Regal Angel Primer

I got a Red Sea regal a couple of weeks ago - was said to be eating mysis and spirulina flakes at the store (I ordered it online - it had a very rough shipment), but the only thing it will eat for me is feather caulerpa. It eats that stuff like a pig, but I can't seem to get it to eat anything else. I've tried live brine, mysis, krill, fresh clams, mussels, Formula 2 and Angel Formula in a grid clip, nori (green, brown and red), NLS pellets and my own homemade mash squished on a rock. He swims out in the open and picks at rocks, but just won't go for anything else other than the caulerpa.

Any tips for getting him to eat other things? Should I continue to offer caulerpa along with other foods and just wait and see if he'll eventually take other foods? Any advice is appreciated!
 
Lots of patience and time. Kepp trying the other foods. It's fortunate that you have found something it'll eat, that's a good start.
 
Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. I tried some hikari spirulina brine today with no luck. I guess I will continue to offer caulerpa and keep trying other foods in the meantime. I'm not sure the caulerpa grows in my 'fuge as fast as this guy is eating it though!
 
It has been an intense month for my two regals, so here's an update. I mentioned earlier that my two juvenile regals had been fighting again. It got worse, and the formerly submissive one ended up going into "kill mode" one day and pretty much ate most of the fins off of the formerly dominant one and also bit a lot at the body. I found the one getting beaten on laying on its side under a rock, breathing heavily, and the aggressor was still attacking it. I removed the wounded one to an isolation box, and she stayed there for a week to recover.

After a week the aggressor stopped paying attention to her and she was mostly healed so I let her go back. Bad idea, the aggressor went right back into kill mode so I caught him instead and put him in the box. I kept him in there for a couple weeks. After that I released him and while he was aggressive to the beaten one, it wasn't with deadly intentions.

The two ended up getting their dominance settled after a few days of some chasing and a little fin nipping. Over a week the aggressor went through a big growth spurt and is now significantly larger than the beaten one, and they now interact like paired angels rather than two regals in the same tank.

So 7 months into this venture and I now have a pair of regals. :) The beaten one made a FULL recovery and you can't even tell she ever looked close to death. I was extremely surprised and happy the fins grew back perfectly and there is no scarring on the body.

I also find it interesting that the growth in these two has been so slow, but the male was able to grow so much so quickly at the right trigger. It makes me wonder if some of the stunting we see in tanks is just because we lack proper triggers, not related to tank size etc, but I don't know...
 
My Regal has acclimated nicely to the tank. About 5-6 days after purchase he began eating everything offered. Now nearing the 2 month mark in my tank and he looks awesome. Best thing about this speciemen is he only eats fish foods. He doesn't touch a single coral in the tank. Not even the zoas !!
 
My angel took a while to acclimate, but now he's well and happy. Eats like a pig, preferably Caulerpa and Nori. He's always the first one at the food and looks all well and fat :)
 
thats wild. my regal absolutely will not even touch nori. he doesnt even pick at rocks but he's fat and healthy and i've had him going on 2 yrs now.
 
rgentry123 said:
thats wild. my regal absolutely will not even touch nori. he doesnt even pick at rocks but he's fat and healthy and i've had him going on 2 yrs now.
Click to expand...

Mine wouldnt touch Nori for the first year either. Then one day, she just went for it. Took her about two years to accept blanched broccoli, now she happily eats either. Both of my Regals seemed to do best with another fish "showing" them what "food" was. Once they figured out that whatever I was feeding was in fact "food" they were good to go.

Nick
 
This thread has been a great resource for potential regal buyers to understand just how difficult these fish can be. Several posts in rc and other forums have mentioned that improved collection methods are increasing the survival rates for fish, but I've been unable to find anything that actually shows that. It would be great if it's true. So here is a poll to try and find out if more fish are surviving long term. This is only for people who bought regals in 2010.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2012352
 
I got a regal on Friday from someone shutting the tank down, be had it for 3+ years and was eating frozen mysis and brine but now in my qt is not interested in food at all, the regal is fat should I be worried or just normal from the stress ofthe move?
 
LukFox said:
It has been an intense month for my two regals, so here's an update. I mentioned earlier that my two juvenile regals had been fighting again. It got worse, and the formerly submissive one ended up going into "kill mode" one day and pretty much ate most of the fins off of the formerly dominant one and also bit a lot at the body. I found the one getting beaten on laying on its side under a rock, breathing heavily, and the aggressor was still attacking it. I removed the wounded one to an isolation box, and she stayed there for a week to recover.

After a week the aggressor stopped paying attention to her and she was mostly healed so I let her go back. Bad idea, the aggressor went right back into kill mode so I caught him instead and put him in the box. I kept him in there for a couple weeks. After that I released him and while he was aggressive to the beaten one, it wasn't with deadly intentions.

The two ended up getting their dominance settled after a few days of some chasing and a little fin nipping. Over a week the aggressor went through a big growth spurt and is now significantly larger than the beaten one, and they now interact like paired angels rather than two regals in the same tank.

So 7 months into this venture and I now have a pair of regals. :) The beaten one made a FULL recovery and you can't even tell she ever looked close to death. I was extremely surprised and happy the fins grew back perfectly and there is no scarring on the body.

I also find it interesting that the growth in these two has been so slow, but the male was able to grow so much so quickly at the right trigger. It makes me wonder if some of the stunting we see in tanks is just because we lack proper triggers, not related to tank size etc, but I don't know...
Click to expand...

I havent been keeping up with this thread, but wow Lukfox, that's pretty cool. Glad you came out of it with a pair, hopefully they stay happy and dont want a divorce.
 
Recty said:
I havent been keeping up with this thread, but wow Lukfox, that's pretty cool. Glad you came out of it with a pair, hopefully they stay happy and dont want a divorce.
Click to expand...

Thanks :). So far it has been very good. Shortly after that post they started practicing spawning behavior, going through the motions but never getting it done. That is, until two weeks ago! They finally got it right, and I think the happy couple is going to last.
 
Bump... lets keep em the posts coming. Mine is coming home with me this weekend or sometime early next week. I want him to settle down before taking from the LFS. Day 1 he was eating mussels at the store and now yesterday when I went to go check on him, he was eating frozen mysis shrimp. I can't wait to bring him home. I'm going to QT and freshwater dip him to ensure great health before going into the main tank.
 
LukFox said:
It has been an intense month for my two regals, so here's an update. I mentioned earlier that my two juvenile regals had been fighting again. It got worse, and the formerly submissive one ended up going into "kill mode" one day and pretty much ate most of the fins off of the formerly dominant one and also bit a lot at the body. I found the one getting beaten on laying on its side under a rock, breathing heavily, and the aggressor was still attacking it. I removed the wounded one to an isolation box, and she stayed there for a week to recover.

After a week the aggressor stopped paying attention to her and she was mostly healed so I let her go back. Bad idea, the aggressor went right back into kill mode so I caught him instead and put him in the box. I kept him in there for a couple weeks. After that I released him and while he was aggressive to the beaten one, it wasn't with deadly intentions.

The two ended up getting their dominance settled after a few days of some chasing and a little fin nipping. Over a week the aggressor went through a big growth spurt and is now significantly larger than the beaten one, and they now interact like paired angels rather than two regals in the same tank.

So 7 months into this venture and I now have a pair of regals. :) The beaten one made a FULL recovery and you can't even tell she ever looked close to death. I was extremely surprised and happy the fins grew back perfectly and there is no scarring on the body.

I also find it interesting that the growth in these two has been so slow, but the male was able to grow so much so quickly at the right trigger. It makes me wonder if some of the stunting we see in tanks is just because we lack proper triggers, not related to tank size etc, but I don't know...
Click to expand...

Pics or it didnt happen!!

Nick
 
My Babies

My Babies

These are my baby regals, they lived in my 100g sump together for about six months while my larger regal lived in the 270g display, about a month ago I moved the babies to the DT with the use of acclimatization boxes and dividers. They have their pecking order but they aren't any more aggressive to one another than they are toward my copperband.

This is a pic of the 2 babies

IMG_0507-1.jpg~original


I wish I had a good camera and some photography skills, when I try to get a pic with all 3 its always blurry.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

OrionN
Biota Hybrid CB Regal Angel. Please comment
Replies
4
Views
182
griss
griss
Q
What is the best way to add Queen Angel?
Replies
1
Views
590
wvned
wvned
T
New 55g setup. Advice for fish appreciated
Replies
6
Views
259
Uncle99
Uncle99
OrionN
Naso elegans, the Blonde Naso
Replies
1
Views
209
OrionN
OrionN
OrionN
Baby CB Regal Angel from Biota
Replies
8
Views
2K
OrionN
OrionN
Back
Top