Regal Angel Primer

[HOZERTHEBONEFISH]

Shanghai.

Beautiful regal.

First problem is that you have a larger regal. From all the info out there, tougher to get eating/acclimating.

Second it appears to be blue chested, or a non red sea, which is even more challenging.

Finally its competition is quite fierce. Unless you move the regal out to its dedicated tank, or you move some of the current inhabitants out of your main tank, or overfeed the tank until regal gets more left overs, the odds are against the regal.

Triger

You could keep it on a temporary basis but it will outgrow it in a year or two and you probably shouldnt keep any other fishes of substantial size in it.

Brief update on my male regal: After 3 days in the fish ICU with high dose maracyn II therapy I decided to put the fish back in the main system. He looks horrible. No food for 4 days now. Prognosis is grim.

On the other hand the female regal is downright fat active and just a pig...as I type this I can see her begging for more spectrum pellets!

 

[Steve Atkins]

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?

In my case I overfed the tank for a week or so, including putting some food down behind the reef where the Regal liked to hang out. He was always interested in eating, but since I have a lot of aggressive eaters, although nothing as bad as a lunar wrasse, this overfeeding was necessary or he would have missed out because he was so slow, the food was half gone before he realised it was food.

Over time he has learned the importance of being early at the feeding spot and to be a more aggressive eater, although still slower that the rest. He has also learned that if the other fish eat it, he should to. To get this far, however, he has had to re-learn everything his life on the real reef had tought him about eating.

Steve

 

[shanghaireefer]

Just found out my REgal 's got his left eye Pop Eyed> whilethe right eye is normal. He comes out occasionally out in th eopen but would spend msot of the time hiding among the rocks.

wht should I do ? Is it mechanical injury?

 

[shanghaireefer]

Just found out my REgal 's got his left eye Pop Eyed> whilethe right eye is normal. He comes out occasionally out in th eopen but would spend msot of the time hiding among the rocks.

wht should I do ? Is it mechanical injury?

 

[HOZERTHEBONEFISH]

Shanghai

For me that was the start of the end.

Its probably injury related. I would suggest lots of garlic and selcon with food. I would recommend against any melafix or abx therapy at this point.

My poor male regal is slowly wasting away. Eyes too cloudy to see anything including food...I will put him down soon.

Lessons learned:

1. Dont get a large regal.
2. Dont use melafix on a regal angel
3. Try to buy regals locally if possible from a reputable source.
4. I got lucky with my first regal. They are extremely sensitive fish as they are reputed to be. Respect and fear them.

Hope others interested in keeping regals learn from my mistakes.

Henry

 

[Rao]

Hozer, I´m sorry about your Regal, i found that the big regal i buy last was rely mor dificult to get use to captive food that the small first one.

Here some pics of the "bichos".

The spine of the big one, i asume that is a male.

In the small one the spine hardly visible.

 

[HOZERTHEBONEFISH]

Rao

Beautiful regals. The male reminds me of the one that died..SOB

Do they interact with each other yet?
What is the approx size of your regals?

 

[nctangman]

Henry,

So your male Regal did die? I am sorry to hear that. If I decide to get a Regal, I will most likely order thru my LFS so I can see it behavior, eating patterns, etc. before I make a purchase decision.

My Naso tang is still the same; it ich is still there even after a FW dip. I am going to check the level of my copper in the QT and make sure it is in the acceptable levels. My copper is a year old so it make have lost some of its effectiveness.

Kirk

 

[curthendrix]

After months of waiting...and waiting....I have finally ordered two Regals. I am planning on being at the LFS when they arrive tomorrow and taking them directly to my display tank. I have been told the Regals are eating and have been paired...the latter I have my doubts about but we'll see. I wanted them to be one of the first fish in the tank so they can get established....currently have 2 percs, a manderin, and a yellow tang (that my daughter insists on keeping)..in a 500g. Yes, I have a light bioload. Anyway, these fish will certainly be the most challenging species I have ever attempted to keep in my 3 yrs of reefkeeping. Will be feeding mysids, angel formula, and clams as a last resort. Anyway.....will try to get some pics.

 

[nctangman]

Curt,

I am sure you are aware of this, however keep in mind that even though you were told the Regals were eaten doesn't necessarily guarantee that they will eat for you.

I ordered a Naso Tang two wks ago that was supposedly eating when it left the facility; I have yet to see it eat prepared foods in my presence. However, it is picking algae off the rock and that is it.

Kirk

 

[HOZERTHEBONEFISH]

Kirk

Indeed he is dead. I put him down because he had no hope of recovery and he was suffering unnecessarily.

I cannot blame vivid aquarium. They shipped me a relatively healthy regal that did eat. I have only myself to blame for his death. I hope your naso turns around.

Curt

I cannot wait. Best of luck. How is that Deltec 1003 doing?

Henry

 

[JDM130]

copps.... Beautiful Angels! And congrats on the trio! After seeing your pics I have to wonder if "maybe" these fish are better in a fairly populated tank. I know it may sound strange but my Regal is in a pretty heavily loaded tank with much larger more aggressive Angels then itself and I couldnt ask for a more vibrant healthy Regal.

Mine was never shy even with the bigger fish. Luckilly though when I introduced him no other fish even looked twice at him. I got mine directly from a wholesaler I deal with and I made sure it was eating before I got him. When I got mine the wholesaler actually had 12 of them in stock. Many werent eating but the one I got was varaciously going after pelletts so thats the one I got. Like most here I diddnt quarentine and that for me is a huge risk because I have some fish over 10 years old and aside from that my tank is 4' deep so treating the tank or removing a sick fish would be a nightmare.

Anyway, great looking fish and keep up the good work!

Jeff

 

[curthendrix]

Kirk,

I'm actually expected them not to be eating...after reading 26 pages of this thread I think I'm pretty realistic about what to expect the first week or so. Look at it his way...I can only be pleasantly surprised at this point. I anticipate a lot of work and anxious moments but I love this fish and believe it to be well worth the effort. I also have a lineautus wrasse on the order too so I expect to be stressed as these are two expensive species. Anyway, thanks for that dose of realilty.

 

[nctangman]

Curt,

It sounds like you have a good regal on your hands..When it gets settled, I would be interested in seeing some pics.

I ordered a Labout wrasse from LA ~2 months ago (very pleased with this order) and it hid for 3-4 days before peeking out. It now is king of the tank and eats everything in sight.

I am considering getting a Lineatus wrasse for my 125g. Let me know how your order goes.

Kirk

 

[shanghaireefer]

Hozerbonefish:

Yesterday, my REgal started coming out again i nthe open , swimming back and forth and occasionally grazing at the rocks and sand seemingly searching for food. The Pop Eye remains there. He would pick up some thing from the sand and spit it out.
He seems to be picking up some mysis shrimp , but not that interseted in the other food.

Is that a better sign than last week when he would only hide behind the rocks and wouldnt come out ?

 

[Rao]

My big regal is about 19 - 20 cm and the small one is about 11 cm, the donÃ"šÃ‚´t interact, just the big one chasing the saml from time to time, the smal one is much more active, he swim all over trhe acuarium and all the caves un the rock's thje big one is more slow swimer and do not eat a lot, the small eats as agresive as the tangÃ"šÃ‚´s and no special feedind actions are required to fed her, she even chase my copper band all the time.

 

[Steve Atkins]

Is that a better sign than last week when he would only hide behind the rocks and wouldnt come out ?

Yes, quite to be expected. After it's first hour in the tank, mine then spent nearly two days, virtually unseen, behind the rocks, then gradually came out more and more. It took about 3 weeks before it came out and fed 'normally' with the rest of the fish and it has only been in the last week (approaching 2 months) that it is started taking food off the surface.

One thing I would say about this fish is that, despite being chased from time to time, being in a tank with a lot of aggressive eaters has been of benefit to it. It now happily eats everything the other fish eat, but I suspect it would have been a lot slower to reach a point of being so easy to feed if it had not had such a collection of enthusiastic examples to follow. Individual fish personality probably pays a big part as well as this fish has never let being chased put it off itââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s stride, it just makes a tactical retreat and reappears seconds later to carry on where it left off. One I tried years ago could not take this environment and was chased behind the reef, never to re-appear. I think now that it was too young and that the best age may be early adulthood.

I finally managed to get a few decent pictures after borrowing a friends digital SLR (I now know what I will be buying myself for Christmas), hereââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s one:

Since this picture was taken it has now fully joined the ââ"šÂ¬Ã‹Å“gangââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢ by managing to get a ripped fin, something at least one of my fish seems to manage to have on a fairly regular basis. I have been watching it and there is no sign fungus or any other problem ââ"šÂ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å“ perhaps he has been visiting the cleaners that park up under one of the anemones.

Steve

 

[curthendrix]

Do any of you regall owners have any tips for feeding my regals during the first few weeks while they're becoming accustomed to the tank and their surroundings. I'm assuming they're going to be behind the rocks in areas where getting regular food near them will be challenging. I am planning on the usual....mysids, angela formula...w/ garlic and maybe a fresh clam depending on where they're hiding. They are due to arrive tonight.

 

[Steve Atkins]

In my case I put some food in the output of the skimmer, which then gravity feeds directly in behind the reef at one end of the tank. I used to feed the tank so that most of the fish were busy out front and then put a portion of the food in via the skimmer output (easy to do on my big Aquamedic skimmer). The angel soon found this food and got used to looking there. It even started to take food as it came out of the pipe. One occasion, I put 1/2 a mussel (clam) down the back for him but I had to do this with a pair of tongs.

If your water return does not work in this way (most don't) then I would suggest putting in a section of pipe between the back of the tank and the reef and going from just above water level to say 2/3 of the way to the bottom. Put it where there is enough space for the fish to get in and near one end where you can see if it is working.

Steve

 

[curthendrix]

Thanks Steve,

Regals arrived tonight on schedule and in good condition. They have been exploring the left side of the tank and have been quite active and in the open at times...to my surprise. They are inseperable at this time and travel everywhere together. My yellow tang is attempted to establish dominence. I have changed the rockwork in hopes of reducing the tang's aggresion. You would think the tang could leave them in peace in at least part of a 500g tank. Will feed garlic soaked mysids tomorrow in hopes of getting them to eat....but so far so good.