Regal Angel Primer

Yeah copperbands evolved that nose for something... these are key reasons they have a better chance being isolated at first, like the aggression from the tang and the inability to compete for food... hopefully Rich you've got enough to carry it through until he decides to start eating prepared foods... Happy to see Live Aquaria come through again!

My trio continues to do well, although I need updated pics... these are a couple I posted way back...
A shot with flash under actinics only where you could see all three feeding near the turkey baster...


And another...
 
Thanks Morten... and right back at you! Nice system! I see we share the same passions... I have an outlet to get a gem tang but need the cohones to spend a grand on one fish... What did you pay for yours in Norway? (If your wife may read this you could PM me :D)... Reef on!:smokin:
 
John,
Do your regals pick on any lps or zoanthids? I've been toying with the idea of getting one but I'm afraid my lps population may take a severe beating.
 
When I added the original one years ago the remaining zoos I couldn't remove were picked clean in about four hours... it was amazing... every nook and cranny... I've never tested mine too much with lps but friend's I know have and I wouldn't do it if I were you... Even if I tested one out at first I wouldn't do it as they could turn at any time, as my chrysurus pair and moorish idol did on my sps... sps could retract and take a bit of a beating, but if they turn on lps or zoos you may find it picked clean before you know what went on...
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7125001#post7125001 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by copps
Thanks Morten... and right back at you! Nice system! I see we share the same passions... I have an outlet to get a gem tang but need the cohones to spend a grand on one fish... What did you pay for yours in Norway? (If your wife may read this you could PM me :D)... Reef on!:smokin:
Click to expand...

Thanks John, no problem with my wife at all, :D , I payd $ 630,- for the Gem, but it was in Germany. You will probably not find a Gem in Norway :cool:
 
Weekly update. Well, after a week in my reef, the regal has settled in nicely. It continues to eat any type of algae it can find. I did some tank maintenace today and I exposed a nice sized bunch of grape caulerpa. As soon as I moved my hand, the regal was right there shredding it. It did not leave that spot until all of the algae was gone. I bought a Doliatus rabbitfish a while ago to control the same algae and it ate all it could find. I wish I knew that regals ate the stuff as I would have bought one a long time ago. I am still waiting on the regal to accept prepared foods. It gets visibly excited when I feed the tank and really looks at the stuff going by, but hasn't sampled any yet. I just put 2 more clams in the tank so we'll see how that goes. Judging from the way the fish produces waste, I would say it is eating quite a bit.
 
Update on the behaviour of my RA.
I've had my RA 2 days short of a year now and when I introduced him into my 120g, it was stocked largely with SPS corals and about 7 clams. There were a scattering of zoanthids and some LPS corals.
I've stated in past postings that the RA demolished any zoos that I had left in there for him (expected) and most fleshy LPS were eventually taken out cause of declining health of the corals. Couldn't really pinpoint if it was the RA or my Golden pygmy angel nipping on the LPS corals.
My reason for this post is that the RA has always left my Clams alone. The Golden actually would nip the clams here and there but not do any real damage.
So fast forward about 9 months to Jan '06 where I set up a 102g tank that is plumbed to the same sump as the 120g. I needed more room for my corals and this was a good alternative to breaking down the 120g for a larger tank. As this 102g was setup, I interchanged corals and moved clams around a bit. So after 3 months, I decided to put back into the 120g which houses the RA, a few Croceas and Maximas and immediately the RA starts to go for the clam mantles. There are still a few clams that are in the 120g that were never moved and he doesn't bother them. I had to take out the clams that I just put in because he wouldnt stop and took some nice chunks out of the mantles in 10 minutes.

My observations so far are that even though initally clams are safe with some individual RAs, over time their behaviour changes.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7136688#post7136688 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by RichK
Weekly update. Well, after a week in my reef, the regal has settled in nicely. It continues to eat any type of algae it can find. I did some tank maintenace today and I exposed a nice sized bunch of grape caulerpa. As soon as I moved my hand, the regal was right there shredding it. It did not leave that spot until all of the algae was gone,
Click to expand...

Funny how individualistic these fish can be: Mine will not touch grape caulerpa or any other kind of live algae. Will take Pro-V from the water column from time to time but prefers protein, esp. Mysis.
 
Just a few comments re Regal Angels, food preferences and corals. It's been my experience that the Indo-Pacific Regal Angel is MORE likely to pick at corals than the Red Sea/Indian Ocean variant. In addition, many fish, including angels and tangs, will start experimenting will corals and clams if they are not well fed. The key is to keep them satiated with prepared foods. Keep nori, Pro V, open clams, etc. in the tank for the fish to graze on. Regal Angels are grazers and eat throughout the day. They can't be expected to thrive on one major feeding per day and will turn to picking at previously undesirable items if they're hungry enough.

Greg
 
The previous Regals I had never looked twice at clams. However, both of these two are not only clam nippers, but clam eaters. The only clam they haven't bothered is a crocea clam which is imbedded in a zoanthid rock.

It seems as though they have completely stopped picking on corals. And as Greg mentioned, they don't care to eat any Red Sea pulsing xenia. Hmm, perhaps when the Twins were babies out in the wild, that's all Mama Regal made them eat so now they are rebelling.

BTW, They are both in a 44"L x 28"w x apprx. 18" tall shallow type system. Roughly 90 gallons or so. Rock is minimal, just a cove on the left side, the right side is open with sea grasses. Along with a pair of flame hawks, mystery wrasse and golden blenny. Keep in mind, these are small fish (Although one seems to have gone on a growth spurt) (Male I believe). Eventually they will be going in a 300gallon Red Sea set-up with a small group of golden butterflies, a purple tang, group of fridmanis and an emperator.
 
Funny how regals (and other angels) are so unpredictable. My current regal (R.I.P. The previous one--total tank crash victim) eats mysis, gamma and ulva. Only fish in my tank that'll eat ulva. I've got several clams in the tank and it completely ignores them...
 
Well, I tried the clams again today. I added 3 this time. It didn't take 5 minutes before the regal was picking clean it's first clam. It them proceeded to go to the other clams and had no trouble "pushing" away the other fish so it could eat. Witnessing this, I headed out to the market and picked up some more clams, shrimp, mussels, nori, and scallops and made a fresh batch of mush. As I was packing it up, I added a small amount to the tank to see what the regal would do. To my surprise, it chased down pieces of food and ate from the water column! I hope this is a sign of good things to come. My 7 bartletts seemed to like the snack too.

I would just like to thank everyone in this thread for the information they provided. Without resources like this, the hobby would not be what it is today.
 
Been a while since I posted on this thread. But I figured I'd post a picture of my Regal since I've had him since last July.

myregalangel2hw.jpg


He's doing well and eating like a pig. Spectrum pellets, live sponge, caulerpa and he gets along with my Moorish Idol and Broomtail Wrasse great. Figured I'd share the success story so far.
 
Do you guys think a regal would wage war against pygmy angels? Zfunk, has your regal picked on any lps, zoos, or xenia?
 
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