Calling all tank raised Regal Angels owners.

[OrionN]

Well, I pulled the trigger and ordered a Regal pair directly from Biota. I was afraid that I will not be able to raise the 1/2 inch size so I wait until they have the 1 inch size Regal, which they have on their website this evening.
I will keep this thread update. 1 inch also come with a premium price tag too
I will keep them in my 40 gal QT system. This one time, I will not keep dither fish with them since they are tank raised and should be used to been feed by human. I will use an automatic feeder for them so I will feed them AM and PM feeder 4 more times during the day.
I think I will set up an acclimation box for the first few days so I can react quickly if there is some problem, but plant to let them have the run of my 40 gal breeder reef once I am confident that they are not so shy, retreated into the rock work so that I can't feed them.
Wish me luck. I do love Regal angel and love that I will be getting a pair of captive bred Regal Angels.
@Biota_Marine

 

[Dierks]

Well, I pulled the trigger and ordered a Regal pair directly from Biota. I was afraid that I will not be able to raise the 1/2 inch size so I wait until they have the 1 inch size Regal, which they have on their website this evening.
I will keep this thread update. 1 inch also come with a premium price tag too
I will keep them in my 40 gal QT system. This one time, I will not keep dither fish with them since they are tank raised and should be used to been feed by human. I will use an automatic feeder for them so I will feed them AM and PM feeder 4 more times during the day.
I think I will set up an acclimation box for the first few days so I can react quickly if there is some problem, but plant to let them have the run of my 40 gal breeder reef once I am confident that they are not so shy, retreated into the rock work so that I can't feed them.
Wish me luck. I do love Regal angel and love that I will be getting a pair of captive bred Regal Angels.
@Biota_Marine

Excited to follow along with this!! Always amazes me the success you have with some of these awesome fish!

 

[Richard baker]

got mine from biota it was the size of a dime kept it in a acclimation box in my 200 gallon display i did not qt him due to it being tank raised and talking to biota qting the angel would likely kill it and they take measures during raising them . After about two weeks it got out of the box somehow and i was sure it was a goner nope little guy made it through going on 7 months now and its the size of a half dollar

 

[Richard baker]

Any more experiences??? With the popularity of this fish, it does not seem like there are a great number of success. It is really too bad.
I wonder why the breeder won’t hold it for a few more months before selling.

notice most dont have success with them because they qt it and it need a mature tank to be in ,I know qting is a must for everything but i would not recommend it if you are getting it directly from biota

 

[areefer01]

Well, I pulled the trigger and ordered a Regal pair directly from Biota. I was afraid that I will not be able to raise the 1/2 inch size so I wait until they have the 1 inch size Regal, which they have on their website this evening.
I will keep this thread update. 1 inch also come with a premium price tag too
I will keep them in my 40 gal QT system. This one time, I will not keep dither fish with them since they are tank raised and should be used to been feed by human. I will use an automatic feeder for them so I will feed them AM and PM feeder 4 more times during the day.
I think I will set up an acclimation box for the first few days so I can react quickly if there is some problem, but plant to let them have the run of my 40 gal breeder reef once I am confident that they are not so shy, retreated into the rock work so that I can't feed them.
Wish me luck. I do love Regal angel and love that I will be getting a pair of captive bred Regal Angels.
@Biota_Marine

Out of curiosity why do you think you wouldn't be able to raise it? Having raised multiple fish from them I've personally not found size to be a challenge. Most recent the Milletseed Butterfly which was maybe the size of a US $0.25 quarter to $0.50 cent piece.

I typically try and keep the food they listed the fish was eating on hand since it is familiar to them. I also have TDO x-small, small, and medium on hand since most of my captive bred, raised, have eaten it with success. Especially the x-small. I will manually feed small portions of each separately and observe which one it strikes and eats vs strike and move on. I will also rotate through frozen using LRS nano, fish, reef then PE calanus, prime reef, small mysis, and small brine. Once I get an idea of what they actually consume the dry goes in a auto feeder and feeds small portions hourly.

In any case this isn't your first rodeo but was curious on the size concern. I've never had a issue be it the Milletseed or Pink Square Anthias or any of the others. However, I do understand that Regals can be a challenge. Oh - no chemical QT protocols for any of my captive bred or raised when purchased directly from Biota. Observation and isolation - I use my refugium since I can take it off line. I leave the QT to the experts like Dierks.

Take lots of photos and share when you have time. I personally love watching the young fish mature. We do not get to see it often and it is a bonus, in my opinion, when buying them young. Hope your day is amazing.

 

[i cant think]

Well, I pulled the trigger and ordered a Regal pair directly from Biota. I was afraid that I will not be able to raise the 1/2 inch size so I wait until they have the 1 inch size Regal, which they have on their website this evening.
I will keep this thread update. 1 inch also come with a premium price tag too
I will keep them in my 40 gal QT system. This one time, I will not keep dither fish with them since they are tank raised and should be used to been feed by human. I will use an automatic feeder for them so I will feed them AM and PM feeder 4 more times during the day.
I think I will set up an acclimation box for the first few days so I can react quickly if there is some problem, but plant to let them have the run of my 40 gal breeder reef once I am confident that they are not so shy, retreated into the rock work so that I can't feed them.
Wish me luck. I do love Regal angel and love that I will be getting a pair of captive bred Regal Angels.
@Biota_Marine

Just wondering what happened to the regals in your main display?

 

[OrionN]

I lost them in the Harvey Hurricane crash. Somebody turn off my generator when I am out of town after the hurricane . I lost a whole lot of fish and coral

 

[OrionN]

Out of curiosity why do you think you wouldn't be able to raise it? Having raised multiple fish from them I've personally not found size to be a challenge. Most recent the Milletseed Butterfly which was maybe the size of a US $0.25 quarter to $0.50 cent piece.

I typically try and keep the food they listed the fish was eating on hand since it is familiar to them. I also have TDO x-small, small, and medium on hand since most of my captive bred, raised, have eaten it with success. Especially the x-small. I will manually feed small portions of each separately and observe which one it strikes and eats vs strike and move on. I will also rotate through frozen using LRS nano, fish, reef then PE calanus, prime reef, small mysis, and small brine. Once I get an idea of what they actually consume the dry goes in a auto feeder and feeds small portions hourly.

In any case this isn't your first rodeo but was curious on the size concern. I've never had a issue be it the Milletseed or Pink Square Anthias or any of the others. However, I do understand that Regals can be a challenge. Oh - no chemical QT protocols for any of my captive bred or raised when purchased directly from Biota. Observation and isolation - I use my refugium since I can take it off line. I leave the QT to the experts like Dierks.

Take lots of photos and share when you have time. I personally love watching the young fish mature. We do not get to see it often and it is a bonus, in my opinion, when buying them young. Hope your day is amazing.

Two of my friends, @alton and @Claybird1985, who are very accomplish reefers with thriving tanks and fishes along with many years experiences got 4 CB regals. They (observational no medication) QT them in reef tank with no other fish (not sterile QT tanks) and ended up empty handed. We shared and ordered baby fish for each other before. I don't think I can do anything more than they can. They feel that 1cm-1/2 inch is just too small to easily raise to adult, and I tend to agree. Skip eating for a few days and they are gone.

 

[iReefer12]

I raised 8 CB Regals from 50c size. I sold 6 and kept one for myself, one didn’t make it. It is really hard to raise them, but the fish from Bali Aquarich do eat pellets, 3 times a day feeding for first month.. plenty of pods.. and they can thrive. I found it extremely hard to pair them, when two together, one would always get chased into the upper corner. I had to separate all 8 across holding tanks, and placed one into my frag tank and I presumed dead after not seeing for a few days.. that guy lived in a pile of live rock rubble and surprisingly grew the fastest (I assume plenty of access to pods)? I also supplemented with live baby brine shrimp, that was one of the 3 feedings during the day. The other 2 feedings were with pellets the extra small size.

The Regal I kept, I placed into my DT, it held its own and is now probably 1.25” in size and looks like he’s doing really well. Slow growth, 0.75” in 3-1/2 months.

I think you will be fine, but watch out for them chasing each other. If you find the secret to forming a pair, I am very keen to hear, I really wanted to create a pair, one normal pattern and one with the funky pattern.

 

[OrionN]

I got this pair from just putting two 1 inch WC baby regal together and had no problem. I raised them in the same 40 gal breeder system, and I am planning to do now, with a pair of clown fish as dither fish for months. Never quarrel ever since they were little. Maybe I was lucky.

 

[iReefer12]

That is so dang cool!!! Such a beautiful fish! And 2 together just look amazing. Well I wish you luck again, please keep this updated, because I would like to know whether to try again with adding a 2nd.

FWIW.. I started to wonder if they wouldn’t pair due them being a. From the same what do you call it, batch or hatchlings… or b) maybe it was because they were the same size so one couldn’t easily assert dominance… I don’t know, just theories I had

 

[OrionN]

I got one at about 2” second hand from biota. Put it in my big fish tank. Did really well till I had a velvet outbreak a year later.

Everything I’ve gotten from biota has done really well.

@Slocke
Now that you had your Regal for several months, do you have a blue chest or yellow chested Regal?

 

[Slocke]

@Slocke
Now that you had your Regal for several months, do you have a blue chest or yellow chested Regal?

It was yellow I believe

 

[OrionN]

I contact BIOTA about the sub species. They replied that no one that bought Regal angels from them have the regal grow out as Blue chested.
Good to know.

Other question, anybody raised these babies as pair or more? How did it go?

 

[HomeSlizzice]

So while I don’t have a captive raised Regal Angel, I did buy a smaller 2-3” wild caught Regal Angel I’ve had great success with. I feed Spectrum Thera A pellets on 2 ehiem auto feeders 8x a day. This makes up 98%+ of his diet other than whatever he eats picking on my rocks. Far and healthy, he took to the pellets in my acclimation box. My Regal Angel and my Moorish Idol go more aggressively for these pellets than most frozen food varieties (which they eat those well too)… I think multiple feedings several times a day with Spectrum Thera A pellets is a big help.

 

[sc50964]

Mine haven’t been tank raised either but I find them to be no more difficult than other angels when you only buy when they eat well in the store and when they are given the chance in QT to acclimate to captivity and fatten up.

 

[i cant think]

I contact BIOTA about the sub species. They replied that no one that bought Regal angels from them have the regal grow out as Blue chested.
Good to know.

Other question, anybody raised these babies as pair or more? How did it go?

I think I’ve seen at least one person who had a CB regal that became a blue belly but I could be wrong there.

 

[OrionN]

I think I’ve seen at least one person who had a CB regal that became a blue belly but I could be wrong there.

I was told the one person was concerned but a few months later it was apparent that it is a yellow chest and he was happy

 

[OrionN]

Well, I am excited.
My Regal Angels shipped today. Took me quite a while to order. I will start a new thread in a few days once they arrive and settle down. Hope they are not too shy so I can get some nice pictures.

 

[Leon.NYC]

Hey there! I commented on my original thread about my regal but I'll post it here as well;

I had ordered mine from Biota & yes, they are the size of a nickel when first received!
In full transparency, this is the third one I received. Frist two didn't make it through QT and for my final attempt I went a different route with my quarantine process, removing a lot of the chemicals to prophylactically treat any underlying issues.

Note: I do QT everything (including inverts) that I place in the tank. I had an outbreak of velvet from a basslet I ordered from Biota about 2-years ago. Although their stock is captive bred, they use ocean water that gets filtered. I found this out later on after some back and forth with them. Hence, no matter where they come from (except Marine Collectors & Dr. Reef Quarantined fish), everything gets QT'ed.

Regardless of whether you QT or not, I'd highly recommend setting up a separate tank for them to acclimate being alone, eating, etc.. It's taken mine 2-3 days to fully acclimate.

The method which worked well for me was the hybrid TTM method.

Day-1: Initial tank setup.
Day-4: Swap tank & equipment
Day-7: 2nd swap. H202 dip during swap
Day-10: 3rd swap. H202 dip during swap
Day-13: 4th swap. H202 dip during swap
Day-15: final swap & added Prazipro
Day-18: 100% water change & redose Prazipro
Day-21: 100% water change & redose Prazipro
Day-24: 100% water change & redose Prazipro
Day-25: Remove from QT & add to acclimation box in main display
Day-30: Release.

I recommend during this time to get them trained on a number of foods. Since I'm doing an entire tank swap every 3-days, ammonia & nitrites aren't that much of a concern. I do keep a seachem badge in the tank though for monitoring. To start, I fed mine TDO B2 pellets, brine/mysis & calanus. I'd suction whatever's left a the bottom of the tank after 10-15 minutes, feeding 3-4 times a day. In the photo's below, you can see the size of his belly during a tank transfer.

CORALS
Although there's a better than average chance that they are reef-safe, there is still a chance that they'll nip. From my personal experience, my little guy started going after my hammers, although it has 100% stopped with some intervening on my part. Over time he stopped going for the B2 pellets and I never payed much attention to it since he spent a lot of his day either following around my copperband or shadowing my purple tang grazing on the rocks. I did see him eat a few of the B2 pellets and decided to try giving him the medium size ones. Immediately he took to them and almost overnight he stopped nipping at the hammers. Its been 2-3 months now and he spends most of his days grazing on algae or picking at clam on the half shell.

Quarantine
This may be a debated topic based on everyone's experience, but I only add to my main display if quarantined. As I mentioned above, My previous fish had gotten velvet from Biota. Now, I do know Biota has strict processes & procedures, but its hard to neutralize 100% of the water. The Basslet I added to my tank wiped out nearly 1/2 of the fishes, most of which I grew from very small. I'd personally go through the effort upfront to ensure my display is safe. Due to them still developing, I advise NOT using any chemicals for treatment (i.e. Copper, formalin, etc.). The hybrid TTM method worked well for me. I monitor his belly size to ensure everything is going well. Note: In the beginning, he'd only eat once I left the room. I had his 40-gallon QT tank setup in a spare bathroom across from my office so he remained unbothered. I would peak through the cracks in the door to ensure he's eating properly.

Previous Attempts
My first two attempts didn't go as well. If you have problems, document everything & engage Biota for advise. They were able to send me a replacement (little guy in the photos) at no additional cost. The first one, I made the horrible decision of using chemicals. He didn't last too long even though I moved slowly with ramping up the levels. The second one I purchased, refused to eat from the start. Based on my exchange with Biota, the travel process took an unusual toll on him and ma have had something to do with it.

ACCLIMATION (MAIN DISPLAY)
One thing I did notice after being released from his acclimation box in the main display, he took directly to my copperband which was much larger than him & followed him around as though it was instincts to scare off any potential predators. I feed a lot & perform big water changes every 2-weeks so my tank is very well fed & there's not much competition for food.

PREDATORS
Given how small they are when received, be careful when adding to your main display. Something like a trigger, puffer, lionfish may accidentally take your expensive regal for food!

TANK MATES
Purple tang, clownfish (pair), copperband, majestic angel, anthias school.

BEHAVIOR
Although he's one of the smallest in the tank, he's constantly swimming back and forth in the water column, comes to the surface for his food, eats directly from the baster for pellets (spot feeding), holds his own with others much larger. I'd say a 4-foot tank is the minimum for these guys for the short term. He's very active grazing with my purple tang. Mine will be going into a 7' 300+ gallon tank within the next 6-10 months.

GROWTH
He's grown 2-5-3 inches in about 9-months.