PDA

View Full Version : Regal Angel Upside Down?


fishfreak2009
10/11/2012, 12:00 PM
So I have been watching my new red sea regal angel (he came in a shipment of fish from the red sea) the past few days, and it has been exhibiting some strange behavior.

My tank is a 187 gallon tank, 60" x 24" x 30" tall. It has a 55 gallon refugium/sump combo, and it has a G2, 200 gallon Skimmer. My ammonia and nitrite are undetectable in the display, and nitrate is between 0 ppm and 5 ppm. I have 250 lbs. of established live rock in the tank. His tankmates are a purple tang and a sailfin tang, 2 ocellaris clownfish, 2 yellow tailed blue damsels, a blue devil damsel, a melanurus wrasse, a niger triggerfish, a coral beauty angel, and an Amblygobius phaelanea. I also have 50 astraea snails, a dinner plate sized sebae anemone (which has been thriving for 3 months now), and a single neon green sinularia.

Some background on this fish. He came into the LFS on 10/2/12. He was treated here with prazi pro and cupramine. I purchased him on 10/6/12 and added him to my 75 gallon quarantine, but he was moved from the quarantine tank to the display tank on 10/8/12 after I accidently left some frozen clams in the tank and the ammonia spiked. I treated the display with prazi pro in case he shows flukes.

So I have been struggling to get this fish to feed. I have managed to get him to eat a bite or two of flake food, a couple bites frozen mysid, and a few bites of clam in the half shell. As for nori, he will take a bite and then spits it out. I have tried soaking the food in garlic as well as feeding it plain and there has been no change. He seems to only like eating from the water's surface unless it is the clam. Any suggestions on increasing his appetite?

Anyways, as I have been observing this fish, I have noticed some strange behavior. First it began as the fish periodically swimming to the surface of the tank. No big deal, I thought, since nothing was picking on him (he is the largest fish in the tank). Now he does this quite regularly, and has started turning upside down. He will swim around the water's surface belly up, then turn right side up and swim back to the rocks below like nothing ever happened. Any reason why he would do this?

Sorry for the long post, but I really could use some help.

MrTuskfish
10/11/2012, 12:23 PM
I really can't guess why the fish is acting that way; many fish take a while to feel out the new tank, especially hi-flow areas. I have 2 Golden Semilarvatus butterflyfish that still have a similar routine after about 7
years. If the fish is otherwise healthy, no big deal. People who claim to know why healthy fish do strange things scare me a little

FWIW; I would have done massive WCs, used an ammonia-neutralizer (Prime, Amquel, etc) or whatever it took to keep these fish in the QT for 6 weeks or so.

fishfreak2009
10/11/2012, 12:45 PM
I really can't guess why the fish is acting that way; many fish take a while to feel out the new tank, especially hi-flow areas. I have 2 Golden Semilarvatus butterflyfish that still have a similar routine after about 7
years. If the fish is otherwise healthy, no big deal. People who claim to know why healthy fish do strange things scare me a little

FWIW; I would have done massive WCs, used an ammonia-neutralizer (Prime, Amquel, etc) or whatever it took to keep these fish in the QT for 6 weeks or so.

I would have done so, but by the time I found them the regal was almost dead (gasping, lost all color, and jerking erratically) and the clown sweetlips I bought was already dead. I spent a half hour holding both fish in front of a powerhead trying to save them. The regal made it. The sweetlips did not.

Here's a video of him doing it. Unfortunately it is only in the beginning. He always swims back down when I approach the tank.

<iframe width="640" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7dwWg9PKHd0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

MrTuskfish
10/11/2012, 02:54 PM
The fish seems a little lethargic, but not in real stress-mode, IMO & IME. I know you lost your Sweetlips; but have you ever seen the adult version of these fish. They get huge fast, are very difficult to keep, and will outgrow a 200 gal tank. Cute when little, though.

alton
10/11/2012, 03:17 PM
I can't watch the video since my company blocks it, but I had a imperator angel eat a bunch of my zoos one time and he swan upside down for a day