Regal Angel Primer

[Outerbank]

I have successfully kept a PBT, potters angel, copperband, spotted boxfish, and 2 moorish idols. My regal angel is 2 months old and it has been the most difficult species to consistantly feed. My fish is from Diver's Den, so I was given a headstart with feeding. The frustrating thing about my RA is it will eat a few pieces of one type of food and then completely ignore that same food the next time it is added. The foods which mine eats most aggressively are PE mysis (tail portion--it is even picky with the pe mysis as it does not really care for the head and belly) and frozen brine. It also usually eats a fair amount of marine blend instant ocean gel.

[Kieth71]

Honestly these fish get weird about eating.Mine is on a spectrum pellet and omega one super veggie flakes only diet right now because he will not eat anything else.I feed rods food,mysis and spirulina infused brine along with dwarf angel formula as well to the other fish.He decided one day he would not participate in these foods for some reason.I guess at the end of the day as long as he is getting nutrition thats the important part.

[Finsky]

Originally Posted by Kieth71

Honestly these fish get weird about eating.Mine is on a spectrum pellet and omega one super veggie flakes only diet right now because he will not eat anything else.I feed rods food,mysis and spirulina infused brine along with dwarf angel formula as well to the other fish.He decided one day he would not participate in these foods for some reason.I guess at the end of the day as long as he is getting nutrition thats the important part.

I must be lucky as I got mine from Drs. Foster and Smith and it started eating fairly quickly. Now, it comes out of the live rock like a bullet when food hits the surface. Go figure as he is from the Indo-Pacific Region.

IMG_4320.jpg

[flameangel88]

Originally Posted by Finsky

I must be lucky as I got mine from Drs. Foster and Smith and it started eating fairly quickly. Now, it comes out of the live rock like a bullet when food hits the surface. Go figure as he is from the Indo-Pacific Region.

Attachment 99557

Tom, was the Regal treated with copper? The reason I'm asking is that my Cream angel pair's face looks like that after Cupramine treatment while in QT. I'm sorry for asking if it's just the angle or picture. Kevin

[Finsky]

Originally Posted by flameangel88

Tom, was the Regal treated with copper? The reason I'm asking is that my Cream angel pair's face looks like that after Cupramine treatment while in QT. I'm sorry for asking if it's just the angle or picture. Kevin

Kevin:

No problem.

I have never treated/medicated any of my fish, fresh or salt, over the past 20 years of aquarium keeping. I use the natural approach, for example for ich I would raise the tanks temperature to 84ish for a severe case. This has worked for me as I will show you a Clown Tang received 18 days ago which had two spots of ich on its left pectoral fin and this has disppeared. I just left the temperature at the tank's normal 80 degrees and this seems to keep the Purple Tang and Powder Blue Tang which I have had for quite a while and Clown Tang free of ich although each might have had an occasional spot which I cannot remember it has been so long ago. Please forgive my picture panarama of my three tangs and two angels as I got my Cannon Rebel out and started clicking away tonight.

02/07/07 Powder Blue Tang - 4 1/2"
10/23/07 Purple tang - 4"
01/15/10 Clown Tang - 4"

02/07/09 Blue Girdled Angelfish - 3 1/12"
08/24/08 Regal Angelfish - 3 1/12"

I received the Regal in August of 2008 and I cannot remember whether it had the white markings or developed them while in my Display Tank into which it was introduced directly after receipt from Drs. Foster and Smith. The white markings are "identical" above each eye on both sides of its face? I have sent a picture to Tech Support at Drs. Foster and Smith to see what they think. It seems to be some sort of odd pigmentation is the only thing I can think of as it is very active and eats well?

[flameangel88]

Tom,

Thanks for the info. Very nice fish selection and they are all great looking. If you don't mind please let me know DFS's opinion. One can never learn enough in this hobby.

Thanks,

Kevin

[Finsky]

Originally Posted by flameangel88

Tom,

Thanks for the info. Very nice fish selection and they are all great looking. If you don't mind please let me know DFS's opinion. One can never learn enough in this hobby.

Thanks,

Kevin

First, thank you for the compliment.

Per Drs. Foster and Smith Tech Support:

It appears that the Regal Angelfish has lateral line disease. We would recommend treating the fish according to the advice that Greg provided which was soaking my food in Vitamin C before feeding.

Greg mentioned my Regal has initial stages of this slow to develop and slow to heal disease. I placed an order last night for Kent Marine Vitamin C to go along with the Selcon I use.

Below from Drs. Foster and Smith Pet Education Web site with a link at the end with more extensive information.

Marine hole in the head disease is a common disease in tangs and angelfish. This disease is often referred to as Head and Lateral Line Erosion (HLLE). This disease has several contributing factors, and if caught early, can usually be successfully treated.

Causes

There are several suspected contributors to the development of this disease, but one of the most commonly described is that of a vitamin deficiency, particularly Vitamin C. Chronic stress has also been suggested as contributing to the formation of the disease, as has stray voltage within the tank. Some forms of activated carbon have been thought to cause mineral imbalance and increase the incidence of the disease.

http://www.peteducation.com/article....+2160&aid=2587

[flameangel88]

Originally Posted by Finsky

Per Drs. Foster and Smith Tech Support:

It appears that the Regal Angelfish has lateral line disease.

Marine hole in the head disease is a common disease in tangs and angelfish. This disease is often referred to as Head and Lateral Line Erosion (HLLE).

Causes
There are several suspected contributors to the development of this disease, but one of the most commonly described is that of a vitamin deficiency, particularly Vitamin C. Chronic stress has also been suggested as contributing to the formation of the disease, as has stray voltage within the tank. Some forms of activated carbon have been thought to cause mineral imbalance and increase the incidence of the disease.

Tom,

Thanks for posting the DFS info.

It was HLLE that I was getting at initially as my pair came down with after Cupramine treatment but stress was something that never occurred to me. Now come to think of it this may be part of the issue as my Scribbled is a bit aggressive toward the Cream angels.

Slow healing is correct. I haven't tried Vitamin C yet so I'll look into that. With the list of possible causes I think you can use the process of elimination and come up the best one.

Best of luck with your Regal!

Kevin


here's a pic of the pair dated 9-27-09 and both still look about the same now and eating normal.

[Finsky]

Your Creams look pretty good with only a little bit of a beginning of probably HLLE. You could email DFS tech support if you wanted to be proof positive although I would order some Vitamin C and soak all my food with it. Supposedly the Kent 8 oz bottle with two or three drops mixed in a measuring cup of water with the food then added every time you feed could not hurt and the Vitamin C is supposed to last at least a year with this dosing. I also use Selcon which has more lipids? than vitamin C although I heard so many good things I bought enough to last a year.

My Regal will chase my four striped damsels and they are a tough damsel so I do not think it is stress for me and I do not feel any electric tingle when I put my hand in the tank. Even if they are somewhat stressed, I would probably go with the Vitamin C at a minimum. Are they continually chased into corners or is it an off and on chasing? How long have you had the Scribble and the Creams? I really like the look of the Scribble angel and think it is one of the most attractive angels although the Creams make an attractive pair.

[blface]

Here's an updated pic of my baby regal. I've had it for about 2 months now. Still going strong even after a dose of Cupramine for 2 weeks. It continues to eat everything I feed the tank & is always out in the open looking for food.

[rgentry123]

nice! i really wanted a juvi regal and actually had one but due to a delay in shipping it arrived DOA. i ordered another but this one was substantially larger, about 4". doing pretty good so far, had him about a month nowand he's slowing starting to begin eating prepared foods pretty well. how long did it take for yours to start eating and is yours an indo pacific?

[flameangel88]

Tom,

I add Selcon to chopped homemade seafood that I feed 5x per week.

I'd the Scribbled (added when i was 3 7/8") since March '09 and the Cream angels (added when they were 3 & 3.5") since May '09. The Scribbled is just plain aggressive but lucky it's not too aggressive toward the 3" Bandit.

Kevin

[blface]

The regal ate mysis at the LFS before I even brought it home. It's seems to be a Pacific Ocean variant, grey belly, but it's still to early to tell for sure.

[reidcrandall]

I posted this in my build thread, but wanted to post over here as well, as I could use some advice.

I purchased a Regal Angel from Premium Aquatics 3 days ago. He's a Pacific gray belly, which, contrary to most people, I actually prefer. He'd been eating in their tanks for 10 days when I bought him.

I was able to snap a couple of pics of the Regal Angel today. Didn't have time to grab the tripod or do any adjustments with the camera, so they're kind of rough.

He is picking from the rocks a bit, and picking at chunks of Ocean Nutrition Angel Formula and Spirulina that I attached to a small rock with a zip tie. He's not eating nearly enough for my liking, and has started to lose some weight. I'm trying to find a place in Indy that has live blackworms, but no luck yet.

I've also been feeding PE mysis (frozen), Rods (frozen), Formula 1 pellet, Formula 2 flake and Reef Formula as per usual to the other tank inhabitants... He hasn't shown much interest in them yet.







Any other tricks that anyone can share that might get his appetite up?

[RegalAngel]

Welcome to the club of Non-eating Regals.
Mine has lasted 2 1/2 months and eats like yours and is about as slim as yours! I think it is getting some food off the bottom sand, but have not seen it lately eat worms, brine shrimp, oyster in the shell, etc.

I had one in 1978 that eat well and thought I would try again, but no luck.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showpo...&postcount=137

[RegalAngel]

Originally Posted by dviper150

thanks for all the encouragement. I will let you know if it starts eating.

Well?

[dviper150]

No luck yet . It has been in my tank for 13 days so far and still nothing. It still looks nice and fat.

[szwab]

Keep positive guys, I think everyone (exception of a few) have ben where your at now. Don't give up on your fish have you guys tried scallops rubberbanded toa rock?

[reidcrandall]

Had to pull the Regal out to do another freshwater dip last night. I hope it didn't stress him out to the point of regression of his appetite.

I was proven correct during the dip though. He shed a few more flukes.

[flameangel88]

I got a 4.5" yellow belly with a missing chunk near the anus area and didn't eat for the first 25 days and all of a sudden started eating pellets. I didn't do anything different on feeding just offer variety of food. Regals has been the most difficult fish to keep alive in my experiences and most only lasted a week or two so hopefully this one is a keeper.

here's him with the missing chunk with two spines exposed




had him almost 3 months now and the 2 spines appeared missing. he prefer pellets over frozen





I got a 5.5" Bandit in QT on 11/19 that didn't touch any prepared food for 9 weeks and during this time it would only take nips at live clams but the amount surely wasn't enough. Good thing he came in pretty plumb and started to get skinny over the next 9 weeks. He didn't start eating frozen till 1/26 and the last couple days was eating mysis more aggressively. He even eat few pellets now.

On my last couple of posts here I've been saying to give the fish time to settle in and they will eat when they are ready. As with any sensitive fish the thing we need to do is just keep plugging away with a varied diet and try to observe them from a distance till they get used to you being around. My Bandit would go under the rocks the first 7-8 weeks when I got close to the tank but now I can sit in front and watch him eat. I never had a Bandit taken more than 2-3 days to eat till this one.

[Finsky]

I have a Regal which has been eating for about a year and a half and it does prefer freeze dried mysis vs brine although it tends to take a taste of whatever is offered. I have forgotten how long it took to acclimate it to feed. I usually use the dispersal method of as many different kinds of food as I can think of and not give up. I now have a Clown Tang who has been grazing tank algae since I got it 25 days ago. I ignores ALL food I put into the tank. I wish it would follow my Regal's behavior!

[LKGRenegade22]

I have now ordered 3 of these fish through different local trusted fish stores and all 3 have not made it through the 1st week in the stores even though they came in fat and healthy looking. I doubt the different stores ordered them all from the same place. I'm about to give up on getting a healthy regal.

[flameangel88]

Originally Posted by LKGRenegade22

I have now ordered 3 of these fish through different local trusted fish stores and all 3 have not made it through the 1st week in the stores even though they came in fat and healthy looking. I doubt the different stores ordered them all from the same place. I'm about to give up on getting a healthy regal.

I've gone through a few myself and if they don't make it they usually die within the first 2 weeks (I only had one that make it to the third week). Even this last one didn't look good the first 3-4 weeks. Their record is so bad that many online vendors don't offer 14 days live guarantee on them and most of them didn't look good out of the bag. Don't give up but look to getting one that comes with a 14 days guarantee.

[RegalAngel]

Well my Indo-Pacific Regal was healthy and fat when it arrived about 3 months ago. After about 2 months in the QT providing it with live black worms, live tubifex worms, live brine shrimp, oyster in the shell, clam in the shell, all frozen foods available, freeze dried foods (eat some freeze dried tubifex off surface), flake foods, pellets.....it did eat some of these at times, but grudgingly. And more often it would not eat them again.

So, I eventually placed it in the 300g DT with my butterflies and it was more of the same swimming right thru masses of worms that the butterflies were feasting on it became slimmer and slimmer over the past 3 months.

Yesterday, was it's last day as it succumbed to starvation. I tried, it tried but it wasn't meant to be....good bye my dear Regal.

[bradleyj]

So sorry. That must of been really tuff to go thru, watching him for 3 months and being helpless watching him not eating. I've had mine going on 3 yrs now. He basically only likes to eat sponge and spectrum pellets.