food mix. I am slowly collecting various ingredients, including; octopus, squid, mussel, scallop, shrimp, plus 2 types of nori and have been experimenting with other items to see how they are received.
I have tried a small piece of local cold-water sponge to see that it was acceptable and not toxic (figured they would either stay away from it or spit it out, if it was). The Regal and a few others took an occasional nibble at this but were not that enthusiastic. This lack of enthusiasm was not a great surprise as it has totally ignored, as far as I can tell, a couple of tropical sponges I got from another tank. I guess not all Regals are that interested in sponge. Perhaps they mainly eat sponge when there is nothing better on offer. Iââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢ll include some anyway, now I have it.
On the other hand, a piece of frozen cabbage leaf was consumed with great gusto by the angel, all the tangs, the clown (which also tried to feed a piece to his anemone) and most of the larger damsels. I am going to try some lightly cooked peas next as these have proved popular in the past.
I was not planning on trying to source some local tunicate, but a small one came with the fresh live mussels, so I cut it in half and put it in the tank. It was pounced on with such enthusiasm that I might see about getting some now, although Iââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢m not sure if the angel actually got any.
The Blue Tang now only chases the Regal in a perfunctory sort of way and they have even been observed eating together off the same bit of freshly opened mussel.
Steve
