Regal Angel Primer

[bimborocks]

I bought a 6inch red sea regal a month and 1/2 ago after seeing him available at a LFS. It had been at the shop for 2 weeks but they hadn't seen it eat but it was in a tank with a bunch of other tangs and it was just hiding up in the corner behind a pipe and only when the tangs where up the other end of the tank it would come out and pick at the silicon and other bits on the floor of the tank, and after watching it for nearly 30mins I decided it was worth the risk.
Took it home and into the QT tank and didn't see it eat for the first 3-4days but I was pretty sure it was picking at the nori on a clip when it though no one was watching. I was absolutely stoked when on the 4th day it started not only picking at frozen Mysis but chasing it down and eating out of the water column For the next few weeks in the qt tank it gradually took most different types of frozen foods but wouldn't even look at flake or pellets. After the qt period and a few doses of Prazi it went into my display tank - 5x2x2 (150gal) sps tank and was loving the extra space and live rock to pick at.
It continued eating frozen foods for the next few weeks then for whatever reason one day decided it wanted to eat both pellets and flake foods with gusto now it gets in amongst the anthias and wrasse at feeding time and will eat pieces of nori out of my hand.
I wanted a show piece fish in my tank that fish and non fish people walk in and see and go WOW and that is definitely what I got



Cheers
James

[OrionN]

some how I cannot see Post 3551. I guess this post is it. The post prior (by bimborocks)to this got deleted

[Dmorty217]

Anyone running their Regal thru Chloroquine phosphate or any QTing for that matter? I ask because I killed my Red Sea Regal after two days with CP and was wondering if anyone else has successfully treated with it or not. Regals seem to be very difficult to QT at all let alone with meds

[alton]

FW Dip for up to 20 minutes (one I had to pull out at 10, the other I think could of gone a half of a day) and Prazi Pro. I have never used copper except Tangs that had ich, all went under some kind of QT for 3 to 4 weeks. Tough to hear about your Regal not making it

[FarmerTy]

I've had my regal under CP for the past 7 days with no issues. The tough part is still getting him to eat something other than fresh clams only. I have angelixir on the way and will continue to tempt the beast. Next up, scallops, squid, octopus, and gulf shrimp!

[mstark]

After reading a lot on here and elsewhere, I opted not to QT my regal (blue belly, so not Red Sea). All that was in the tank were some clowns, pj's, and a few gobies. Fed him mussels which I started packing with mushed up NLS pellets, mysis and garlic extract. He took to the mussels right away, going for frozen mysis after the 3rd day, pellets on 6th, and flake foods after he saw the clowns making a dash for them (10 day mark?). Nori is the only thing he wont touch.

Every fish from here on out will be in QT before going into the DT, though.

[FarmerTy]

Just to mention, my entire fish population has been in a 100 gallon tub with CP for the past month with no issues. I have 4 tangs in there, cleaner wrasse, leopard wrasse, chromis, 2 fairy wrasses, flame angel, 2 clowns, banghai cardinal, and a dartfish.

It seems pretty mild to me on the fishes but I do believe it does lower their immune system as in have to keep an eye out for bacterial infections. When used as a malaria drug in humans, a side effect is immune system suppression so I'd imagine the same in fish.

[ca1ore]

Haven't kept a Regal in a while ... not since rehoming my last 'zooanthid destroyer'. Local reefer had this one available due to similar issues, so couldn't resist. Have had a number of these fish over the years, though never one this young (with the spot). It's in my FOWLR (aka grow out tank) for now. Hard to get a good picture though ....




Eating well .... nori, the small ocean plankton and Mysis. It's about 2" long.

[alton]

Ca1ore that is a cute fish, 2" to 3" are great sizes for Regals. When my juvy came in, it was eating the next day.

[Blueline12]

This guy is so friendly. I've had him a month and could probably pet him.

http://s1248.photobucket.com/user/An...01EED.mp4.html

[sc50964]

This was mine. Hope to have another soon in the future

[OrionN]

Better picture of my Regal Angel this AM. The second picture really show how fat (s)he. I think I have a Female since the spike is small, but she is young, just lost her false eye spot a few months ago.

[Dmorty217]

Originally Posted by OrionN

Better picture of my Regal Angel this AM. The second picture really show how fat (s)he. I think I have a Female since the spike is small, but she is young, just lost her false eye spot a few months ago.

Awesome pictures!

[alton]

Bumped back up

[OrionN]

Alton,
Very nice. How did you pair your's? Can you tell which is male and which is female?

[alton]

Originally Posted by OrionN

Alton,
Very nice. How did you pair your's? Can you tell which is male and which is female?

Sadly they are still not paired even after two years. I had the larger one and then added the juvenile thinking they would pair since normally juveniles are female? (Just guessing) It has been a love hate put up with relationship. At first there was torn fins, then there was peacefulness, the last two weeks it has been a I am going to chase but since you are faster quicker and can slide through smaller holes I can't catch you. Which was the relationship there was before my Flames paired up and started spawning. When I took the previous posted picture no aggression these two the first was in QT, the second was after I dded her to my 300

[cFloor]

Very nice alton, If you could go back would you still have added the second regal? Two healthy regals in a tank is a dream, and as I've mentioned in an earlier post I'm about to try it. Everything is so good right now, I don't want to disrupt anything.

[alton]

Originally Posted by cFloor

Very nice alton, If you could go back would you still have added the second regal? Two healthy regals in a tank is a dream, and as I've mentioned in an earlier post I'm about to try it. Everything is so good right now, I don't want to disrupt anything.

Yes but remember I kept the juvenile in a QT for a couple months so when he was added he was fat and happy and ate like a pig. Plus having a ton of rock and corals helps with plenty of hiding places. I actually thought of adding a third? Some guy by the name of Copps did it once, I think most know who I am talking about. I am still kicking myself for not making it to Houston last year for his talk!

[OrionN]

I am not 100% sure but I don't think regal angels are hermaphrodites. I have the angel book at home and will see if it said anything about sexing Regal angel later today

[indyjaco]

Petco online has the Red Sea versions for $65 right now. I am fighting to not order one.

[cFloor]

Originally Posted by alton

Yes but remember I kept the juvenile in a QT for a couple months so when he was added he was fat and happy and ate like a pig. Plus having a ton of rock and corals helps with plenty of hiding places. I actually thought of adding a third? Some guy by the name of Copps did it once, I think most know who I am talking about. I am still kicking myself for not making it to Houston last year for his talk!

Thanks alton. My tank is newly set up (upgrade from previous tanks.) The regal in my display has been with me for quite some time, in my previous tank and the past month or so in my new tank...eats everything, fat and happy. My other regal has now been in my QT for about 6 weeks and has eaten aggressively since the beginning. That fish is also fat and seems very comfortable in captivity. That fish will stay in QT for another week or two, which is when my prazi pro treatment will be complete. My main concern is that I don't know if I have two males. The fish in QT is slightly larger, about 3.5-4". The spines on both look very similar to me. I am planning on introducing the new regal in a large acclimation box made from eggcrate, along with a few anthias. I guess all I can do is guage the aggression while in acclimation. I'd like to figure out a way to divide a whole section of the tank off for the new one, but not sure how I can do that yet.

I know copps had 3, and that would be amazing if you could pull it off too!

[alton]

Some say long spine male, short spine female I have no proof in that though. I attached my divider that I use on my 300. The juvey could swim back and forth but the male could not. When a chase ensued the juvey usually headed for a rock versus back into security. I use it every time I introduce a new fish or have to take one out

[OrionN]

I check with my book, Scott Michael did not stated that Regal angels are gonochoristic or hermaphrodites. He did mentioned:

"Juvenile P. diacanthus are solitary, secretive fish. Although adults are usually observed singly or in pairs, the typical social unit consists of a single male and one or more females. (Most harems consist of two to four females.)"

From that observation, if he is right, I think they are hermaphrodites.
They are also in a Genus if their own in his book, so there is not general section on the Genus.

[cFloor]

alton- that's a very nice tank you've got there. That partition looks like it would be perfect. I like how the small guy can go through the holes and the larger cannot. I will keep you guys posted on my experiment and how it goes. My regal in QT is a misbar and just a very good looking fish. I really hope the two will get along.

OrionN- Its interesting that we don't' know for sure how to sex these fish. I always heard it had to do with the length of the gill spine, but who really knows. If they are hermaphrodites, would that mean that a male can revert back to a female like a genicanthus angel?

[OrionN]

I have the book "Angelfishes of the World" by Kiyoshi Endoh.
In this book the author devoted one chapter toe Pygoplites genus (only species is diacanthus) He did not mention the sexual characteristic or breeding of this species.