th365thli
Active Member
I had a unique turn of events that essentially landed me two Regal Angels. Long story short is, the vendor delivered the wrong kind to me, an Indo grey belly versus a Red Sea or IO yellow belly. To the vendor's credit, he shipped me a yellow belly for free including cost of shipping (shoutout to Dr. Reef. The best in the business).
The Indo grey arrived first and it was rough. The bag was leaking and it was freaking out. I thought it was a goner. I put it in my refugium with rock and sand. After about 5 or 6 days, barely eating anything (I threw pretty much everything at it), I put it in my FOWLR display hoping a more natural environment would suit it better (I used an acclimation box). The downside is there is competition. It's still not eating anything. It sometimes picks at rocks, and perks up when I feed, but I have yet to see it eat anything I give it.
The Red Sea yellow came a week later, and boy what a difference. For starters, the bag and box were in good shape. The fish was just hanging out inside. I decided to acclimate it directly in the display. I put it in the acclimation box. After a feeding, I noticed it going for the food it couldn't get from the box. After observing more, I let it out. A few hours later it was active in the tank, picking at rock and glass. Today, one day later, I fed PE mysis and LRS reef frenzy soaked in Selcon. I was very happy to see it go for the PE mysis at the very least (and possibly the LRS).
Obviously I gambled a bit. I knew having two Regals in my 150g could be bad. But the acclimation box helped, and I saw no aggression before releasing. There was some flaring of fins between the two after release, but now they just ignore each other. They exhibit the same behavior as if they were by themselves (with the Indo still somewhat shy, and not eating prepared).
The Indo is an adult, 5-6 inches, with no eyespot. The Red Sea is an older juvenile, 4 inches, with the eye spot still discernable. All this fits my current understanding of the species. That Indos are harder to acclimate and more fragile. Additionally, I've heard the same difficulties happen when the fish are adults, and juveniles are easier to get eating.
The Indo spends most of its time in a cave-ish overhang. It goes out every once and while, inspects some rocks, but it seems a little shy. I've seen frozen mysis and pieces of nori go right by it, and it doesn't react. It's been a little over a week, and although this is within normal time frames, I really hope it gets more comfortable and starts eating. It receives no aggression from other fish (I left the room and used a baby monitor to confirm). It doesn't seem to like the fast moving tangs or Heniochus bannerfish though. I hope it pulls through. Maybe the shipping trauma is still lingering.
The Red Sea one does not seem as bothered by other fish. It swims all over the tank. I'm more confident, but also hopeful this one makes it.
The tank is a Red Sea Max S650. It has a detached 30g display refugium I recently plumbed in, with live rock, chaeto, and other macro algae. I don't check parameters a lot, last I checked phosphates were at .07. It's well stocked, so I have an oversized Reef Octo skimmer, Red Sea Reef mat. The refugium, coupled with an algae turf scrubber, really helps keep nutrients lower as I feed heavy (and especially now as I try to get the Indo to eat). 15-20% water changes weekly. A 90w Lifegard UV at ~400gph paired with a 40w AquaUV at about 350 gph. This is an ich management tank.
The Indo grey arrived first and it was rough. The bag was leaking and it was freaking out. I thought it was a goner. I put it in my refugium with rock and sand. After about 5 or 6 days, barely eating anything (I threw pretty much everything at it), I put it in my FOWLR display hoping a more natural environment would suit it better (I used an acclimation box). The downside is there is competition. It's still not eating anything. It sometimes picks at rocks, and perks up when I feed, but I have yet to see it eat anything I give it.
The Red Sea yellow came a week later, and boy what a difference. For starters, the bag and box were in good shape. The fish was just hanging out inside. I decided to acclimate it directly in the display. I put it in the acclimation box. After a feeding, I noticed it going for the food it couldn't get from the box. After observing more, I let it out. A few hours later it was active in the tank, picking at rock and glass. Today, one day later, I fed PE mysis and LRS reef frenzy soaked in Selcon. I was very happy to see it go for the PE mysis at the very least (and possibly the LRS).
Obviously I gambled a bit. I knew having two Regals in my 150g could be bad. But the acclimation box helped, and I saw no aggression before releasing. There was some flaring of fins between the two after release, but now they just ignore each other. They exhibit the same behavior as if they were by themselves (with the Indo still somewhat shy, and not eating prepared).
The Indo is an adult, 5-6 inches, with no eyespot. The Red Sea is an older juvenile, 4 inches, with the eye spot still discernable. All this fits my current understanding of the species. That Indos are harder to acclimate and more fragile. Additionally, I've heard the same difficulties happen when the fish are adults, and juveniles are easier to get eating.
The Indo spends most of its time in a cave-ish overhang. It goes out every once and while, inspects some rocks, but it seems a little shy. I've seen frozen mysis and pieces of nori go right by it, and it doesn't react. It's been a little over a week, and although this is within normal time frames, I really hope it gets more comfortable and starts eating. It receives no aggression from other fish (I left the room and used a baby monitor to confirm). It doesn't seem to like the fast moving tangs or Heniochus bannerfish though. I hope it pulls through. Maybe the shipping trauma is still lingering.
The Red Sea one does not seem as bothered by other fish. It swims all over the tank. I'm more confident, but also hopeful this one makes it.
The tank is a Red Sea Max S650. It has a detached 30g display refugium I recently plumbed in, with live rock, chaeto, and other macro algae. I don't check parameters a lot, last I checked phosphates were at .07. It's well stocked, so I have an oversized Reef Octo skimmer, Red Sea Reef mat. The refugium, coupled with an algae turf scrubber, really helps keep nutrients lower as I feed heavy (and especially now as I try to get the Indo to eat). 15-20% water changes weekly. A 90w Lifegard UV at ~400gph paired with a 40w AquaUV at about 350 gph. This is an ich management tank.
