Ahhh the beautiful regal Angels! I worked at a lfs in Michigan for almost 5 years and I can tell you other than the noticeable coloration difference that another member just spoke of there is also the price difference . However, we would receive about 5 Indos for every 1 Red Sea . Either way none would eat at first and did not like to be in the aquarium .even after 14 days of medication during our quarantine and our blend of food that we used metrodonzale and focus to try and help aid the ones that would start eating we'd lose every 3 out of 5 . What I did the last time I was there before I finished my associates and moved on was we got 5 regales in 2 Red Sea 3 Indos and which in my honest opinion helped to get them curious and initiate a feeding response was rotifers.i would turn off all flow and sprinkle the rots evenly on top of a large piece of live rockand some started picking at live rock and "stalking the live rock lol" I would take Rotifers and turn off all circulation on the tanks the regales were in and sprinkle rotifers onto the rocks . Some would be more intrigued some still had little to no interest.the ones that would show interest I would then take metro and focus and blend that with basically liquified krill mysis scallops clam and squid and again turn off all the circulation and repeat sprinkling that over the rocks and would do one of those above mentioned foods at a time and see how they responded . 9 times out of ten it was actually the krill and scallops . The ones that had no interest still I would try spectrum pellets and red and green algae strips sprayed with a garlic metro and focus solution and place those under the rock seeing if they wanted something else to initiate the feeding response . One started ripping away at the red algae like he was unwrapping a Xmas gift lol. The other nothing still . The last one was one of the Indos and I started soaking the clams and scallops in the half shell in the same metro focus and garlic solution but also amino and fatty acids as he hasn't been eating anything and be would pick up the shells not eat the meat and just toss them around the tank. I wish he would of made it but unfortunately he didnt but he had such a bad attitude he was awesome in his own way. The regal who ate the algae strips through out the next week started eating clams on the half shell and prepared mysis and squid all soaked in garlic metro and focus . After having him in the shop for roughly a month and a half and was free of external internal and everything inbetween he would eat pellets freeze dried and frozen as well as our own fish food we would make from fresh raw seafood . We then put a price tag on him and he lived almost 3 years in a customers tank that I still am close to today before he just stopped eating no signs of anything no parameter swings or bad params no new additions or anything just strange . The other three that I spoke of in the beginning of my reply one ended up not making it and came down with velvet harder than I've ever seen it . Was fine the night we left at 9pm and 730 am the next day on the ground rapid breathing eyes covered and whole body looked like he was dipped in a larger grain of sugar . The other one of the 2 ended up in one of our 300 gal display tanks is a fat bully and still there today . The other one was eating swimming . Regular respiration and gill function and was sold to a customer who has a 600 gal flat back only Angels and he now works at a lfs by the new area I moved to and still has him. So it just goes to show people are very opinionated with regals because the success rate is low and death rate is high and many people feel they are better left in the ocean . However , some stores do not do everything they can for the customer let alone the overall health of this living animal and that could be a reason for these high death rates that keep on climbing . This also to some stores contributes to the high cost of any variant of regal due to running each one in its own tank on its own system more frequent water changes due to trying to get them to feed how long they need to be quarantined and all the food and chemicals and nutrients that are used . But in the long run I can honestly say you can't put a price on a regal who is not skinny by any means and accepts food and actually keeps that weight on . IF it were me I'd much rather spend the extra 25-40 bucks for the store to treat , feed, and acclimate to an aquarium lifestyle then spending the decent Amt of money and rolling the dice of death each time is purchase one and lose sleep over it wondering when it's going to go
Hope this helps some people out , as I do believe certain fish only belong in the ocean . However, a regal is not one of them . Yes they are a finicky fish but so are clown tangs , Achilles ,red sea sohals, certain butterfly's etc... There is a way to comfortably house these fish it may not be the easiest thing to do but isn't anything worth having working hard for? Do the research , trial and error , and soon you will be able to keep these magnificent beauties and have them be a wonderful tank addition for many years to come .
