moorish idol
- Thread starter wozz
- Start date
fishyvet
New member
Here's what I know about them: their natural diet includes sponges and very few people are able to keep them alive more than a few months even in large systems. They are poorly suited to the hobby and best left in the ocean. Please, please, please research your tank inhabitants BEFORE you bring them home to avoid poor choices and incompatibility issues. We all make mistakes in the beginning (I bought a leopard blenny), we learn, then we make better choices in the future. Best of luck with your idols.
DamnPepShrimp
Moved On
Re: Re: moorish idol
Re: Re: moorish idol
Haha, funny but so true.
Moorish idols have horrible survival rate. Good luck with feeding them, there is tons of info on them, 99% negative.
Re: Re: moorish idol
Haha, funny but so true.
Moorish idols have horrible survival rate. Good luck with feeding them, there is tons of info on them, 99% negative.
davocean
Active member
You just jumped into the ring of fire on this one!
IMO idols should require a special permit to keep.
You should go back to your LFS and tell him he's extremely ignorant to sell idols, as they just don't live in captivity.
The ONLY guy here that is what could be called successful dives for live sponge to feed them.
And even he admits his success w/ them is probably not what they could live in the wild.
IMO idols should require a special permit to keep.
You should go back to your LFS and tell him he's extremely ignorant to sell idols, as they just don't live in captivity.
The ONLY guy here that is what could be called successful dives for live sponge to feed them.
And even he admits his success w/ them is probably not what they could live in the wild.
celebrityovernight
Member
moorish idols are tough, but they are not impossible. to be honest, all the responses besides for fishyvet's, have not contributed to the poster's original question. sure he didn't do the research, but telling him how these fish are impossible and how they are doomed in his tank is not going to give these fish a better chance at surviving?
wozz, how big are the idols? are they eating? here is a basic summary i've been to come up to successfully keep these fish.
these fish love lots of flow and it is one of the key factors to there survival. they need oxygen rich water and lots of swimming place. if you have alot of LR in your system, be prepared to remove most of it so the idols have a place to swim. As far as their diet goes, they will do very well if you can get them to eat a variety of food (clams, mysis, krill, flakes, nori, brine, pellets, sponge). be prepared to feed 3-4 times a day to keep them happy and if you can, supplement their food w/ vitamins and garlic. i'm sure there's more but this is all i could come up w/ on top of my head.
good luck. i can't find the long MI thread but i was very informative. if anyone has a link to the thread, please post!
wozz, how big are the idols? are they eating? here is a basic summary i've been to come up to successfully keep these fish.
these fish love lots of flow and it is one of the key factors to there survival. they need oxygen rich water and lots of swimming place. if you have alot of LR in your system, be prepared to remove most of it so the idols have a place to swim. As far as their diet goes, they will do very well if you can get them to eat a variety of food (clams, mysis, krill, flakes, nori, brine, pellets, sponge). be prepared to feed 3-4 times a day to keep them happy and if you can, supplement their food w/ vitamins and garlic. i'm sure there's more but this is all i could come up w/ on top of my head.
good luck. i can't find the long MI thread but i was very informative. if anyone has a link to the thread, please post!
Last edited:
celebrityovernight
Member
bebo!!! very nice tank! Moorish idol seems to be doing very good!
celebrityovernight
Member
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=993712&perpage=25&pagenumber=4
here's the idol thread
here's the idol thread
davocean
Active member
They are beautiful no doubt.
I made the mistake of buying one many years ago, but it only lived maybe 8 mo. b4 it died.
Hope you guys have better luck.
They really do need fresh live sponge in their diet, among other things we can't buy over the counter.
Celebrityovernight, just telling the truth man, if people return these to LFS they might get a clue and stop selling them and stop alot of idol deaths.
I made the mistake of buying one many years ago, but it only lived maybe 8 mo. b4 it died.
Hope you guys have better luck.
They really do need fresh live sponge in their diet, among other things we can't buy over the counter.
Celebrityovernight, just telling the truth man, if people return these to LFS they might get a clue and stop selling them and stop alot of idol deaths.
blueseahorse
New member
One sure way to keep a moorish idol forever is to tattoo a picture of one on your back!
celebrityovernight
Member
daveocean, the way i see it is, i rather someone who gets on forums and asks for advice attempt and keep a moorish idol, than someone who just bought a brand new 55 and decides to keep these and a million other hard to keep fish in it. even if one person passes them by, the next will pick them up. even you admit to it that you have bought one before.
thanx...
thanx...
thanx celebrityovernight... yeh there nearly fully grown. ive read that they are hard to keep and that sorta stuff and they like grazing on live rock, which i have plenty of in my tank...yeh they eat every now and then, im feeding them mysis and flake...they are in a tank with 2 occ. orange, 2 occ black, banana wrasse and a blue tang...they all get on fine....
myb i was just looking in the wrong places for all my information....
thanx...
thanx celebrityovernight... yeh there nearly fully grown. ive read that they are hard to keep and that sorta stuff and they like grazing on live rock, which i have plenty of in my tank...yeh they eat every now and then, im feeding them mysis and flake...they are in a tank with 2 occ. orange, 2 occ black, banana wrasse and a blue tang...they all get on fine....
myb i was just looking in the wrong places for all my information....
michaeldaly
New member
Re: moorish idol
I did a quick search on google for +moorish +idol +care and got no less than 60200 results, there is plenty of info.
I did a quick search on google for +moorish +idol +care and got no less than 60200 results, there is plenty of info.
davocean
Active member
Celebrity, I admit I bought one, like 20 years ago.
Not much info to be had, had no net or RC.
My point is that if we buy them, they will sell them.
Some LFS may sell them out of ignorance, returning the idol might clue them in.
I've seen so many people on this site saying hey, look at my new idol!
One person says yeah, go for it man, keep him, it might work.
Then a few months later there's a sad post about how the idol died and can anyone figure why.
Hey, I hope I'm wrong and that idol lives and has grandkids in the dudes tank!
But going off of about 98% of the posts here the odds are a bit against that.
Not much info to be had, had no net or RC.
My point is that if we buy them, they will sell them.
Some LFS may sell them out of ignorance, returning the idol might clue them in.
I've seen so many people on this site saying hey, look at my new idol!
One person says yeah, go for it man, keep him, it might work.
Then a few months later there's a sad post about how the idol died and can anyone figure why.
Hey, I hope I'm wrong and that idol lives and has grandkids in the dudes tank!
But going off of about 98% of the posts here the odds are a bit against that.
