Moorish Idol do not school in home aquariums unless they are huge tanks. You will be fine for a while and then 2 of them will die.
The Moorish Idol Thread
- Thread starter zfunk007
- Start date
Moorish Idol do not school in home aquariums unless they are huge tanks. You will be fine for a while and then 2 of them will die.
big mamma
New member
hello everyone,
i have had my idol for over a year now and i would like to add some soft corals to the tank so it does not look so bare. i was thinking about a kenya tree, a cauliflower, and a sinularia sp. does anyone have any experience with these together with idols or could recommend a different coral ? thanks for any help.
i have had my idol for over a year now and i would like to add some soft corals to the tank so it does not look so bare. i was thinking about a kenya tree, a cauliflower, and a sinularia sp. does anyone have any experience with these together with idols or could recommend a different coral ? thanks for any help.
big mamma
New member
probably not safe from what i have read. i tried a toadstoll leather once and the idol picked enough to kill it. my idol does eat 3 times a day and is a healthy weight with no lines. i just bought a large green sinularia today and so far so good.
Checking back in, I got very busy at work and stopped keeping up with this thread. My Idol is almost at 8 months and doing great. I'd like him to be a bit fatter, but he's healthy.
I wound up ditching the funnel feeding method. He never went for it. I got a floating feeding ring and have the auto-feeder set up to drop pellets in that 3 times a day. The fish really seem to have learned the timings and all gather and wait for it.
On top of that I feed a chunk of LRF every night. I used to do the Mega Marine Angel food in the morning. The idol doesn't seem to sleep, so when I get up, and turn the lights in the room on, he's up and all the other fish are still asleep. I used to feed the Angel food at this point, but after I ran out my LFS had the hardest time getting it back in, so I was going without. They finally got it last week, so I'm starting that routine again.
I got a cheap sponge frag, let it grow out a bit in the sump, then cut some off and offered it to the idol. No interest.
Last time I posted it was just the idol and a foxface in the tank. The idol was the boss. Now he has new tank mates, an axilspot hogfish, a quoyi parrotfish, a blue spot puffer, a regal blue tank, 5 blue/green chromis, and a snowflake eel. The hogfish is now the boss of the tang, but the idol still holds his own.
I was on vacation for 2 weeks, and had a neighbor feeding the fish. To keep things simple, I just had him come a couple times a week. Of course I was most nervous about the idol, but he handled the reduced feedings just fine.
Just last month I finally started adding corals (I first battled a green hair algae outbreak, then red slime.) I had been waiting so long, and had a bunch on hand waiting to go. A bunch of zoas, a mushroom, some montis and acros, a couple torches, some trumpet corals, and a couple mushrooms. So far he has not so much as touched a coral. Also have a feather duster, a couple rock anemones, and a RTBA. He likes to steal food from the RTBA, which makes me nervous, but so far so good.
I wound up ditching the funnel feeding method. He never went for it. I got a floating feeding ring and have the auto-feeder set up to drop pellets in that 3 times a day. The fish really seem to have learned the timings and all gather and wait for it.
On top of that I feed a chunk of LRF every night. I used to do the Mega Marine Angel food in the morning. The idol doesn't seem to sleep, so when I get up, and turn the lights in the room on, he's up and all the other fish are still asleep. I used to feed the Angel food at this point, but after I ran out my LFS had the hardest time getting it back in, so I was going without. They finally got it last week, so I'm starting that routine again.
I got a cheap sponge frag, let it grow out a bit in the sump, then cut some off and offered it to the idol. No interest.
Last time I posted it was just the idol and a foxface in the tank. The idol was the boss. Now he has new tank mates, an axilspot hogfish, a quoyi parrotfish, a blue spot puffer, a regal blue tank, 5 blue/green chromis, and a snowflake eel. The hogfish is now the boss of the tang, but the idol still holds his own.
I was on vacation for 2 weeks, and had a neighbor feeding the fish. To keep things simple, I just had him come a couple times a week. Of course I was most nervous about the idol, but he handled the reduced feedings just fine.
Just last month I finally started adding corals (I first battled a green hair algae outbreak, then red slime.) I had been waiting so long, and had a bunch on hand waiting to go. A bunch of zoas, a mushroom, some montis and acros, a couple torches, some trumpet corals, and a couple mushrooms. So far he has not so much as touched a coral. Also have a feather duster, a couple rock anemones, and a RTBA. He likes to steal food from the RTBA, which makes me nervous, but so far so good.
I got a Moorish Idol for 3 weeks now. These are what I saw in regards to reef safeness.
It totally destroyed one of my zoanthids colony. But that happen to be the color I like the least (it's brown/dark green), so I'm OK with that ... It didn't bother the zoanthids of different colors, even they are on the same rock next to each other (those are pink, red, orange). Could be the one it destroyed is close in color to what it was eating in the ocean.
I have two different colors of Acan, none got picked on. Both are over a year old.
I got a new open brain Trachyphyllia a week after the moorish idol. It had kept picking on it to an extent that it won't open anymore. But close observation didn't see any obvious damage. After several days, I moved the the coral to another tank, and it opens daily since then and look healthy. So I don't think the fish cause much damage to it other than stressing it and stop it from opening.
Didn't pick on any SPS or clam that I noticed.
My success on getting moorish idols to eat is feeding it nori on rock.
It doesn't pick any food from water column. It still doesn't take mysis, or brine. It only pick food off rock or on sand. I started to give it nori that rubber banded on a small rock. The bad thing about feeding it nori is it's very messy. It shreds the nori when feeding, and at least 1/3 were picked loose and blown away. Once the nori was loose in the water column, the idols will ignore it, and will need to be handled by the tank's filtration.
Later I notice it start picking pellets (OCN F1 & F2) that fall on the sand. Last week I tried to give it algae waffer and it likes it too. So now I don't give it nori much, but give it algae waffer and pellets instead.
It doesn't pick any food from water column. It still doesn't take mysis, or brine. It only pick food off rock or on sand. I started to give it nori that rubber banded on a small rock. The bad thing about feeding it nori is it's very messy. It shreds the nori when feeding, and at least 1/3 were picked loose and blown away. Once the nori was loose in the water column, the idols will ignore it, and will need to be handled by the tank's filtration.
Later I notice it start picking pellets (OCN F1 & F2) that fall on the sand. Last week I tried to give it algae waffer and it likes it too. So now I don't give it nori much, but give it algae waffer and pellets instead.
Saltwater2
New member
Moorish Idol
Moorish Idol
I have had my Idol for 4 years and it is incredibly fat, I feel like the staple for its diet is NLS pellets fed with a auto feeder 6 times a day, along with a frozen homemade mixture of roe, mysis, dulce seaweed,(from amazon), nori and Selcon. The stomach area of my Idol is at least 1 inch thick, and it will eat practically anything it is fed.
Moorish Idol
I have had my Idol for 4 years and it is incredibly fat, I feel like the staple for its diet is NLS pellets fed with a auto feeder 6 times a day, along with a frozen homemade mixture of roe, mysis, dulce seaweed,(from amazon), nori and Selcon. The stomach area of my Idol is at least 1 inch thick, and it will eat practically anything it is fed.
Breakthecycle2
New member
I just got one in QT that eats everything and then one day he stops. Then the next day he starts again It's weird.
Breakthecycle2
New member
This one is eating but sometimes its like he forgets. I have a Quoyi parrotfish as well. He wasn't eating for the first week I got him. Now he seems to eat everything.
LotsaTanks
Member
New Moorish Idol
New Moorish Idol
Hi, I got a Moorish Idol from someone locally who had it for a couple weeks and said it ate everything (pellets, mysis etc). It's eating lots of Ocean Nutrition Formula 2 flakes and mysis, and doesn't really care about pellets. It also picks at algae and things on the live rock. My purple tang has kept it in the corner of the 300 gallon but is starting to let it swim around more. Hopefully the tang mellows out and stops chasing it, the tang isn't trying to kill the new fish just chasing from time to time. Right now I'm feeding about 5 times a day as it settles in. There are also some zoas in there that it can eat if it wishes. Will the Idol be okay with just the flakes and mysis and picking at live rock or should I supplement it's food more?
New Moorish Idol
Hi, I got a Moorish Idol from someone locally who had it for a couple weeks and said it ate everything (pellets, mysis etc). It's eating lots of Ocean Nutrition Formula 2 flakes and mysis, and doesn't really care about pellets. It also picks at algae and things on the live rock. My purple tang has kept it in the corner of the 300 gallon but is starting to let it swim around more. Hopefully the tang mellows out and stops chasing it, the tang isn't trying to kill the new fish just chasing from time to time. Right now I'm feeding about 5 times a day as it settles in. There are also some zoas in there that it can eat if it wishes. Will the Idol be okay with just the flakes and mysis and picking at live rock or should I supplement it's food more?
LotsaTanks
Member
I just got the Idol to eat nori by soaking the nori, shredding it, and mixing it with the flakes. I've had it a week now and it's eating quite a bit at each feeding and I'm still feeding a few times a day. The purple tang is fine with it now too. Hope it continues going well.
Breakthecycle2
New member
Not always the case. I've had ate regularly and sometimes just died. QT'ing them, feeding lots of seaweed and doing deworming makes a difference.
I have found that especially when young, Idols seem to have little capacity to store food - that is they eat a little at a time, but basically need to graze all day long. Other fishes can eat a bunch and then not eat for a while - not the Idol.
LotsaTanks
Member
I think that is correct, that Idol's need to eat all day. My purple tang is getting fat, and the Idol while not thin, isn't fat. My Idol really does seem to need to eat throughout the day. Still feeding several times per day. It is about 4" so definitely not full grown. I've seen one that has been in someone's tank for years that is full grown and it eats 2x/day and seems fine. So maybe it is true that younger ones need multiple feedings per day.
The problem is that I offer through out the day but they still don't eat whats offered.
