Moorish idol lifespan?

[Outerbank]

Just wondering how long the MIs are surviving. I had one for 4 years and then bought a second that lived 5 years. I really think the second one outgrew the tank as it had too little swimming room after substantial coral growth. They grow so fast. Not all fish have long lifespans, especially fast growing fish. A well known example of a fast growing short lifespan fish is the dorado/mahi mahi.

 

[Dmorty217]

Ken has one now going on 5.5-6 yrs

 

[bullitr]

Moorish idol lifespan?

I wish mine can reach that age, before this one ( over 1 year) the longest I kept mine was 8 months but i always have a lot of large Angels with it and they can sometimes get bullied.

Anyone here keep a harem or even a pair ?

 

[pinnatus]

Ken has one now going on 5.5-6 yrs

Yup.

I don't think mine has grown all that much. Even young, they are a fairly large fish. Maybe mine has grown at most 2"? My angels have grown a lot more than that.

 

[SDguy]

Ken, have you found yours to eat less, or more specifically, be less aggressive about eating, once it was larger? Mine would suck down half a clam when it was growing, but once it was larger, it just "casually" ate.....

 

[pinnatus]

It still eats pretty well. It has never eaten a lot at one sitting though. I think it prefers to eat all day long. I just don't think they have a large capacity to hold food. It has never been a super aggressive eater, compared to a tang or an angel. I tend to overfeed pellets, so that they lay around on the bottom and get eaten throughout the day. When I had my French Angel, it would eat everything up and leave nothing for later, and the Idol started getting thin. So the French Angel got re-homed.

If anything, at first, it needed to eat a little all the time, but as it grew it could eat more at a time and could go longer without eating.

 

[SDguy]

Was yours large when you first got it?

 

[pinnatus]

It was about 4" long maybe? This is the 1st pic I have of it (one of these 3):

 

[SDguy]

OK, yeah, mine was tiny when I first got it... maybe that's why they ate differently?

 

[pinnatus]

Maybe so. I haven't seen any really tiny ones. Maybe 3" was the smallest I have ever seen.

Here is another pic shortly after I got it.





And here is more recently:

 

[MIDNwill]

Hi Ken, how long after you got your moorish idol did it take for the dorsal fin to regrow to full length?

 

[pinnatus]

The fin grows very fast. Maybe an inch a day. However, there is a very thin filament in the fin that grows slower. So the fin grows quickly, but is not supported by the filament which hasn't regrown. As a result, the fin is floppy and easily torn off. So the fish seems to grow its fin and lose it over and over again. Eventually, though, the filament grows and the fin grows and providing there are no fish nipping at the fin it will more or less stay intact. I'd say the streamer averages from 4-6 inches on my Idol most times. It is easily damaged, though and can easily be lost again, especially if there are aggressive fish in with it.

I have also observed that the fin may stop growing, but if you feed Nori, it will start growing again.

 

[MIDNwill]

Thanks for the info Ken I have one moorish idol right now but his only tank matest are a couple of dumb gladiator clowns so hopefully it will grow back fast with no one bothering it!

 

[pinnatus]

Good luck with it!

 

[docsky]

I have had mine since 2007. I got him when he was a Juvenal so not sure of his true age.

 

[bullitr]

It was about 4" long maybe? This is the 1st pic I have of it (one of these 3):

Do you have a trio?
I tried few times to pair them but I never succeed maybe a trio or harem do better?
I seen them in a wild as pair or a trio but never a harem.

 

[pinnatus]

I bought a trio through a friend, but when they came in, my tank wasn't ready for them. So they stayed in my friend's sump, which is where the picture came from, until my tank was ready. Even though they were all 3 healthy and eating, they reportedly killed each other off until only one was left and that is the one I got (I never saw the other two). I don't know if they killed each other because of the close quarters in the sump or whether tank size would have made a difference.

 

[pinnatus]

I have had mine since 2007. I got him when he was a Juvenal so not sure of his true age.

That is awesome! I think you are the only one that I am aware of that has had one longer than me.

 

[docsky]

He is for sure my wow factor fish. I have him so spoiled that he eat's right out of my hand.
mine is currently in my 300g mixed reef. I starred with him in a 150. he leaves all corals alone minus zoa's and scans. I will try and post some photos.

 

[docsky]

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