The Moorish Idol Thread
- Thread starter zfunk007
- Start date
Greetings Paul,
Can you please detail a bit more on what and from where you buy fish oil ?
cheers,
MaLi
Just ordered one from Live Aquaria... Figured i'd document my 1st Moorish Idol experience. I've read through this Moorish Idol primer and have done some research. Will see how it goes... Idol will be going into a 125 gal tank with 2 other fish. A flame angel and Pacific Blue Tang (hippo). They are settled in and eating well. Most likely a yellow tang will follow later on...
Just received my Moorish Idol from Live Aquaria with FedEx. Great looking specimen alive and well... Acclimating now...
Hoosierfan
New member
These are such cool fish. Please, someone figure out how to keep them alive!
Perfectbound
New member
Hi ccbram,
I did the same thing and purchased a MI from LiveAquaria (I had just missed the DD one too, those go ridiculously fast). After drip acclimation I put her in my 150g reef tank. While seemingly healthy she was still slightly thin as I could see her spine somewhat. At first she was picky and did not eat much the first week. So, then I started to feed her different foods daily hoping to get her to eat well.
Later the first week I gave her New Life Spectrum Marine Fish Food pellets twice a day plus varying frozen food once a day (PE Mysis, Hikari Angel, SFB Plankton, ON Chopped clams, F1, F2, Prime Reef, and Special Formula VHP ). She seems to like the Hikari Angel a lot and I have since stopped the ON except for the Chopped Clams.
After the first week she was now eating the pellets pretty well but still showed her dorsal bones so the pellet feedings were increased to 4x per day plus the frozen 1x. Amazingly, after two weeks her body had filled and no longer showed any of the bones one her sides. Unfortunately, I was about to travel so for the next 2 weeks I had her only on NLS pellets 5x per day.
So, about a month after getting her I dropped the feedings back down to 2x NLS (now using Thera-A which she seemed to prefer over the regular Marine variety) due to higher levels of Phosphate and Nitrate. At this time she also started eating nori. So, once a day or more on weekends I give her a quarter sheet with some Selcon soaked in it (most of the nori is eaten by my Blue tang even though he gets his own clip).
I will also sometimes give an extra feeding of Marine S. I've had her for about ten weeks now so far so good...knock on wood. She is by far my favorite fish.
I got my first Moorish Idol a few years ago (my wife had bought her for me, yes she's a keeper) and kept her for about a year and a half before she died during an overnight pump failure (lesson learned, now have the Ecotech backup battery).
Good luck with yours.
That looks tiny!
Good luck! It is an awesome fish. Mine is still going great after 3 1/2 years, and it is my favorite fish.
Yes it is tiny... It was marked as a large on LA. I was a little upset it was so small because my blue hippo tang is much larger and already giving it a hard time. Nothing major... But enough to worry me. I didnt even bother reporting it... But $79.99 plus overnight priority is a little steep for such a small specimen... Oh well....
yea u wont have a problem with it eating anymore.
now challenge is to make it gain weight
they eat everything and anything, but its hard tomake them gain weight and keep it.
Thanks... Gonna keep trying!
good luck, try NLS pellets as well, mine loved it
Yeah gonna order some from Marine Depot this week...
One of my Moorish idols doesn't eat any prepared foods but a frozen mussel. Though, for months I tried to train him/her to eat flakes or pellets. He doesn't show any interest in New Life Spectrum 1mm pellets. However, he does try to bite New Life sepctrum 3mm for some reasons, but can't quiet swallow it. We are going out of the town tomorrow for 3 days. I hope the idol can make it. He still pick algae on the rocks.
yea u wont have a problem with it eating anymore.
now challenge is to make it gain weight
they eat everything and anything, but its hard tomake them gain weight and keep it.
Day 5 - WOW! No kidding! My new MI is devouring all Formula 2 flake now like it's crack! The other fish are getting out of the way it's so excited to eat now! Finger's cross I can keep it fat!
