Regal angel special needs?

[Alpha_and_Gec]

There‘s a guy local to me selling a regal for 200… Seems quite cheap, so I kinda want to pick it up. Currently tank contains 1 marginatus wrasse, 1 cleaner wrasse, 1 baby unimaculatus foxface and 1 engineer goby.
Inverts include 2 tuxy urchins, 1 halloween urchin, 1 strawberry conch and 1(maybe 2) Astrea snails.

The angel has been stated to eat in captivity. Is there any specific requirements of regals other than food? I have unstable inorganic parameters(Fluctuating Ca, Mg and alk), but my nitrates have been sitting at zero for the past two days, dropping down from 5 - 2 range of last week since I added chaeto. Is there something I need to be aware of for them? Urchin allergies? Easily clogged gills(my sand is very fine and easily clouds)? Are they massive eaters? As far as I know they are reef safe despite being angelfish, and I do have acro, zoas and hammers I‘d like to protect.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

There‘s a guy local to me selling a regal for 200… Seems quite cheap, so I kinda want to pick it up. Currently tank contains 1 marginatus wrasse, 1 cleaner wrasse, 1 baby unimaculatus foxface and 1 engineer goby.
Inverts include 2 tuxy urchins, 1 halloween urchin, 1 strawberry conch and 1(maybe 2) Astrea snails.

The angel has been stated to eat in captivity. Is there any specific requirements of regals other than food? I have unstable inorganic parameters(Fluctuating Ca, Mg and alk), but my nitrates have been sitting at zero for the past two days, dropping down from 5 - 2 range of last week since I added chaeto. Is there something I need to be aware of for them? Urchin allergies? Easily clogged gills(my sand is very fine and easily clouds)? Are they massive eaters? As far as I know they are reef safe despite being angelfish, and I do have acro, zoas and hammers I‘d like to protect.

Do you know where the fish was collected? In SE Asia, they often use cyanide to collect fish. In turn, that causes hidden damage to the fish that can show up weeks later.

European public aquariums seem to do better with them than we do in North America - I suspect that is because more of their fish come from East Africa and the Red Sea as opposed to SE Asia.

Personally, given this specie's difficulty in feeding well in captivity, even when not caught with cyanide, I avoid them.

I have them listed in my "fish to avoid" article:

MARINE FISH AND INVERTEBRATES TO AVOID

Knowing which species have extra challenges helps home aquarists avoid heartbreak down the road. The following are some species that may pose problems for you, despite the level of care that you offer them.

www.reef2reef.com

Jay

 

[Slocke]

They need variety but even then are very difficult. I believe they need sponge, algae, and protein and will love some fresh coral on the side.
Mine does well in high nutrients but mine was also tank raised. As Jay says most people will fail and I’d get an easier angel.

If biota ship to Canada I would highly suggest them.

 

[Alpha_and_Gec]

Do you know where the fish was collected? In SE Asia, they often use cyanide to collect fish. In turn, that causes hidden damage to the fish that can show up weeks later.

European public aquariums seem to do better with them than we do in North America - I suspect that is because more of their fish come from East Africa and the Red Sea as opposed to SE Asia.

Personally, given this specie's difficulty in feeding well in captivity, even when not caught with cyanide, I avoid them.

I have them listed in my "fish to avoid" article:

MARINE FISH AND INVERTEBRATES TO AVOID

Knowing which species have extra challenges helps home aquarists avoid heartbreak down the road. The following are some species that may pose problems for you, despite the level of care that you offer them.

www.reef2reef.com

Jay

Indonesian, I'm not sure how long the dude had it for yet though. Roughly 3 - 3.5in fish so not very old.

 

[Alpha_and_Gec]

They need variety but even then are very difficult. I believe they need sponge, algae, and protein and will love some fresh coral on the side.
Mine does well in high nutrients but mine was also tank raised. As Jay says most people will fail and I’d get an easier angel.

If biota ship to Canada I would highly suggest them.

wouldn't making them eat fresh coral... train them to eat coral? I guess my brother would be better off keeping them then, he knows how to cook everything.

 

[Slocke]

wouldn't making them eat fresh coral... train them to eat coral? I guess my brother would be better off keeping them then, he knows how to cook everything.

I was joking but they are only sometimes reef safe

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Indonesian, I'm not sure how long the dude had it for yet though. Roughly 3 - 3.5in fish so not very old.

O.K., if this person has had it for more than six months or so, and it is in good shape, it would be much less of a risk.

Jay

 

[Alpha_and_Gec]

I'll come back to you guys after texting the dude for details.

 

[Alpha_and_Gec]

O.K., if this person has had it for more than six months or so, and it is in good shape, it would be much less of a risk.

Jay

So he's only had it for a few weeks himself, but he had acquired it from another reefer, so it's a third - hand fish. It currently eats pellet and mysis. The previous owner had it for roughly 4 - 6 months, but it fought with the other regal so it had to go.
Would changing hands three times be too much for a regal? Or has he been good for long enough?

 

[Alpha_and_Gec]

Here’s a video of the fish. It seems healthy, but isn’t a very enthusiastic feeder.

 

[michealprater]

I have had great luck buying fish from established systems. If it has been in captivity for awhile, it is “conditioned”. I bought a second hand regal and would do it again. It lived for a couple more years after I tore my fowlr and sold it. Just feed a varied diet and make sure plenty of veggies as it is an herbivore. Nori is your friend.

 

[michealprater]

Here’s a video of the fish. It seems healthy, but isn’t a very enthusiastic feeder.

No video on post

 

[Alpha_and_Gec]

No video on post

dangit... gimme a sec, imma bring in an imgur link.

 

[littlefoxx]

Honestly Im not too sure if thats a good idea, seems to be bouncing between reefers a lot! I read a lot of the stuff about cyanide as jay mentioned above and made sure to not get mine from that part of the world. I ordered mine from WWC for a little more than what youre being offered but not much and shes lovely and ate day two with me. Shes a red sea regal orange belly. She loves clams, she gets one every other day and seems to curb her coral nipping. Other than throwing a clam in there for mine I feed her what I feed the rest of my tank, algae, mysis, various proteins for my predatory fish, and plankton with sponge added every other day or so. Shes a fatty and very active in my tank and is actually my tank boss currently! These angels are so pretty that just sounds a little sketch in my opinion since it keeps bouncing hands. Just my two cents!

Shes camera shy but so pretty

 

[Alpha_and_Gec]

No video on post

Here. @Jay Hemdal and @Slocke just in case they want to take a look too.

 

[Alpha_and_Gec]

Honestly Im not too sure if thats a good idea, seems to be bouncing between reefers a lot! I read a lot of the stuff about cyanide as jay mentioned above and made sure to not get mine from that part of the world. I ordered mine from WWC for a little more than what youre being offered but not much and shes lovely and ate day two with me. Shes a red sea regal orange belly. She loves clams, she gets one every other day and seems to curb her coral nipping. Other than throwing a clam in there for mine I feed her what I feed the rest of my tank, algae, mysis, various proteins for my predatory fish, and plankton with sponge added every other day or so. Shes a fatty and very active in my tank and is actually my tank boss currently! These angels are so pretty that just sounds a little sketch in my opinion since it keeps bouncing hands. Just my two cents!

Yeah that's what I was thinking too... but I trust regals from my lfs or online even less. Really I just need a big, flat - sided fish that I can use to feed my cleaner wrasse with.

 

[michealprater]

It looks healthy and is eating well. That being said, as others have mentioned, indos can be a crap shoot.

 

[littlefoxx]

Yeah that's what I was thinking too... but I trust regals from my lfs or online even less. Really I just need a big, flat - sided fish that I can use to feed my cleaner wrasse with.

Yeah Ive had two online. First was from reefbeauties. Harder to get eating but finally did, lost it in the electrical issue I had so not sure how it faired long term. The one from WWC is so bright and active and ate day 2! I would recommend them for a regal for sure. Biota is great since they are captive bred! Never had them when I finally saved enough for a regal so I went for WWC

 

[Alpha_and_Gec]

It looks healthy and is eating well. That being said, as others have mentioned, indos can be a crap shoot.

True, but I'd thought cyanide poisoning would've manifested by now after so many months. It's already difficult to determine where a fish came from...

 

[littlefoxx]

It looks healthy and is eating well. That being said, as others have mentioned, indos can be a crap shoot.

Agree 100%