Regal Angel Primer

[rgentry123]

I didn't qt mine - I was afraid with his small size that he may not eat frozen or prepared foods for a while so I at least wanted him to have well established Kristin to graze on. I'm on day 4 now and still not eating. I know it's early a I have had regales before but with this one being so small and skinny already it's just got me a little worried. Clams on 1/2 shell go my others eating but so far this one really hasn't taken to them yet like I was hoping.

[roni]

Originally Posted by rgentry123

Just received a tiny regal from LA on Tuesday, I know it hasn't been that long but it came in a little thin and hasn't taken to any food yet that I've seen, I've tried clams on 1/2 she'll, my sis, brine, cyclopeeze, squid and emerald entree and so far no bites. Any suggestions to get it eating or just more time.

I've been very lucky getting non eaters to go after live blackworms. They are messy and pollute the water but very few fish (other then my imperator, who is scared of everything) can resist the wriggling.

The other go to food which you've tried is the black mussels you can buy at the global foods in woodbridge (since you're down in fburg).

The other thing is that small regals are somewhat timid. If you've got other boisterous fish, it may not eat simply out of fear. If you've got the ability to qt, you may want to consider it for a short time, if for no reason then to let the fish eat in peace.

[roni]

Originally Posted by roni

Great thread! I recently got an indo regal which is hanging out in my frag tank. He's eating pellets aggressively and looking at flake and mysis (which is better then the juvenile imperator in there that is only eating frozen mussels).

They hang out together and have been doing great. After I got the regal, however, I got an opportunity to buy a pair of regals that has been in captivity for 4 years and was actually collected together.

I've gone from no regals to a possible trio. I know Copps had a trio but I believe he added them separately. I know others have had pairs that they either introduced together or separately.

My concern is that since the pair is a bonded pair, I wonder if they'll accept a third. My thought was to get the single eating well and then introduce him to the display. Then introduce the pair to the system as well. I figure since he'll already be in there, the single will be less likely to get picked on.

Any other thoughts/suggestions?

Anyone have any thoughts/experiences?

[john37]

Originally Posted by roni

Anyone have any thoughts/experiences?

how big is the current pair? how big is the tank? what other fish?
when i had my tank up i had two regals that were about 3" and i introduced two larger 5" regals about 3 years after. had no problems but could have been bc the newly introduced regals were so much larger.

[roni]

Originally Posted by john37

how big is the current pair? how big is the tank? what other fish?
when i had my tank up i had two regals that were about 3" and i introduced two larger 5" regals about 3 years after. had no problems but could have been bc the newly introduced regals were so much larger.

270 with a large fish population (multiple dwarf angels and tangs, navarcus angel and moorish idol are the bigger fish).

3" regal currently, the pair is 3.5 and 4". Good to hear about yours. Were the 2 originally added a pair or just singles? Same with the 2 that you added?

When added, did they socialize or just avoid each other?

[las]

Are the Red Sea ones the better looking variation?

[aandfsoccr04]

Originally Posted by las

Are the Red Sea ones the better looking variation?

Good looking is pretty relative. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. You're going to pay more for the Red Sea ones.

[las]

Ok I guess I need to rephrase.... I like the yellow bellies much better than the gray chested. Are the yellow bellies from the Red Sea more colorful than the other yellow bellies?

[rhouse24]

From my experiences it's impossible to find out if a regal actually came from the Red Sea.

[Good gREEF]

I am a big fan of the Red Sea version of this angle much prefer
The yellowish orange apron to the pale grey version of the apron marking
Found On Fish harvested from the Indo pacific region yet alas can't have either
Till I get out of this 75 gallon into something more suitable
For this gorgeous fish the true epitome of a show fish

[las]

Originally Posted by rhouse24

From my experiences it's impossible to find out if a regal actually came from the Red Sea.

this is what im afraid of

[alton]

From Quality Marine they are typically marked Redsea/Africa.

[rhouse24]

If you only buy a WYSIWYG adult fish then you have nothing to worry about.... besides the fish starving to death.

[Steve Atkins]

Sadly, after nearly 7.5 years in my tank my Regal (featured way back in this thread) along with nearly half my other fish, was the victim of an electrical failure when an extractor fan failed and tripped the circuit breaker to the whole room late last year. Unfortunately I had not realised that when the electrician put in three RCD units he had connected them back to a single circuit breaker.

It took a couple of months to get over that but I have finally this last weekend replaced the Regal plus the other lost dwarf angels and the yellow longnose butterfly. The previous Regal was quite an out and about fish from about 1 week on and eventually rose in the ranks to become joint boss of the tank (role shared with large clown who was also lost).

The new one has so far shown itself to be at least as confident as I have seen it ‘discussing’ territorial issues with one of my yellow tangs, happily pecking away at rocks and sitting looking out of a cave watching me as I was looking for it. I think adding 5 fish at once helped a lot as any aggression was well spread out. I also placed a full length mirror on its side in front of over half the length of the tank and ended up with several of the new fish (including the Regal), along with the existing fish, out defending their space from their reflections.

Steve

[reidcrandall]

Sorry to hear of your loss, Steve. Sounds like a tough one to swallow (as if any of them are easy).

Good to hear you've not given up, though!

[roni]

Originally Posted by roni

Great thread! I recently got an indo regal which is hanging out in my frag tank. He's eating pellets aggressively and looking at flake and mysis (which is better then the juvenile imperator in there that is only eating frozen mussels).

They hang out together and have been doing great. After I got the regal, however, I got an opportunity to buy a pair of regals that has been in captivity for 4 years and was actually collected together.

I've gone from no regals to a possible trio. I know Copps had a trio but I believe he added them separately. I know others have had pairs that they either introduced together or separately.

My concern is that since the pair is a bonded pair, I wonder if they'll accept a third. My thought was to get the single eating well and then introduce him to the display. Then introduce the pair to the system as well. I figure since he'll already be in there, the single will be less likely to get picked on.

Any other thoughts/suggestions?

So, thought I'd update for anyone else since I didn't find a lot of info when I posted this originally.

I got my single fattened up and eating after about a month or so (he helped my imperator start eating out of the water column). Then I added a pbt to the frag tank and the three hung out together without a lot of aggression.

I'd decided to get rid on the single after talking to a couple people and reading more about their behavior in the wild (rarely found in trios).

I put the pair in the tank with an eggcrate divider to make sure they were doing okay before getting rid of the single.

Initially, the larger of the pair was somewhat aggressive towards the other fish that were in the tank and would display at the eggcrate barrier. The single from before and the smaller of the pair seemed interested in each other and were not aggressive.

I got them acclimated and then went to bed. The next morning, to my chagrin, I couldn't find the smaller of the pair. After a little search, I found it swimming with the single. It had gotten across the barrier overnight. The larger of the two angels was not happy with this change. After seeing this, however, I fed and then slowly removed the barrier. After a little initial displaying, everyone seemed to settle down. The PBT displayed some but everyone seemed to get along.

Over the last 2 weeks, everyone has seemed to settled into a routine without any noticeable aggression. Yesterday, everyone looked fat and healthy and got moved into the display. So far, the regals generally hang out together, though the pair seems to be together more often then the trio. The imperator also seems to hang out with the single some.

No real aggression with any of the other fish other then a little displaying (though the PBT hasn't fared so well and has been continuously harrassed...will hopefully die down soon).

So, at least in my case, having a pair and a single and putting them together has worked out really well. I'll try to post a few pics next time I take a pic of the tank.

[aandfsoccr04]

Seriously, POST PICS!

[roni]

Okay, short video.

Please excuse the general crappiness of the tank. Lots of neglect, need to clean the glass, recently redid some aquascaping, etc. However, shows the happy trio nicely.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/b6gia9hqoh...309_183021.mp4

[SDguy]

Great collection of fish! Love the aquascaping too.

[Ostara]

Wow, that's awesome Roni! It's great to hear of more success in pairing these guys.

I'm glad this resurfaced because I finally found a small regal on NY Aquatics and ordered it. It should be here Tuesday, and according to the site they only sell ones that are eating (we'll see). I also have a local guy that offered to try and pick up a small one for me himself in LA right before I found the one on NYA. I figured that I would take advantage of the one I knew for certain that I could get, but if another one becomes available I've been thinking of trying to pair them. I've heard of at least three or four others who have done it now, so I feel a bit more confident.

[roni]

Originally Posted by SDguy

Great collection of fish! Love the aquascaping too.

Thanks for the kind words. Aquascaping is a little messed up since I had to disrupt the rockwork to break up WW3 when I added all five fish. Won't be adding any angels/tangs for a while.

Originally Posted by Ostara

Wow, that's awesome Roni! It's great to hear of more success in pairing these guys.

I'm glad this resurfaced because I finally found a small regal on NY Aquatics and ordered it. It should be here Tuesday, and according to the site they only sell ones that are eating (we'll see). I also have a local guy that offered to try and pick up a small one for me himself in LA right before I found the one on NYA. I figured that I would take advantage of the one I knew for certain that I could get, but if another one becomes available I've been thinking of trying to pair them. I've heard of at least three or four others who have done it now, so I feel a bit more confident.

I definitely think pairing up these guys is possible but always have a backup plan. The trick with the eggcrate divider is a good way to see how they'll react to each other before letting them actually close enough to do any damage. I got my single from Pacific Island Aquatics. Done a lot of business with Kevin and he's always been forthright about his fish. The regals he gets are from the Marshalls and seem to be eating regularly, usually pellet.

[Ostara]

This is my first time ordering from NY Aquatics, but I've heard good things about them on here. It would be nice if it is already eating but of course sometimes that's just not the case. I've gotten multiple Diver's Den fish that weren't eating so I never expect anything.

I've already got the eggcrate on hand to divide the quarantine in case I can get a hold of two. I do have other tanks they could go into, but I also like pairs a lot. Both would be young fish with eyespots and all. I know the NYA one is 2"; the other potential specimen would probably be slightly larger. If I can get my hands on two but they are both the same size I will probably just put them in different tanks unless they were pretty darn friendly through the eggcrate. I've paired Centropyge both with similar sized specimens and with ones with a size disparity and I greatly prefer the latter. Much less stressful!

[alton]

Since the subject has come up about pairing I will insert my story. I have a 5” Red Sea Regal (male) in my 300. I added a 2”+ juvenile red sea a couple months ago using a thin piece of plexi glass sectioning off 1/3 of the tank with holes large enough for most of my fish to pass through except the large regal and my copper band. The male hates the juvey and will go at him profusely. The juvenile stays on his side most of the day but several times a day he will cross over. When that happens and the larger notices it the chase is on. And although so easy for the little one to retreat back though the holes, instead it takes refuge into a honey hole to aggravate the larger on who can’t quit get his bigger head into. When the larger one decides to turn slightly the smaller one comes out and pecks on the larger before darting back in for safety. This goes on for a few minutes and then the little one swim’s back into its side of the tank. It is comical to watch except for it is tough watching a $300 fish getting its fins sliced sometimes. In this same tank I have my pair of Flame Angels that paired very similar except the smaller used my birds nest coral to hide in when the chase ensued. Before these two paired during feeding time the smaller one would come out of hiding grab a piece of food from the larger flames mouth and swim like heck back to the protection of the birds nest. I wish I would have documented how long it took for the aggression to stop but I did not. I am going to give it another month; if the aggression does not stop I know I will have to make a decision on which to keep?

[SDguy]

Hopefully I'm not jinxing myself by posting this. So far so good with this gal. She eats NLS pellets... I've had her for about 6 weeks now.

[Chicago]

Sweet.