Regal Angel Primer

[HOZERTHEBONEFISH]

John

My condolences on the loss of your avatar regal. Your TOTM is what got me seriously interested in regals in the first place. It was love at first sight. Thanks for sharing your insight and experience.

Kirk

Lets just order the pro v and split it two ways. We will probably have enough fish food for our lifetime

Greg

What I do is post my pic on snapfish.com which is free and link it from there. That way the kb isnt as limited.


Heres my update and I am going to need some help.

He is eating better less shy. He is eating some big chunks of mysis and some spirulina flakes.

The new problem is is eyes have become quite opaque Not cloudy but getting there. I did not notice this yesterday. He also has some more lesions and ulcerations on his body and fins.

Not sure if I should give him a freshwater bath or leave him be and hope he turns around.

Everybody else is as healthy as can be and extremely fat as I am pounding my tank with a lot of food.

Thanks guys

Henry

 

[Steve Atkins]

Everybody else is as healthy as can be and extremely fat as I am pounding my tank with a lot of food.

Thanks guys

Henry

Have you just recently increased feeding of brought it up gradually?

It does not seem inconceivable that you might get ammonia and or nitrite spikes high enough to effect a stressed and delicate fish, but which do not bother your much healthier and less stressed normal residents, if there has been a sudden increase in loading. Have you measured for these things?

Steve

 

[HOZERTHEBONEFISH]

Steve

I have and they are undetectable. I still did a 20% water change for the heck of it... cant hurt.

 

[dvmsn]

Copps, what are those other angels?

 

[DJPB]

Copps - those photos are incredible. Great job!

 

[copps]

Thanks guys...

John- all i can say is WOW! those are amazing pics!

we will have to talk once i get my new tank setup and running....

you should really start a thread, the tank is wonderful!

anyway nice regals (i think you are the first to house a trio)!

so you think that the key is getting them straight out of the ocean and not having them "sit" in the LFS?

thanks for taking the time, a very educated post, with greta info! and nice pics!

Nick

Hey Nick... it's not really "the key", but a regal has X number of days it could go without eating. If the LFS is like most LFS that don't give the time and energy needed with regals, then you get the regal with X - Y number of days left without eating if Y is the number of days it's been in the store... not to make a math equation but you get the idea... the quicker into your hands the better. You also have to figure in the days it sat with the collector, the exporter, the importer, and whatever other middlemen it fell through assuming it hadn't eaten much throughout its journey.

John,

Great post and pictures.

I see you still use a turkey baster for feeding. Do you expect to have to always use it?

Steve

Thanks Steve... I don't have to use it, but it's a good and fun tool to deliver more food to certain fish in my tank. Expecting regals to compete with planktivores and tangs is unfair really... they are not built for feeding from the water column and therefore eat slower and get less food down despite going as fast as they can. Think of the Nathan's hot dog eating contest. If you had the little Japanese kid (Kobiyashi) run around a parking lot to pick up the hot dogs his lead above the obese American contestants would be greater! Incidentally, I think I'll now call my tomini tang Kobiyashi as he is quick to the food and packs it down fast. If you can't follow what I'm talking about suffice it to say that the turkey baster allows me to get a greater percentage of the food to the angels than if I were to just dump it in...

Copps, what are those other angels?

The other pair of angels are Pomacanthus chrysurus. I've grown the sub-adult from a small juvenile I got a while back from Liveaquaria here . The adult I got earlier this year locally at a good price while shopping with Sanjay Joshi and some other local friends after bringing up possibly pairing these guys. They get along fine, so we'll see how things develop. These guys come from East Africa (Kenya really) and are different and great, with the puppydog personality of Emperors...

Great news all... in September I'm heading back to Guam with work for nearly two weeks (I'm back the day before MACNA thankfully) and I just bought an underwater housing for my digital camera. I've been to Guam two times before for extended periods and witness regals angels on nearly every dive and snorkel. I plan to pay close attention to the gill spines on this trip to see the true development particularly in the pairs and harem groups. I'll of course update here. Also, on the way out I stop in Hawaii for a couple days and have been in touch with Frank Baensch of RCT Hawaii (the breeder of the interuptus and resplendens pygmy angels) regarding seeing his facility. Hopefully I have time to meet up. Again I'll post here for all of us angelfish nuts. This guy is proof that captive propogation of angelfish is possible! He is just an angelfish nut like us with a dream, some capital, and a 700 square foot facility (amazingly small!)

Here's one of the Guamanian regals I shot with a disposible camera... blue chested of course with a neat aberation on the dorsal fin...

 

[Steve Atkins]

I might try using a turkey baster.

My guy has now realised the need to be a bit assertive and is not above pushing some smaller fish out of the way to get to some food. But you are right, he is a slower eater and not quite as adept at hoovering up the floating food. I find it helps that I put the food in right in front of a pump so it spreads out along the tank. Some of it also, very conveniently, gets carried into rock round his favourite cave and he is pretty good at finding this later on at a more leisurely pace. The problem with this is that it could also lead to pollution.

Steve

 

[ddr]

My regal has been found dead this morning, for the last week I have tried every type of food I could get my hands on & even tried the turky baster to direct feed it, but nothing tempted it.

Im still at a loss for why it stopped eating after 6 months of being in the tank & eating well.
I dont know if Ill try another, I may need to find a different more agressive angel to keep up with the tangs.

When I get home ill ahve a very good look & may try an autopsy.

 

[Steve Atkins]

ddr: Sorry about your loss. Despite my current success, what you have experienced remains my fear.

Unless you are a biologist with knowledge of fish anatomy, you would be very unlikely to actually find out anything by doing an autopsy.

Steve

 

[ddr]

ddr: Sorry about your loss. Despite my current success, what you have experienced remains my fear.

Unless you are a biologist with knowledge of fish anatomy, you would be very unlikely to actually find out anything by doing an autopsy.

Steve

Thanks Steve & for the autopsy i would really be looking for obvious signs, like flukes or something.

 

[HOZERTHEBONEFISH]

Another update of my large male regal...

Good news: eating a lot more..Big chunks of prime reef frozen food, mysis and even some spirulina flakes. Acts hungry.

Bad news: Its eyes are really cloudy right worse than left.. Right one is a bit bulged out. Im surprised it even sees some food. It has problems with smaller chunks of food because of its poor vision. It also has some fin rot of its tail fin. The lympho or ich spots are fewer though. It also scratches its eyes alot. Looked carefully and it doesnt look like fluke or ich. The other fishes look perfect. Ammonia/nitrate is zero.

I do not want to stress this fish out any more. I thought of hospital tank (I have some extra empty tanks lying about)and using maracyn II but I decided to go for "melafix" in the main system.

I did some searches and its reviews range from snake oil to wonderdrug.

Wish me luck guys, any suggestions or advise would be most appreciated.

Henry

 

[maxxII]

If its still eating and acting "mostly" normal, (scratching etc aside) and your tank conditions are stable, it should make it just fine.

Nick

 

[nctangman]

Henry,

I have used both products and maracyn II will work for the cloudy eyes in a QT tank. Melafix should be fine for the main system and claims to be reef safe.

kirk

 

[BlkWolfe]

Posted a pic a few pages back when i originally got her...

Had a few dozen lympocites, but heavy water changes and food loaded with garlic and selcon cleared her up in a few weeks.

Had her for about 4 months now...

 

[Rao]

I have an update too, my first regal is great and sharing the main tank with the tangs, i also keping a larger regal (i think this is a male for the longer spine) with the first one, no sign of figting.

Hozer, i had cloud eyes with some angels (bispinosus and flame) and the use of garlic with the food two to tree times daily for 15 days was alwais efective.

Good look

 

[HOZERTHEBONEFISH]

Thanks guys for your advise.

Maybe in retrospect I should have taken a conservative approach. And perhaps others can learn from my foolishness.

The melafix shut down the regals as well as the other fishes appetite completely. Checked ammonia and nitrate and was zero. Problems is the regal is now listless and hugging the bottom. Absolutely no interest in food from eating well yesterday.

I took the regal out and put it in a 10 gallon tank with maracyn two dosed. He looks bad. I guess we all learn the hard way.

I was briefly contemplating euthanising this poor fella, but decided to give him couple days in the fish ICU...

Rao: Happy to hear that you have a happy pair. Wish you continued success.

Kirk : Any suggestions would be helpful. BTW how are your fishes doing esp copperband?

 

[nctangman]

Henry,

I am sorry to hear your regal angel is doing bad. The mere fact you have it in a QT tank opens your options tremendously on the types of treatment you can perform. I would keep the Marcyn II going. Are you giving in the Saltwater dose? Most of the time it is double the dose from freshwater. Cloudy eye usually means a secondary bacterial infection and Marcyn II (broad spectrum antibotic) is the way to go. I was able to search on google.com using the keywords: cloudy eyes listless and came up with some good information. Most of them reference Marcyn II as treatement. Since ammonia is zero, I assume Nitrite is also zero?

My CBB is finally eating !!! I picked up some PE Mysis shrimp and soaked it in garlic. This has been the first time I actually witness the CBB and flame angel eat in my presence. It wasn't much they ate, but at least they are coming out when I start to feed (unlike the retreat I had last week <g>).

The Naso Tank however is still picky. It is in a 20 QT tank for a slight problem with Ich. It is picking algae off the rock and occasionally with nip at seaweed select that is attach to a rock, but no prepared frozen foods yet. I am baffled and concerned. I have had 2 naso tangs before (this is my first blonde naso though) and each has live for 5-6 years and don't remember them having problems in getting their appetite stimulated. I am offering brine shrimp, mysis shrimp, calupera cubes soaked in garlic. I am going to try this PE Mysis today and see what happens. I even may do a quick freshwater dip just to get the "crud" off of him. <g> Maybe this will stimulate his appetite.

Keep me updated on your regal angel fish. I will be thinking about it.

Kirk

 

[shanghaireefer]

Here is the picture of the REgal Angel igot about a week ago. It is about 8 inches in length, very beautiful one. Quarantined it wih very light Cupramine solution. Then introduced to Main Tank on its second day, it started Mysis shrimps,but very veryslow in action. He refused all other food--clams, shrimps, pellet, flakes.
When its feeding time, I would time it when he swims in front of the aquarium hoping he would eat most food ahead of the other well established fishes( lunar wrasse, foxface, 4 inch blue tang, 2clowns and a small volitan). On seeing food, he would instead swim to the other side of the aqarium and eat slowly there in a very " regal" manner with poise. He would end up eating so little food which is only a sixth of what the blue tang would have consumed.. What should I do?

 

[TRIGER]

could i keep an regal in a 56 gallon aquriam

 

[TRIGER]

i would to keep an regal is a 48 x18 18 big enougph