Blue Regal Coloration

tedman920 · 04-19-2006, 09:15 PM

Hey,
I recently baught a small Blue Regal Tang. It seems to be acting healthy, but its coloration is very dull (and even graysih towards his lower bottom. Is there any trick to getting him more brightly colored or is it just time in the aquarium?

If it involves him eatin algae, are there any tricks to convincing him to accept it? because if I just "wait and let him" eventually it breaks off the clip and sucked up into the overflow and clogs up the overflow sponges.

I've been feeding him (and all my fish) frozen mysis, frozen formula one, and formula 1 and 2 pellets. (switching it up occasionally)

Thanks.
Ted

Noelle419 · 04-19-2006, 09:26 PM

Try some Zooplankton or Phytoplankton. I just read that regal tangs eat that stuff just as much as algae or mysis. I like Kent brand.

mojo · 04-19-2006, 09:29 PM

Yes- the tang will definitely benefit from some type of algae. Even a herbivore flake food is good if you can't get him to eat algae directly. Most tangs will accept nori (the pressed algae used for making sushi) out of a clip- just put in a 2x2" square and leave it in the clip for a day or two.

In my opinion, pellet food is ok, although I question how much vegetable nutrition the fish can get from it. Almost all fish coloration problems (assuming everything else is ok) is due to a lack of a good diet. I've especially found this to be true in the blue tangs.

dough · 04-19-2006, 10:30 PM

Not to highjack this thread, but I was wondering do those baby Regals have a decent survival rate and how fast they grow?

You see them all the time in the LFS.

Ted keep us up to date on how yours is doing.

Doug

gwen_o_lyn · 04-19-2006, 10:58 PM

Welcome to TRT Ted

I look at blue tangs as 50/50- if you take your time and setup your tank right, then you shouldn't have a problem. I usually find that people that rush a tank together and stock immediately don't have luck with em. Regal tangs are notorious for ich and other skin infections. I've had mine over 2 years and it's the most aggressive fish in the tank so it won't be stressed.

Stanfill Reef · 04-20-2006, 08:56 AM

We have had our regal for 4 years and it has been mostly a good ride. We had some ich problems when we first brought him home, but after a couple of months he calmed down and the ich went away for good. He is now the largest fish in the tank (4") and is king of the roost (just don't tell my clarkii; he likes to think he is king).

I agree that mixing up the diet is the best for the fish. you can also try to supplement the food by letting it soak in Kent Marine Zoe.

http://www.kentmarine.com/saltwater/zm.html

A good quality marine flake food will also provide help. i can't remember the name of the brand, but there is a pellet food (Spectrum?) that is supposed to help with coloration. I tried it, but the fish mostly did not like it so it was not that useful.

tedman920 · 04-20-2006, 10:39 PM

So I went to the fish store today to get the spirulina, and they said I shouldn't get flake food because It'd clog up my overflow, so they sent me home with "Sepctrum algae wafers" are these just as good?

Loverotties · 04-21-2006, 12:03 AM

Nice fish! any pic of it?

tedman920 · 04-22-2006, 12:37 AM

here, they're not that clear, but he is too active to capture him still. You can kind of see how his lower area is kind of pale

robsmith32 · 04-22-2006, 11:07 PM

are you sure that isn't the yellow belly version of the regal?

at any rate, soaking your reg food in vita-chem will help as well.
Sure helped heal up my blue throat trigger's upper fin.
As well as color up my regal.
also actinic lights help with bringing that blue color out.
I have mine under the coralife t5 saltwater aqualight that has 1x10k&1x03 actinic and it makes a dramatic difference instead of the tri color bulb or 6500k bulbs.
but as stated, they do need an algal component in there diet or will lose coloration and be susceptable to HLLE.