Regal Angel Primer

[alton]

Holy smokes thanks for posting, Wow! I am learning a bunch with this thread.

[OrionN]

Originally Posted by alton

holy smokes thanks for posting, wow! I am learning a bunch with this thread.

1+

[mandarin417]

Her is a video of my Regal who is doing really well. Added him 3-4 weeks ago. He no longer gets pushed around by the bully Chevron and eats like a pig. Loves frozen foods, clams and especially likes chopped shrimp. My Mother in Law lives with us and asked "is it really necessary to chop up shrimp for your fish and don't most people just put some flakes in their tanks to feed them?"

https://youtu.be/ivOXv7_jtSE

[Salty150]

Originally Posted by mandarin417

Her is a video of my Regal who is doing really well. Added him 3-4 weeks ago. He no longer gets pushed around by the bully Chevron and eats like a pig. Loves frozen foods, clams and especially likes chopped shrimp. My Mother in Law lives with us and asked "is it really necessary to chop up shrimp for your fish and don't most people just put some flakes in their tanks to feed them?"

https://youtu.be/ivOXv7_jtSE

You can still tell he is a little bit weary of your tang...

[reefinginsocal]

Anybody have luck with two regals? I have 2 small ones about 1.5 inch each. One is in QT, the other is established in the 300.

[ThRoewer]

Originally Posted by reefinginsocal

Anybody have luck with two regals? I have 2 small ones about 1.5 inch each. One is in QT, the other is established in the 300.

Yes, twice so far.
This is my current Sumatra Regal pair in my 100 gallon tank:



The female is about 85 mm in length (TL) and just loosing the last remnants of her eye spot.
The male's TL is about 95 mm. Both are still quite a bit away from maturity.

In the past I had a larger pair of Pacific regals that lived together for several years in a 750 liter (200 gal) tank.

Though it likely won't work if both are the same size.
I also don't know if it will work if both are still juveniles. I feel the larger one should at least be well into the transition from juvenile to adult.
Also, unless you have a several thousand gallon tank, they can't be of near identical size or one will kill the other.
I found that there should be at a minimum a 10% length difference.
The smaller one must go into the tank first and get at least a few hours time to get familiar with the new surroundings.

With fully mature specimen it is easy to tell males from females as the males have huge gill thorns. Though I never got to try if you can make a pair with a fully mature male and female.

[alton]

Originally Posted by reefinginsocal

Anybody have luck with two regals? I have 2 small ones about 1.5 inch each. One is in QT, the other is established in the 300.

Look at post #3128 pg.126 and 3160 pg.127. This is when I had them in my 300, downsizing to a 180 has been tough and the smaller one at first was getting chased a bunch. I actually brought in a divider, nets and buckets to catch and sell one. But then they both looked at me like "We don't want to move look", so I put everything away and they are still together. The smaller of the two has found great escape nooks and cranny's that the larger can't follow. They get along most of the time but several times a day the chase is on. Just like you I have two smaller ones that I will try and reintroduce them together again after a few weeks. The first time I tried it it did not work, but you never know, I wouldn't have a trio of Flame Angels if I had never tried

[alton]

Well another week for the two little ones, still doing well

[harley3ky]

ok guys, help me out and tell me whether my thinking is right or wrong.

My LFS has an AMAZING deal on what was supposed to be a small Regal. I was there the other day ordering a couple of Butterflyfish I want and they mentioned the Regal as we were looking at their suppliers site. I thought about it over the past few days and decided that I should not get one at this point since...

1. I have a 5" Lunare Wrasse that hasn't been aggressive except during feeding but I assume that will change for the worse.
2. I have a Coral Beauty that is occasionally being a little punk towards my 4" Majestic Angel.
3. I have only been doing this for about a year and a half.

Well the fish they got in is about 6", is eating like a pig and looks great. So now I am back to thinking maybe I should....but in reality, this doesn't change any of my three listed reasons to not get the fish, correct?

[alton]

What is the size of your tank?

[harley3ky]

120 gallon

[Salty150]

Originally Posted by harley3ky

....but in reality, this doesn't change any of my three listed reasons to not get the fish, correct?

Correct

[horseplay]

Originally Posted by alton

Well another week for the two little ones, still doing well

I think we all lucked out with this batch of small angels. Mine does great. Eats a variety of food. Everything I want an angel to be. So happy we will see them grow into adults.

[Salty150]

Originally Posted by harley3ky

ok guys, help me out and tell me whether my thinking is right or wrong.

My LFS has an AMAZING deal on what was supposed to be a small Regal. I was there the other day ordering a couple of Butterflyfish I want and they mentioned the Regal as we were looking at their suppliers site. I thought about it over the past few days and decided that I should not get one at this point since...

1. I have a 5" Lunare Wrasse that hasn't been aggressive except during feeding but I assume that will change for the worse.
2. I have a Coral Beauty that is occasionally being a little punk towards my 4" Majestic Angel.
3. I have only been doing this for about a year and a half.

Well the fish they got in is about 6", is eating like a pig and looks great. So now I am back to thinking maybe I should....but in reality, this doesn't change any of my three listed reasons to not get the fish, correct?

Get rid of the Lunare Wrasse and get a male Dusky Wrasse instead - not only are they more beautiful - they are peaceful.

If you want to keep the Coral Beauty - just rearrange the rock work and section it off with egg crate right before you add the Regal.

Your 120 is 60" long, correct?

[ThRoewer]

Originally Posted by horseplay

I think we all lucked out with this batch of small angels. Mine does great. Eats a variety of food. Everything I want an angel to be. So happy we will see them grow into adults.

I still could kick myself not to get another one before the sale ended. Unfortunately I was seriously out of QT space (and DT space as well).

My little guy is eating well and by now the boss of its QT - even the neon dottyback who harrasses everyone else goes out of his way.

[OrionN]

If he looks good and eat great, I would get him. He should not take any crab from the Coral Beauty, too much bigger. If the wrasse is a problem just get rid of him

[ThRoewer]

That regal looks like a grey-blue chested individual from the indo-pacific sub-species.

[harley3ky]

Originally Posted by Salty150

Get rid of the Lunare Wrasse and get a male Dusky Wrasse instead - not only are they more beautiful - they are peaceful.

If you want to keep the Coral Beauty - just rearrange the rock work and section it off with egg crate right before you add the Regal.

Your 120 is 60" long, correct?

No, it is 48x24x24. Which I know might be an little on the short side as compared to a 6ft long 125.

I am going to start trying to trap the Lunare Wrasse to get him gone and I may do the same to the Coral Beauty just to be safe.

[ThRoewer]

Originally Posted by harley3ky

No, it is 48x24x24. Which I know might be an little on the short side as compared to a 6ft long 125.

I am going to start trying to trap the Lunare Wrasse to get him gone and I may do the same to the Coral Beauty just to be safe.

No, deep and tall is better for a regal. Long is more geared to highly active swimmers.
Key is to have sufficient rock sructures.
A 6 inch regal is a pretty large fish that won't take much crap from wannabe bullies once established. Even my 2 inch baby regal can hold its own against larger bullies.

[Salty150]

Originally Posted by ThRoewer

No, deep and tall is better for a regal. Long is more geared to highly active swimmers.

A 60" long 120 gallon is 26" high... and 18" wide.

A much better size.

Anyway, he has the 48" - so it doesn't really matter.

[ThRoewer]

Originally Posted by Salty150

A 60" long 120 gallon is 26" high... and 18" wide.

A much better size.

...

Not for a reef tank. Those dimensions are geared for a freshwater tank.

For a reef tank you generally want the footprint to be a 2:1 ratio (depth about half of the length) and not taller than deep.

So his tank is pretty much the ideal shape.

[Salty150]

Originally Posted by ThRoewer

Not for a reef tank. Those dimensions are geared for a freshwater tank.

For a reef tank you generally want the footprint to be a 2:1 ratio (depth about half of the length) and not taller than deep.

So his tank is pretty much the ideal shape.

lol, where are you getting this...

[m0nkie]

Originally Posted by ThRoewer

Yes, twice so far.
This is my current Sumatra Regal pair in my 100 gallon tank:


.

this is awesome! love the rockscape!

[ThRoewer]

Originally Posted by Salty150

lol, where are you getting this...

For once, common sense.
You need depth to be able to create some decent rockwork and still have some free space in the front.
Then you want as much real estate for corals as possible. Most fish also prefer to have more room to the back.
Then it's pretty much the standard recommendation I found in most of my (mostly German) books.
You will find this ration also if you look at many reef tanks around here, especially with coral centric tanks.
Also, personal experience has taught me that this is the ideal ratio. Of course only up to a certain length. A depth of much more than 3 foot becomes quickly unmanageable for a home tank - exceptions are room dividers where you have access from both sides.

[ThRoewer]

Originally Posted by m0nkie

this is awesome! love the rockscape!

Thanks!
I ran out of space to the front - would have needed a foot more for free space and a sand zone for jawfish. And I would have needed 2 more feet to the right to make some wider canyons.
But it seems the regal angel like it.