Should I q-tine a regal angel?

[mattsilvester]

Hi folks,

I am seriously considering a regal angel for my new 8x2x2 tank, which will eventually be a reef tank. I plan on setting it up with 120lbs of "dead" LR, 120lbs of "live" LR, and a 1" bed of sugar fine sand. I also plan on having a refugium with a DSB and macro algae.

The plan would be to run in the tank for a good month or so, let the critters cross populate the sand beds, rock, and refugium etc. Then switch the skimmer on and allow to settle.

With the delicate nature of the regal angel in mind, I was thinking would it be a good idea to introduce him as the first fish, and allow him a good 6 to 8 weeks to settle. If necessary I can do hypo etc before I add corals or snails etc.... and there shold be lots of bits and pieces on the rock for him to graze on and let him settle in. I was thinking this would be a better q-tine environment than a typical q-tine tank! And seeing as allot of the other fish will be tangs and the like then he'd need to be an early addition anyway. Of course everything else added after will be quarantined properly.

Thoughts?

Cheers,

Matt

[ralphie16]

lets say he has ick.

how will you treat him?

all the live rock will be infected with ick and now you have to leave the live rock tank fallow for 60 days to kill the parasites. back he goes to a hospital tank.

QT him definately, but dont make it a sterile QT, age it for a few months . maybe put some live rock in there that you dont need so he can graze while you are QT him

QT is important for ALL fish, even the delicate ones.

[bureau13]

If you hypo your live rock, you will kill at least a good portion of what makes it live. Something to think about...

jds

[sabodish]

if you read the HUGE regal angel thread, you will see that most of the people who have had success recommend that you do NOT QT the regal and throw it right in to the tank.

[McCrary]

I have had a couple Regals (I have one in my 110) and I never QT'd them. I would put some dither fish in with the Regal and let him be the dominate fish in the tank. The trick to getting a Regal angel to eat is getting them to feel like the dominate fish in the tank. If they feel like thay are going to be harassed or picked on they will just hide and not eat. Be prepared to feed him sponges and live brine in order to induce feeding. Garlic can also help stimulate appetite. You may also want to read the Regal angel thread it has tons of great info in it.

[mattsilvester]

Hi guys,

Yeah I started reading the regal thread - its a great thread no doubt, just that it is a million pages long, and with pics etc it takes quite long to download each page, and so much is folks "just tagging along" and posting a pic of their one, with little or no info attached. Before actually getting one, I will read through it all - but for the time being I am just trying to get a rough stocking plan together, order of introduction etc.

At this point, its not so much information on the husbandry I need, I've got a good idea of what is required, its the quarantine aspect. I don't want to go and do something that is going to result in probelms down the line for the rest of my livestock. Don't get me wrong, I am not trying to say I know it all - my eyes are pretty much open and I know it would be a challenge, and as much as I already know, there is allot more to be learned before taking the plunge.

Suffice to say, it would probably be a good idea to introduce the regal first, along with a few dither type fish, and let for 6 weeks for him to settle.

Thanks guys,

Matt