Captive bred juvenile Regal angels not eating

[Steve H]

I placed mine in the sump inside an acclimation box and have had it for a month. It has grown considerably since that time. It eats Masstick, PE flakes, new life spectrum small pellets, whole Hikari mysis, and calanus.

 

[jrmailo]

I placed mine in the sump inside an acclimation box and have had it for a month. It has grown considerably since that time. It eats Masstick, PE flakes, new life spectrum small pellets, whole Hikari mysis, and calanus.

In retrospect, that would had been a wise choice. Now it is impossible for me to capture him.

Mine too has grown from about a size of US quarter to the size of US 1$ coin. It just that he still refuses anything that I’d given him.

 

[Fishnut]

I would try to divide the tank with egg crate and keep him away from the other fish & crabs until he starts settling in to the feeding routine. From my experience Regals will have a tough time competing with established tangs for food. Regals are just too slow. When I had them together I would try to feed the tangs on one end of the tank and then at the same time feed the regals on the other end. I finally pulled the tangs.

 

[jrmailo]

I would try to divide the tank with egg crate and keep him away from the other fish & crabs until he starts settling in to the feeding routine. From my experience Regals will have a tough time competing with established tangs for food. Regals are just too slow. When I had them together I would try to feed the tangs on one end of the tank and then at the same time feed the regals on the other end. I finally pulled the tangs.

That’s a good idea. Thank you for your suggestion! I will try the egg crate method and divide the tank in half.

And I completely agree with you in the he is having a hard time competing for food. He’s not even a part of the competition at this point since he doesn’t have a chance to recognize what is food before the other fishes comes in. Currently, he just stares blankly at me when I try focus feeding him before going back to pick at the rocks. So getting him to recognize the food will be the first challenge that I have to overcome.

 

[jda]

What were they feeding them at BA?

 

[jrmailo]

They were fed 3 types of small pellets. These were also given to me in 3 sealed packets when I received him. However the regal does not seem to recognize this food.

I think the main issue here is that the regals were probably fed at the water surface, rather than in the lower water column. Since my tank is 2ft deep and the fact that my regal always hangs out near the rock work and never swims up anywhere near the surface, it would be impossible to replicate how they were fed at the store.

 

[Zionas]

Blue Lines and Regals are both species I love. How big are your Blue Lines after I think 5 years or so? And how big are your Regals? Do you think both need to feel comfortable and not outcompeted when first introduced?

 

[Bkatz1]

I had two finicky eaters last week, new additions. They were being shy when the food went in and by the time the food made it to them it was just waste. The two things I did that worked instantly was frozen spirulina/brine shrimp (soaked in Selcon). Let the Selcon sit in the food for at least 20 mins. Also, my local LFS had fully grown live Brine Shrimp for sale in small cups, that I put in the system that whole tank went ballistic for. After the spirulina brine and the live brine both fish in question started feeding with the others immediately. Lastly, I think one thing that helps in this situation is over feeding, not feeding more time a day but increasing the amount of food per feeding. The extra abundance of floating food keeps the other fish at bay and gives the new fish a chance to grab some quality food. I hope this helps.

 

[Bkatz1]

the two finicky eaters I had was a juvenile PBT and a juvenile Majestic Angel...

 

[jrmailo]

the two finicky eaters I had was a juvenile PBT and a juvenile Majestic Angel...

I’d been over feeding the tank by a significant amount for about 2 weeks now with all the food I’d mentioned (selcon soaked) earlier in the post. No luck. He would just look at me like I offended him with his offering before going back picking at rocks.

That said the regal looks pretty content foraging and grazing by himself and had gotten a bit bigger so I am a bit less worried about his current well being.

 

[Gtinnel]

My only experience with trying to get a picky eater to eat is with a copperband butterfly, so I don’t know if this is relative or not. The only food I was able to get him eating was white worms, they’re cheap to get a starting culture going and they’re easy to breed. Every fish in my tank went crazy for them. My wife wasn’t too fond of the idea of me breeding worms in the house though.

 

[PigFarmer]

I dropped a baby regal and a baby majestic into a 180gallon with other fish 5 weeks ago. So far I've yet to see the regal eat anything offeted other then the pecking at the 200lbs of gulf live rock all day long. The wild sponges are wiped clean from these rocks lol The baby majestic eats like a king tho and is a little bigger... hoping the regal will come around after it grows. My last wild caught regal wouldn't eat anything besides the ocean nutrition "angel formula" so I've got it on order will let ya know if it eats it after it arrives. It's made of sponges so I suspect it won't be able to resist

 

[jrmailo]

My only experience with trying to get a picky eater to eat is with a copperband butterfly, so I don’t know if this is relative or not. The only food I was able to get him eating was white worms, they’re cheap to get a starting culture going and they’re easy to breed. Every fish in my tank went crazy for them. My wife wasn’t too fond of the idea of me breeding worms in the house though.

This might be something that I have to resort to in the future as well depending on how things go with the egg crate method. Thank you for your input!

 

[jrmailo]

I dropped a baby regal and a baby majestic into a 180gallon with other fish 5 weeks ago. So far I've yet to see the regal eat anything offeted other then the pecking at the 200lbs of gulf live rock all day long. The wild sponges are wiped clean from these rocks lol The baby majestic eats like a king tho and is a little bigger... hoping the regal will come around after it grows. My last wild caught regal wouldn't eat anything besides the ocean nutrition "angel formula" so I've got it on order will let ya know if it eats it after it arrives. It's made of sponges so I suspect it won't be able to resist

Seems like we’re in the same boat! But unlike you I started from dry rocks 6-7 months ago and have biodiversity problems so I’m sure my regal will run out of food long before yours.

I have tried the frozen angel food that includes sponge. Not sure what brand it was though. But no luck so far.

Since then I had added other baby fishes and my regal would roam around trying to find and greet these guys from time to time. My idea was for him to sees the other little ones eat, so he will learn to do the same. Except the other little ones has yet to eat either…

 

[PigFarmer]

Seems like we’re in the same boat! But unlike you I started from dry rocks 6-7 months ago and have biodiversity problems so I’m sure my regal will run out of food long before yours.

I have tried the frozen angel food that includes sponge. Not sure what brand it was though. But no luck so far.

Since then I had added other baby fishes and my regal would roam around trying to find and greet these guys from time to time. My idea was for him to sees the other little ones eat, so he will learn to do the same. Except the other little ones has yet to eat either…

Yah i read that. Im glad I have the diversity but man I have since found a mantis shrimp in the tank since putting the babys in lol. So far so good tho. i watched the mantis crawl right by the baby regal when i 1st discoverd it and I dang near **** my pants lol. stinks to hear the sponge food didn't work

 

[jrmailo]

Yah i read that. Im glad I have the diversity but man I have since found a mantis shrimp in the tank since putting the babys in lol. So far so good tho. i watched the mantis crawl right by the baby regal when i 1st discoverd it and I dang near **** my pants lol. stinks to hear the sponge food didn't work

Yikes that’s no fun. Do you have a plan to catch the mantis out?
Also I’m starting to think that regals are just hard eater period baby or grown, wild caught or CB. Their instinct must be so ingrained that they will rather forage than eat prepared food even when they most likely never had any experience or learn how graze in the breeding tank.

 

[PigFarmer]

Yikes that’s no fun. Do you have a plan to catch the mantis out?
Also I’m starting to think that regals are just hard eater period baby or grown, wild caught or CB. Their instinct must be so ingrained that they will rather forage than eat prepared food even when they most likely never had any experience or learn how graze in the breeding tank.

No, its a fowler tank so I'll let nature run its coarse. I feel like if mantis wanted baby angels for lunch he woulda had them by now. I watched him have his chance a few times now close to the regal and never see it strike or even act like it acknowledges the fish.. not sure its a predator to them. I've also read their are over 450 different species of mantis shrimp and some are less aggressive than others. I could be fooling myself tho lol

 

[Zionas]

I’m seriously being put off getting a captive bred Regal. If I can find a captive bred Goldflake (purebred) and a Blue Line, might just go with those. Maybe a pair of Goldflakes.

 

[Dave1993]

I dropped a baby regal and a baby majestic into a 180gallon with other fish 5 weeks ago. So far I've yet to see the regal eat anything offeted other then the pecking at the 200lbs of gulf live rock all day long. The wild sponges are wiped clean from these rocks lol The baby majestic eats like a king tho and is a little bigger... hoping the regal will come around after it grows. My last wild caught regal wouldn't eat anything besides the ocean nutrition "angel formula" so I've got it on order will let ya know if it eats it after it arrives. It's made of sponges so I suspect it won't be able to resist

My captive bred goldflake angel loves this

 

[Zionas]

Any issues getting your Goldflake to eat?