Moorish idol help!

[msaleem]

Hey guys, I just purchased a moorish idol from one of my friends, who's giving up this hobby, he's only had it in his tank for about 2 months before I took it over. It's a great fish but after I dropped it in my tank, my yellow tang and my naso are picking at it. It's a nice sized fish (about the size of my palm) but what do I do!??? I don't want it stressed out because of my Tangs either.
Any tips?

 

[ghstrider]

either place some eggcrate in there to separate the fish or take him out. the eggcrate will allow them to see each other without the violence and in the meanwhile turn off the lights until you can wedge a piece of eggcrate in there. if he stops eating feed him fresh clams/mussels from your grocery stores seafood section. they cant resist that.

 

[Mikesville510]

try taking him out for a few days, then reintroduce him in the dark

 

[jannima]

Put eggcrate to separate the fish ASAP, Tangs can be very brutal. You could also print out Moorish idol picture, crop and stick the picture on wall, that should keep Tangs busy for a while.

 

[pinnatus]

Add a mirror to one side of the tank,Tangs will fight their reflections and ignore the Idol. Or rearrange the tank, puts everyone on equal footing. Or do the eggcrate as said above.

My Idol gets along well with my purple tang, and they have been together for 2 1/2 years. So, if you get over the initial territory sqabble, thet should do fine.

 

[Allmost]

IMHO, the moorish Idol can handle himself !

when I first introduced mine, 7 months ago, I have an Anchilles and a purple tang in the tank ! as you can guess, they did not let him get out of a corner ! but moorish Idol is a great "pilot" it did moves you dont see on TV lol rotating so it would be behind the fish attacking him and so on ...

n2-3 days of that, and they all got along ... they are all happy now ...

good luck , and the method others said might be better. just my opinion.

 

[Reefing Newbie]

What is happening is your tangs are making sure your new addition knows his place. I watched this behavior at my lfs in their 240 FOWLR display. There was an established purple tang that has been there for 7 months. Someone brought in a Red Sea Sailfin that was in really rough shape! Scabbed face and a hole in the fin(literally above the spine and up maybe two inches into the fin). The purple would rush over to the sailfin(in corner) and show its scapel, then go around then go back. It is a hierarchy thing, and I do believe morish idols are tangs as well(is this true?)

 

[jhentr]

Should be fine in there after a day or two. If not, remove or do what is suggested above. I personally like to feed heavy myself so the fishes don't think there is a need for competition for food.

I only got minor chasing from my PBT/Sailfin tang to my MI, but the idol was smaller than them and they seem to not pay as much attention. I'm sure it'll be different if the MI was the same size as they were.

 

[msaleem]

I actually put him in the sump this morning. I checked this morning to findol out his fins were clipped and was breathing heavily. He seems to be less stressed for now but won't eat mysis, like he was at the lfs. Ahhh!!! I'm going right now to buy clams and muscles to grind up for him to eat, I hope this works because I don't wanna lose him.
Thank you all!!

I mean my friends, I was thinking about calling an lfs to find out what to do. Got them two mixed.