Regal Angel Primer

Keep positive guys, I think everyone (exception of a few) have ben where your at now. Don't give up on your fish have you guys tried scallops rubberbanded toa rock?
 
Had to pull the Regal out to do another freshwater dip last night. I hope it didn't stress him out to the point of regression of his appetite.

I was proven correct during the dip though. He shed a few more flukes.
 
I got a 4.5" yellow belly with a missing chunk near the anus area and didn't eat for the first 25 days and all of a sudden started eating pellets. I didn't do anything different on feeding just offer variety of food. Regals has been the most difficult fish to keep alive in my experiences and most only lasted a week or two so hopefully this one is a keeper.

here's him with the missing chunk with two spines exposed
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had him almost 3 months now and the 2 spines appeared missing. he prefer pellets over frozen
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I got a 5.5" Bandit in QT on 11/19 that didn't touch any prepared food for 9 weeks and during this time it would only take nips at live clams but the amount surely wasn't enough. Good thing he came in pretty plumb and started to get skinny over the next 9 weeks. He didn't start eating frozen till 1/26 and the last couple days was eating mysis more aggressively. He even eat few pellets now.

On my last couple of posts here I've been saying to give the fish time to settle in and they will eat when they are ready. As with any sensitive fish the thing we need to do is just keep plugging away with a varied diet and try to observe them from a distance till they get used to you being around. My Bandit would go under the rocks the first 7-8 weeks when I got close to the tank but now I can sit in front and watch him eat. I never had a Bandit taken more than 2-3 days to eat till this one.
 
Feeding acclimation persistence

Feeding acclimation persistence

I have a Regal which has been eating for about a year and a half and it does prefer freeze dried mysis vs brine although it tends to take a taste of whatever is offered. I have forgotten how long it took to acclimate it to feed. I usually use the dispersal method of as many different kinds of food as I can think of and not give up. I now have a Clown Tang who has been grazing tank algae since I got it 25 days ago. I ignores ALL food I put into the tank. I wish it would follow my Regal's behavior! :hammer:
 
I have now ordered 3 of these fish through different local trusted fish stores and all 3 have not made it through the 1st week in the stores even though they came in fat and healthy looking. I doubt the different stores ordered them all from the same place. I'm about to give up on getting a healthy regal. :(
 
I have now ordered 3 of these fish through different local trusted fish stores and all 3 have not made it through the 1st week in the stores even though they came in fat and healthy looking. I doubt the different stores ordered them all from the same place. I'm about to give up on getting a healthy regal. :(

I've gone through a few myself and if they don't make it they usually die within the first 2 weeks (I only had one that make it to the third week). Even this last one didn't look good the first 3-4 weeks. Their record is so bad that many online vendors don't offer 14 days live guarantee on them and most of them didn't look good out of the bag. Don't give up but look to getting one that comes with a 14 days guarantee.
 
Well my Indo-Pacific Regal was healthy and fat when it arrived about 3 months ago. After about 2 months in the QT providing it with live black worms, live tubifex worms, live brine shrimp, oyster in the shell, clam in the shell, all frozen foods available, freeze dried foods (eat some freeze dried tubifex off surface), flake foods, pellets.....it did eat some of these at times, but grudgingly. And more often it would not eat them again.

So, I eventually placed it in the 300g DT with my butterflies and it was more of the same swimming right thru masses of worms that the butterflies were feasting on it became slimmer and slimmer over the past 3 months.

Yesterday, was it's last day as it succumbed to starvation. I tried, it tried but it wasn't meant to be....good bye my dear Regal. :sad2:
 
So sorry. That must of been really tuff to go thru, watching him for 3 months and being helpless watching him not eating. I've had mine going on 3 yrs now. He basically only likes to eat sponge and spectrum pellets.
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Losing a Regal after three months is wrenching experience.

Losing a Regal after three months is wrenching experience.

Well my Indo-Pacific Regal was healthy and fat when it arrived about 3 months ago. After about 2 months in the QT providing it with live black worms, live tubifex worms, live brine shrimp, oyster in the shell, clam in the shell, all frozen foods available, freeze dried foods (eat some freeze dried tubifex off surface), flake foods, pellets.....it did eat some of these at times, but grudgingly. And more often it would not eat them again.

So, I eventually placed it in the 300g DT with my butterflies and it was more of the same swimming right thru masses of worms that the butterflies were feasting on it became slimmer and slimmer over the past 3 months.

Yesterday, was it's last day as it succumbed to starvation. I tried, it tried but it wasn't meant to be....good bye my dear Regal. :sad2:

I lost an adult Imperator Angel over a couple of years ago and it was not a pleasant experience. I could not figure out why since it was a good eater and the biggest fish in the tank. I just came home from work one day and it was floating. I wonder whether your fish was fat from the ocean and not from the store feeding?

You might take stock of your present fish and see if you want to try another source for a Regal replacement.

I must have had some luck with my Regal which is an Indo-Pacific variety from Drs. Foster and Smith which does not sell them until they are eating. I put him straight away into the Display tank. He was fairly small when I got him. I have since added a Blue Girdled Angel one year ago about the same size and they are both now about 3ish inches in present size which means they were quite small when I purchased them although my other fish were also smaller. They ignore each other and go about their fishly business of swimming around the live rock.

I do not keep a log of my fishes growth rates although it would be interesting although too much work for me. I have just started adding Kent Marine-C every day to fight off disease including LLHE.
 
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juv regal....

juv regal....

now at 25 days and still going strong,eats everything i put into tank as long as the pieces are to big..........:fish1:
 
Here's a better pic of my baby regal. It is definetly a grey belly variant.
It still continues to eat with gusto & is starting to show some dominance
towards the other angels in the tank. It doesn't back down as much when chased.
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Nice looking Regals

Nice looking Regals

I have just lost my Clown Tang after four weeks of not eating and just picking at the tank algae. I will stick with my Powder Blue and Purple who have been in the tank for over two years and are 4 1/2 and 4 inches respectively. They get along with each other and the angels. The angels get along with each other and the tangs and I have had the Regal of 18 months and the Blue Girdled for one years.

My Regal(obviously a gray belly) seems to like the freeze dried mysis over freeze dried brine although it goes for just about anything. It went after the light feeding of Ocean Nutrition One and Two flakes with a vegeance which I put in the tank this evening which is usually just a liquid coral food feeding day(Mondays, Wednesdays,Fridays). I will occasionally put a small amount of Ocean Nutrition One and Two flakes on my Monday, Wednesday, and Friday coral feeding days just give them at least a small amount of food each day while watching my water quality.

On Tuesdays and Saturdays I soak freeze dried mysis and brine shrimp along with small pieces, cut up with scissors, of soft red seaweed(easier on angels and other fish with soft mouth parts) and green seaweed in a measuring cup with aquairum water and Selcon and I have not started adding a few drops of Kent Marine C. My Regal will aggressively go after the seaweed and mysis, and even the brine to a degree. On Thursdays and Sundays I try different things like flakes, pellets, frozen food, and the new Instant Ocean Gel food.

I have started putting in 33 drops of Kent Marine C to make sure everybody gets there vitamin C in the tank. I treat my five foot 120 for 100 gallons and the Kent Marine C is about 1 ml per 50 gallons per day. At this rate it looks like it will last four months which is not bad for making sure tank inhabitants are getting a good amount of vitamin C and are not deficient. I have also been told the very beginnings of LLHE on my Regal took a long time to show and is going to be very slow to heal. The good thing is I caught it early and am taking action.
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nice! looks like a yellow belly, thats awesome that it already eating frozen! did you buy it at an LFS eating already or did you order online?
 
A chunky Regal

A chunky Regal

My new Regal :)

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She's eating frozen food so far.

Let's hope she starts eating freeze dried brine/mysis and bite size pieces of seaweed cut up with scissors which can be soaked in Vitamin C and possibly Selcon as well as flake food and of course the frozen food. You could put some cubes of frozen food in a small net and run hot tap water to melt off the liquid and then place some freeze dried food and flakes of seaweed in a 1/4 cup with aquarium water with Vitamin C, I am using Marine-C, and maybe Selcon and add them all at once to see if she will take the different foods. I would use small amounts at first so as not to dirty the water.

My Regal had started to show small signs of the very beginning of LLHE around the eyes and it was recommended to me to use Vitamin C. I have been told it is a long time in coming and will take a long time in going although it is good I caught it early on. I dose my tank every day and add some Kent Marine-C to the food. After this experience, I will dose with Vitamin C for as along as I have my tank. All my other fish are in perfect shape.

I feed my 3 1/2 inch Regal small pieces of razor clam and other fresh seafood left over from feeding the Red Rose Bubble Tip Anemones once a week. I make sure I toss the pieces in his directions and he comes right over and sometimes gulps them off the intake of my Hydor 8 if they get stuck.

Of course this is after a year and a half in the tank although mine was a healthy eater from the beginning even though it has a gray belly! I got him from Drs. Foster and Smith as well as the Blue Girdled of the same size which has been in the tank for a year.

My Regal does not take any guff from my four striped damsels and they bite me! The Regal and Blue Girdled get along with each other and my 4 1/2 inch Powder Blue Tang and 4 inch Purple Tang both of which have been in the tank getting along for over two years.
 
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I picked up a new one, I lost a fat healthy one in a tank switch. All fish had to spend about a week in a 150 gallon rubbermaid till the replacement tank arrived and was filled.
I lost half of my fish amd 99% of them were angels. :(
The new one was eating aggressively at the LFS. It had been treated for a anchorworm like paracite that was buried in his chin. Now he is in QT finishing his furan2 treatment.
He will go with my scribbled, meridithi, bicolor, and eilbi.
 
I almost feel like I am jinxing myself posting this but I found another yellow bellied regal and have had it on hold for over a week now. So far it has been doing well. He is about 4" and stunning. Hopefully it will continue to do well and can some hangout in my reef before long. :)
 
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