Captive Bred Regal and Multibar Angel

[jaganshi066]

Update: The one from Biota was eating so sparsely that I think it just starved. Never really ate with any vigor, just picked at various foods (including pellets, if I gave her a thumbnails-worth she would eat like 3 or 4 then stop). Down to the one I got a few days ago from Quality Marine, this one is slightly bigger, but we'll see if it makes a difference. This is really getting on my nerves as this feels like I'm doing something wrong if I'm losing these angels after about a month or two each.

Multibars are apparently the hardest, worst than copperbands. I had 4 wild ones and only 2 of them ate, but after a few months they died even though one ate pretty vigorously. I got a captive one from biota who only ate frozen brine and live brine then after 2 months he literally disappeared. I checked everywhere, and he was nowhere to be found.

 

[mokmok]

4 months ( 3 in box and 1 in DT ) updated on my cb multibar :
- already passed introduced phase , senior angels already accepted him
- too small too accept medium pellet size , so answer is flake food and additional brine shrimp meal
( IMO mysis is too big for him and i had accident with my cb collini before which he cannot swallow and die sadly )

his size is bigger a bit after release into DT , still waiting to experience his growth and tranformation.
( adult multibar will have more 'bar' than this kid )

 

[Tanggy]

Do any of you with captive bred quarantine your fish (with medication) or they are essential pretty "clean" fish because they are captive bred?

 

[areefer01]

Do any of you with captive bred quarantine your fish (with medication) or they are essential pretty "clean" fish because they are captive bred?

I can't speak for these fish but after having purchased multiple different fish from Biota directly I will say I do not. I isolate them and observe. Mostly because they arrive on the smaller side. I have a 100% success rate with only one exception. Two actually.

Matted file fish - I left a power head on in the isolation tank and it got caught in it. The matted filefish was very small so my error. I did have flow dialed down but still.

Forktail blenny - this one I put in my refugium and it somehow made it through the overflow, into the sump, and then into the display (alive). This again was my error and it was beat up pretty bad going through all this and didn't make it.

Success:
4 x pink square anthias
1 x gold lined rabbitfish
2 x forktail blenny
1 x links goby
1 x starry goby
1 x matted filefish
1 x radial filefish

TL; DR - I isolate and observe and I only buy direct from Biota. Helps me see their favorite foods also.

 

[Tanggy]

Thanks...Just placed an order from Biota for regal and multibar angel. Hopefully every goes right with these two.

 

[Steve and his Animals]

I hope you all have better luck with the multibars than I have had. Had 4 or 5, none of them every ate enough to keep any weight on. I don't know what else I'm to do. I'll probably give it another go soon, but I'm getting very agitated at the losses.

 

[Tanggy]

it's my first go at them. We'll see....

 

[Illini_Drew33]

I lost the regal a couple weeks ago. She never really ate like I expected a captive bred fish to. That being said, it was probably naive of me to expect them to be fed normal aquarium fare by the breeders as they are still so small.

I'm not making the same mistake with the multibar, she was tentatively picking at arctipods the first week but I wasn't risking her appetite not keeping up with her small size, so I started offering her live baby brine shrimp. She seems to enjoy that much more. Will probably gut load the brine shrimp with spirulina/phytoplankton and try to mix in other foods gradually so she gets the idea that this is all stuff she should be eating.

I just got a reagal a few weeks ago and while it eats it definitely isn't being a pig like my other fish. I hope I'm not going down the same path!

 

[Steve and his Animals]

I just got a reagal a few weeks ago and while it eats it definitely isn't being a pig like my other fish. I hope I'm not going down the same path!

It sounds like they get so accustomed to the food that the middle-man sellers are feeding them that it's kind of a "have this food or suffer" situation for many.

 

[areefer01]

I keep a variety of foods on hand. Also with Biota they try and list what food they fed so I try and have that on hand. Knowing they are on the smaller side I'll go with smaller dry pellet. Frozen I use LRS Reef Frenzy, LRS Reef Frenzy Nano, PE Mysis small, and v20 arctic e-z pods. I'll buy in bulk from premium aquatics as they do an amazing job of shipping frozen with a good price. Dry I keep TDO chroma boost x-small, small, and medium. Hikari marine s, marine a, and pe mysis 1 mm pellet.

I'll feed 1 at a time, small amount, to see what the fish eat. Make a note, then next feeding session try a different one. Within a couple days I have a good idea of what they strike, consume, and if they have a favorite. My pink squares 3 out of the 4 ate everything. One that was on the smaller side only wanted the TDO x-small pellets. Now it eats all pellet but doesn't like frozen - go figure

The fish you are talking about - regal and multibar - are pretty. All the best to you!

 

[mokmok]

updated almost 6 months of my CB Multibar

so far so good but his size not much bigger as expected

 

[Ryebreadiest]

updated almost 6 months of my CB Multibar

so far so good but his size not much bigger as expected

Thanks for the update! Any coral nipping?

 

[mokmok]

Thanks for the update! Any coral nipping?

fews on sps polyp , especially stylo.. evidence also on my clip

 

[Wildreefs]

I lost the regal a couple weeks ago. She never really ate like I expected a captive bred fish to. That being said, it was probably naive of me to expect them to be fed normal aquarium fare by the breeders as they are still so small.

I'm not making the same mistake with the multibar, she was tentatively picking at arctipods the first week but I wasn't risking her appetite not keeping up with her small size, so I started offering her live baby brine shrimp. She seems to enjoy that much more. Will probably gut load the brine shrimp with spirulina/phytoplankton and try to mix in other foods gradually so she gets the idea that this is all stuff she should be eating.

I’ve been trying to tell people these captive fish suck. Seems to be a topic some people want to avoid. Far from hardy

 

[Wildreefs]

The Poma Labs captive bred angels seem to be bulletproof and they come with a 30 day guarantee. https://pomalabs.com/

See a video of the ones I had before moving: My Poma Labs Blueline Angels

And another one agrees with me. Bali ones sick period

 

[mandarin417]

I was fortunate to meet Jake Adams at his studio a few weeks before he passed on. Captive bred fish came up in our conversation. Jake recommended I avoid them as he felt there were viability and genetic issues with many of them. That was as deep as the conversation went on the topic plus I was awestruck with his facility!

 

[Tamberav]

My multibar has been with me 3 months now and doing well as far as I can tell. It is in my 20g refugium. I am feeding it the same pellets as biota did (easy reefs DKI ones) and it eats them voraciously, picks at other foods. The fuge has tons of macro and probably tons of pods, no idea if it eats them but I feel any fish would eat a pod if it saw one.

Biota said they are still finiky/difficult fish, but I see 100% of the wild ones die at the LFS or don't eat at all. I think these fish still need specialized care, at least when small. I am going to set up a grow out for mine centered around it's needs, a macroalgae tank should make it easy to cultivate natural foods in the tank. I think putting it in my DT would be a foolish move at its size with the fish I have and there is no pods in any measurable number in there anyways with the numerous wrasse.

Definitely keep expectations realistic, they are still delicate/finicky fish but survival is still better then the wild ones. It would probably help if they grew them out to larger sizes but we need to expect to pay a lot more then.

 

[Variant]

Dropping my experience here with my two captive bred registered that I got when they first were introduced.

Feeding was a challenge in finding the right foods to feed. They are picky eaters. I rotated through brands like NLS, TDO, Hikari, Ocean Nutrition and a few others. Not to mention all the siE variants that I tried. In the end they seem to prefer Hikari seaweed extreme.

They've been with me for several mo the and are growing slowly but surely.definitely the boss of my tank despite being 1.5" now. The bigger fish ignore their antics.

 

[Zionas]

Cool. Any pics of your Regals? And how big’s your setup and what are their tankmates? Thanks.

 

[Tamberav]

biota posted these videos today of the fish they have in stock right now. I wish the videos were longer but these appear to be curious and healthy fish.