Big Day for Regal in QT

Sonicblast12 · 02/04/2012, 07:36 PM

Day six, Regal started eating NLS pellets. It was eating clam on the half shell on day one, formula two flakes on day two, and made the leap to pellets today. That wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it was going to be.

The fish is not quite fin clean, trying to burn off the ich it arrived with. After three days the fish looked pretty bad, but each day is better than the previous. A combination of hyposalinity and a large UV is getting rid of the problem quickly. I'm glad it is eating, I've had mixed results with angels eating at hyposalinity.

Pretty shy initially, this fish is getting bolder by the minute. Has that distinctive angelfish curiosity that good specimens display.

I was hoping this one wasn't going to become another statistic, and it looks like we are on the right track.

SDguy · 02/04/2012, 07:43 PM

Congrats...though I think day 2 sounded great already

Sonicblast12 · 02/04/2012, 07:52 PM

I couldn't really believe it was eating flakes on the 2nd day. I've had dwarf angels that didn't do anything other than pick rock for months. I was a little skeptical when I was buying the fish since it's an Indo-Pacific and I could see the ich. My last words to the guy who sold the fish to me were, "I hope I don't kill this one."

It was doing the thing that a lot of shy fish do, it wouldn't eat in front of me. So I started feeding and leaving the room. I'd sneak back in the room and it was hitting the flakes pretty good and shredding the clam all over the tank. Now it is pacing the corner of the tank eyeballing me. Wants more food, and I'm going to oblige.

Interestingly, still doesn't show much interest in frozen. But if I had to choose, I'd take pellets and flakes over frozen any day. Everything does well on a mix of NLS and Formula 2.

MuffsAbby · 02/04/2012, 08:09 PM

Lovely fish! Sounds like your regal is on the way to recovery. I hope he or she is in good health soon.

If you don't mind my asking, how did you get it to eat pellets? I have 3 lyretail anthias in QT right now and they don't recognize pellets as food. They gobble up any frozen, but swim right by pellets when I put them in. I've tried NLS marine and NLS Grow (very small pellets), and I've tried soaking in garlic, all to no avail. Did you do anything in particular?

Sonicblast12 · 02/04/2012, 08:31 PM

The only thing I really do is when I'm conditioning a new fish is to always offer the foods I want them to eat first, which is basically always the reverse order of what the fish wants.

I feed pellets first, all different sizes and types. This is important. The Regal didn't notice anything smaller than 3 mm NLS pellets even though it isn't big enough to eat them. Started picking on those and only after failing it moved over to the previously ignored 2 mm NLS pellets and began eating those. I have a large Powder Blue tang that can easily eat 3 mm NLS, but won't eat them. Only eats 1 mm.

If the pellets don't work, I move to flake, then frozen, then a clam on a half shell.

It usually takes a couple of days for fish to eat anything, but most eat by the time I get to option three. The clam is an equalizer, not many fish can resist.

I always make sure the fish gets the calories it needs during the first week. Doesn't matter what it is eating, it's going to get a heavy dose of whatever it is eating best. But it will always get that meal last. My Regal is still going to get clam tonight. If I were throwing in clam shells and then pellets, the fish would never eat pellets. No reason to.

For the anthias it's probably going to be easier to convert them to flake. You can mix the frozen and flake food and soak it together and feed the mixture. Doesn't take long to get any fish on flake when you mix with frozen and eventually cut out the frozen. That's a good way to get any fish to step 2. After fish is eating flakes it seems a lot easier to get them to pellets. Just remember to always offer the food you want first.

MuffsAbby · 02/04/2012, 08:43 PM

Thanks for the advice! I haven't yet tried flake. I'll try mixing the frozen and flake as you suggest, and then try pellets thereafter. I'll also remember the bit about offering the food I want them to eat first. Continued good luck with your Regal!

Lorenz725 · 02/04/2012, 08:45 PM

Congrats on getting him to eat pellets! I am having troubles with my potters angle not eating. Have had it for a week and he has not eaten anything that I have seen. I have tried pellets 2 kinds, flakes, formula 1 and 2, brine shrimp and nori. He looks really healthy and swims around. Do you have any ides? Thanks
Charles

Sonicblast12 · 02/04/2012, 09:11 PM

I could ask you the same thing, I just lost a Potters yesterday after it had been in QT for a month. Never did anything but pick on the rock. Developed some kind of fungal infection and I never could get the upper hand.

I had another that was outwardly healthy and a good eater, but just dropped dead one day. I'm 0-2 with the Potters Angel.

Death by tang · 02/04/2012, 09:13 PM

Congrats they truly are beutiful fish

maxxII · 02/04/2012, 09:22 PM

Is this your first Regal?

I've had two so far. First was a yellow chested IO/Red Sea Regal that was allegedly eating flake. I never got it to do so, but it did happily chase down PE Mysis. After about 7 months it began to eat blanched broccoli, raw shrimp and scallop. Sadly, I lost it due to my Ritteri anemone wandering into a powerhead, shredding the tentacles and releasing nematocysts and killing everything in the tank except the clowns at the 1 year mark.

The second one is a blue chested Regal from Vanuatu that I've had for alittle over 4 years. I had it in QT with two other smaller fish that taught it to eat pellets, flakes, and pretty much every thing else.

One of the things I've noticed with these fish is that both of mine took right about a year to fully acclimatize to the tank and become more aggressive feeders.

The fact that yours is becoming a hardy eater in QT in such a short time is a very good sign.

Good luck and I look forward to seeing regular updates of your success with this fish.

Nick

Sonicblast12 · 02/04/2012, 09:57 PM

First Regal, I've always passed on them because of their reputation.

I have a feeling this is going to be an aggressive fish.

RealReef7 · 02/04/2012, 11:07 PM

throw in a piece or two of zoo's, they go nuts for them!

Reef264 · 02/04/2012, 11:13 PM

Let's see it eat Froot Loops!

Seriously though, congratulations on your success!

Dr Colliebreath · 02/05/2012, 10:27 AM

I have found that many fish will eat PE mysis as it seems to have a strong scent. After they are eating PE mysis, I start mixing the pellets and flake with PE mysis so that they soak up the juices from the mysis, and then gradually reduce the amount of mysis and increase the amount of pellets and flakes.

I also have had good luck soaking foods they like in garlic and/or selcon so they associate food with those scents, and then introducing pellets soaked in the garlic or selcon.

My regal is done its quarantine (since December 1) and is about to be introduced to the DT. It has been a good eater (mysis (particularly PE), brine enriched with spirulina, homemade mix of seafood, angel formula, Rods, NLS pellets, Omega One veggie flakes, etc.

maxxII · 02/05/2012, 01:42 PM

Mine is the boss of the tank right now, but it took her about a year and half to decide she wanted to be...

She left Zoa's and Clams alone for the first 3 years I had her, then one day, she scarfed down a brand new frag of Devil's Armor zoa's that had been in the tank for all of 15 minutes. It was downhill from there. On the bonus side, the annoying ugly zoa's that were beginning to grow in places I didnt want were removed without incident....

Nick

Sheol · 02/05/2012, 06:29 PM

Regals are my ultimate dream Angel. Some day..

Matthew

Sonicblast12 · 03/06/2012, 09:34 PM

I posted these videos on the aggressive side of the forum but figured I could give an update to this thread on the reef fishes side of things. The Indo Pacific Regal was moved into a 75 gallon with a bunch of other small angels. A temporary setup for a lot of these fish, but a good place to grow and learn to interact with each other. The Regal is the most aggressive feeder in the group and doesn't like the Majestic in its territory.

Here is a video of the pellet eating Red Sea Regal I picked up a couple weeks after the Indo. I haven't decided if I'm going to house them together or separately.

skibum9884 · 03/07/2012, 08:20 AM

Looking great! Makes me want to try a Red Sea Regal, however with my luck would never get one that will eat pellets!

michael_cb_125 · 03/07/2012, 10:54 AM

Awesome Fish.

I really miss my Red Sea Regal, by far one of my favorite fish of all time.

~Michael

Tethered_Limbs · 03/07/2012, 11:46 AM

i like the blue of the red sea, but wouldn't pass on a indo either

skibum9884 · 03/07/2012, 01:34 PM

May I ask what the source of these fish was? I wonder if they're Diver's Den fish since they're eating so well!

Sonicblast12 · 03/07/2012, 02:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by skibum9884

May I ask what the source of these fish was? I wonder if they're Diver's Den fish since they're eating so well!

LFS. There is a lot of luck involved with these fish, but I think a big key is always having food available. Even before they were eating pellets the uneaten pellets would gather in a pile and the fish eventually learned to pick out of the pile.

Sonicblast12 · 05/20/2017, 08:42 AM

Looking back on some old threads and I need to give an end to this story. I was so excited about the eating Red Sea regal that I cut short the quarantine period and put him in my established 125 with healthy fish.

I don't know what it was, I suspect velvet, but within two days all but two of my fish were dead.

I panicked and put the surviving fish from the 125 into the 75, which then also nuked that tank. I wasn't as educated on fish disease, so I thought it had to be something wrong with the tank itself, not the fish.

NEVER skip quarantine! Completely changed the hobby for me, I was sick about it.

02/04/2012, 07:36 PM	#1
Sonicblast12 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 533	Big Day for Regal in QT Day six, Regal started eating NLS pellets. It was eating clam on the half shell on day one, formula two flakes on day two, and made the leap to pellets today. That wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it was going to be. The fish is not quite fin clean, trying to burn off the ich it arrived with. After three days the fish looked pretty bad, but each day is better than the previous. A combination of hyposalinity and a large UV is getting rid of the problem quickly. I'm glad it is eating, I've had mixed results with angels eating at hyposalinity. Pretty shy initially, this fish is getting bolder by the minute. Has that distinctive angelfish curiosity that good specimens display. I was hoping this one wasn't going to become another statistic, and it looks like we are on the right track.

02/04/2012, 07:43 PM	#2
SDguy Fish heads unite! Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: San Diego Posts: 23,384	Congrats...though I think day 2 sounded great already __________________ Peter SDMAS member Marine tanks since 1989. ><((((º>`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸.·´¯`·...¸><((((º> ·´¯`·.¸. , . .·´¯`·.. ><((((º> Current Tank Info: 240g butterfly and angel FOWLR. 15g QT.

02/04/2012, 07:52 PM	#3
Sonicblast12 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 533	I couldn't really believe it was eating flakes on the 2nd day. I've had dwarf angels that didn't do anything other than pick rock for months. I was a little skeptical when I was buying the fish since it's an Indo-Pacific and I could see the ich. My last words to the guy who sold the fish to me were, "I hope I don't kill this one." It was doing the thing that a lot of shy fish do, it wouldn't eat in front of me. So I started feeding and leaving the room. I'd sneak back in the room and it was hitting the flakes pretty good and shredding the clam all over the tank. Now it is pacing the corner of the tank eyeballing me. Wants more food, and I'm going to oblige. Interestingly, still doesn't show much interest in frozen. But if I had to choose, I'd take pellets and flakes over frozen any day. Everything does well on a mix of NLS and Formula 2. Last edited by Sonicblast12; 02/04/2012 at 07:57 PM.

02/04/2012, 08:09 PM	#4
MuffsAbby Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Mississauga, Ontario Posts: 327	Lovely fish! Sounds like your regal is on the way to recovery. I hope he or she is in good health soon. If you don't mind my asking, how did you get it to eat pellets? I have 3 lyretail anthias in QT right now and they don't recognize pellets as food. They gobble up any frozen, but swim right by pellets when I put them in. I've tried NLS marine and NLS Grow (very small pellets), and I've tried soaking in garlic, all to no avail. Did you do anything in particular? __________________ Susan Current Tank Info: 150g fish only DT, with 2 ocellaris clowns, flagfin angel, bangaii cardinal, flame hawk pair and lyretail anthias.

02/04/2012, 08:43 PM	#6
MuffsAbby Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Mississauga, Ontario Posts: 327	Thanks for the advice! I haven't yet tried flake. I'll try mixing the frozen and flake as you suggest, and then try pellets thereafter. I'll also remember the bit about offering the food I want them to eat first. Continued good luck with your Regal! __________________ Susan Current Tank Info: 150g fish only DT, with 2 ocellaris clowns, flagfin angel, bangaii cardinal, flame hawk pair and lyretail anthias.

02/04/2012, 08:31 PM	#5
Sonicblast12 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 533	The only thing I really do is when I'm conditioning a new fish is to always offer the foods I want them to eat first, which is basically always the reverse order of what the fish wants. I feed pellets first, all different sizes and types. This is important. The Regal didn't notice anything smaller than 3 mm NLS pellets even though it isn't big enough to eat them. Started picking on those and only after failing it moved over to the previously ignored 2 mm NLS pellets and began eating those. I have a large Powder Blue tang that can easily eat 3 mm NLS, but won't eat them. Only eats 1 mm. If the pellets don't work, I move to flake, then frozen, then a clam on a half shell. It usually takes a couple of days for fish to eat anything, but most eat by the time I get to option three. The clam is an equalizer, not many fish can resist. I always make sure the fish gets the calories it needs during the first week. Doesn't matter what it is eating, it's going to get a heavy dose of whatever it is eating best. But it will always get that meal last. My Regal is still going to get clam tonight. If I were throwing in clam shells and then pellets, the fish would never eat pellets. No reason to. For the anthias it's probably going to be easier to convert them to flake. You can mix the frozen and flake food and soak it together and feed the mixture. Doesn't take long to get any fish on flake when you mix with frozen and eventually cut out the frozen. That's a good way to get any fish to step 2. After fish is eating flakes it seems a lot easier to get them to pellets. Just remember to always offer the food you want first.

02/04/2012, 08:45 PM	#7
Lorenz725 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Ohio Posts: 942	Congrats on getting him to eat pellets! I am having troubles with my potters angle not eating. Have had it for a week and he has not eaten anything that I have seen. I have tried pellets 2 kinds, flakes, formula 1 and 2, brine shrimp and nori. He looks really healthy and swims around. Do you have any ides? Thanks Charles __________________ Current tank info: 150 gallon RR 6 foot mixed reef, 3 250 W radium, 100 gallon Rubbermaid basement sump. Octopus 300 pro skimmer, 29 gallon fuge with dragons breath, cheato, and mangroves. 5.5 gallon AIO mixed reef, 2 18 w T5HO, built in fuge with cheato and dragons breath.

02/04/2012, 09:11 PM	#8
Sonicblast12 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 533	I could ask you the same thing, I just lost a Potters yesterday after it had been in QT for a month. Never did anything but pick on the rock. Developed some kind of fungal infection and I never could get the upper hand. I had another that was outwardly healthy and a good eater, but just dropped dead one day. I'm 0-2 with the Potters Angel.

02/04/2012, 09:13 PM	#9
Death by tang Moved On Join Date: Feb 2012 Posts: 10	Congrats they truly are beutiful fish

02/04/2012, 09:22 PM	#10
maxxII Super Housemonkey! Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: St Louis Mo Posts: 4,442	Is this your first Regal? I've had two so far. First was a yellow chested IO/Red Sea Regal that was allegedly eating flake. I never got it to do so, but it did happily chase down PE Mysis. After about 7 months it began to eat blanched broccoli, raw shrimp and scallop. Sadly, I lost it due to my Ritteri anemone wandering into a powerhead, shredding the tentacles and releasing nematocysts and killing everything in the tank except the clowns at the 1 year mark. The second one is a blue chested Regal from Vanuatu that I've had for alittle over 4 years. I had it in QT with two other smaller fish that taught it to eat pellets, flakes, and pretty much every thing else. One of the things I've noticed with these fish is that both of mine took right about a year to fully acclimatize to the tank and become more aggressive feeders. The fact that yours is becoming a hardy eater in QT in such a short time is a very good sign. Good luck and I look forward to seeing regular updates of your success with this fish. Nick __________________ A good friend will come and bail you out of jail...but, a true friend will be sitting next to you saying, "Damn, that was fun!"

02/04/2012, 09:57 PM	#11
Sonicblast12 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 533	First Regal, I've always passed on them because of their reputation. I have a feeling this is going to be an aggressive fish.

02/04/2012, 11:07 PM	#12
RealReef7 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: bikini island Posts: 954	throw in a piece or two of zoo's, they go nuts for them!

02/04/2012, 11:13 PM	#13
Reef264 Where's The Reef? Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Southaven, Ms Posts: 2,098	Let's see it eat Froot Loops! Seriously though, congratulations on your success! __________________ I'd rather Die on my feet, than Live on my Knees. Current Tank Info: 150g SPS Reef, 2x250w 14k Pheonix Metal Halides w/T-5 Actinics, 2 Tunze 6095's, Tunze 7096 controller, Ozone, Precision Marine Skimmer, Reef Octopus Bio-Churn Bio Pellet Reactor, GFO & Carbon Reactor, Ozone Reactor, ATO, Reef Keeper.

02/05/2012, 10:27 AM	#14
Dr Colliebreath Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: DC Vicinity Posts: 1,813	I have found that many fish will eat PE mysis as it seems to have a strong scent. After they are eating PE mysis, I start mixing the pellets and flake with PE mysis so that they soak up the juices from the mysis, and then gradually reduce the amount of mysis and increase the amount of pellets and flakes. I also have had good luck soaking foods they like in garlic and/or selcon so they associate food with those scents, and then introducing pellets soaked in the garlic or selcon. My regal is done its quarantine (since December 1) and is about to be introduced to the DT. It has been a good eater (mysis (particularly PE), brine enriched with spirulina, homemade mix of seafood, angel formula, Rods, NLS pellets, Omega One veggie flakes, etc. __________________ Frank Current Tank Info: 110 Oceanic RR w/35 gal sump and SRO XP2000 int

02/05/2012, 01:42 PM	#15
maxxII Super Housemonkey! Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: St Louis Mo Posts: 4,442	Mine is the boss of the tank right now, but it took her about a year and half to decide she wanted to be... She left Zoa's and Clams alone for the first 3 years I had her, then one day, she scarfed down a brand new frag of Devil's Armor zoa's that had been in the tank for all of 15 minutes. It was downhill from there. On the bonus side, the annoying ugly zoa's that were beginning to grow in places I didnt want were removed without incident.... Nick __________________ A good friend will come and bail you out of jail...but, a true friend will be sitting next to you saying, "Damn, that was fun!"

02/05/2012, 06:29 PM	#16
Sheol Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Waxahachie, Tx. Posts: 3,610	Regals are my ultimate dream Angel. Some day.. Matthew

03/06/2012, 09:34 PM	#17
Sonicblast12 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 533	I posted these videos on the aggressive side of the forum but figured I could give an update to this thread on the reef fishes side of things. The Indo Pacific Regal was moved into a 75 gallon with a bunch of other small angels. A temporary setup for a lot of these fish, but a good place to grow and learn to interact with each other. The Regal is the most aggressive feeder in the group and doesn't like the Majestic in its territory. Here is a video of the pellet eating Red Sea Regal I picked up a couple weeks after the Indo. I haven't decided if I'm going to house them together or separately.

03/07/2012, 08:20 AM	#18
skibum9884 Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: New York, NY Posts: 1,157	Looking great! Makes me want to try a Red Sea Regal, however with my luck would never get one that will eat pellets! __________________ -David Current Tank: Elos System 70, 17 gal ADA Rimless in Progress

03/07/2012, 10:54 AM	#19
michael_cb_125 Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Charlotte, NC Posts: 3,358	Awesome Fish. I really miss my Red Sea Regal, by far one of my favorite fish of all time. ~Michael __________________ "People are too durable, that's their main trouble. They can do too much to themselves, they last too long" The more I learn, the less I know. Current Tank Info: Elos Mini and 120

03/07/2012, 11:46 AM	#20
Tethered_Limbs Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2010 Posts: 257	i like the blue of the red sea, but wouldn't pass on a indo either

03/07/2012, 01:34 PM	#21
skibum9884 Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: New York, NY Posts: 1,157	May I ask what the source of these fish was? I wonder if they're Diver's Den fish since they're eating so well! __________________ -David Current Tank: Elos System 70, 17 gal ADA Rimless in Progress

05/20/2017, 08:42 AM	#23
Sonicblast12 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 533	Looking back on some old threads and I need to give an end to this story. I was so excited about the eating Red Sea regal that I cut short the quarantine period and put him in my established 125 with healthy fish. I don't know what it was, I suspect velvet, but within two days all but two of my fish were dead. I panicked and put the surviving fish from the 125 into the 75, which then also nuked that tank. I wasn't as educated on fish disease, so I thought it had to be something wrong with the tank itself, not the fish. NEVER skip quarantine! Completely changed the hobby for me, I was sick about it.