The Moorish Idol Thread

I do hope that these people benf, zfunk, shawn, and whoever else has an idol can keep theirs longer, but the reality of it, is that most don't.
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I COMPLETLY AGREE!!!!

On another forum (the saltwaterfish.com one) shawnts posted this same thing basically and was bashed by about 100 people because he wanted to keep his in such a small tank and it was unheard of!! I'm glad hes being nicer on this forum though haha, he got banned from the last one :P as did I... for some reason!!
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Crazy.. I just suddenly stood up and screamed YESSSSSS when I read this! LMBO!!!!!!

Yes what Crazy says is true... the people at swf.com.. are COMPLETLY REDICULOUS when it comes to talking about there personal experiences in reefing.... I was insulted, bashed, and basically called an idot for even attempting to keep a MI in a 75 gallon tank!.... which personally I do NOT think its a problem.. to my knowledge... MI stay in a certain area in the wild, circleing it and eatting at various "feeding stations" .. they are NOT hard swimmers and IMO do not need a MASSIVE system for the swimming room, but more for the food.... yes a 75 gallon tank is small for a food source, I AGREE, but not for swimming room!... plus if you constantly giveing the MI new sponge to eat then what does it matter that hes in a 75 gallon? gah! just my opinion though!

I'm glad hes being nicer on this forum though
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LOL! thank you there! haha!!!!! I TRY >>> and Im quite a peaceful pasive person when NOT "stoned to death!" lol!!!


I try not to get angry. I'd rather have a meaningful discussion.
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I agree... And I always try to back it up with postive statements... like im doing here! I AGREE!! haha!

I've heard that they really pick at your corals and eat poly corals exc... Has anyone found the idols to be a problem in their reef tank wheer they were not able to keep certain corals because of them and if so what corals can you NOT keep??
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well.. as Zfunk and others have stated... they do have quite the appetite for certain species of our coral friends!!!

Mine seems to loveeee brain corals, any kind!.. so needless to say.. my brains have been moved down the the fuge!
No the Moorish idols are NOT reef safe themselves, but are better kept in reef tank environments :)

Matt, I have my moorish Idol a little over a year which is no great accomplishment, I can keep amphipods longer than that.
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LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!.... pods! lol!!!!!!!!!!!!!... oh goodness!

It may not be diet as I have only seen them in the sea in mated pairs, maybe they have to live like this.
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HUm... see, something to think about.. Mated pairs huh?.. so your proposing that.. (excuse my bluntness) but if they dont have sex so often they die?... LOL!!! I CANT BLAME THEM FOR THAT! haa!!!
sorry sorry, no no, now seriously!... that is quite a possibility! and an interesting one at that... I meen the mear FACT that these fish PAIR UP in the wild for LIFE is just amazing!!!!!

"I'm going to get mine to survive forever in my 55 gallon tank" (that was the main argument on the other forum about shawnts idol, it being too big for his 75 gallon tank, don't mean to be bashing you again)
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No ... bashmentness taken.. I agree... they will not survive in these small systems forever... they will die... as every liveing thing does!.... and a small tank is harder to get them to thrive in!
 
Haha thanks for being nice Shawn. I don't know about the swimming room, for now its good, but when its full grown, no way jose. But i respect your oppinion :)
 
im going to test the pairs thing. i figure if i can get 2 juvi's and put them in my 300 they should pair as they will be the only 2 there. and then move forward.
 
keefsama, I don't know if just any two Idols will pair, they may want to make that decision on their own. I did not see any juviniles in the sea so I don't know at what age they pair. I also do not know if they pair for life, for that I would have to stay in Tahiti much longer. Not a bad idea.
Paul
 
i figure its worth the try. my 300 will be for the idols with wrasses and anthias being the other fish.

as it would be hard to get a pair i would guess. i did see somewhere this guy collects from hawaii and ships i can ask if he can snag me a pair and go that way but from pics the pairs are larger i dont really want to start off with such big idols i would like to have small ones and move up from there.

Morning paul i need to get out there to check out the tank and idol also if you do get extra sponge and have enough to freeze for winter use would you sell some of it.?

i dont have access to a boat 1 and 2 i dont do boats im not a water person unless im swimming and i dont like to swim in the ocean really so...
 
keefsama2003, I can get you some sponge. And tropical sponge at that. My Idol loves the sponge I get him from around here. The colors vary from orange to blue. Just PM me and we can talk about the details.

Also, about putting 2 juvenile Idols in your tank. I don't think it will work. If they were bigger, maybe, but most juvenile fish tend to fight. Like if you put 2 juvenile queen angels in your tank in the hopes of them pairing up, they would most likely just kill each other. The same may apply for Idols. So if you do try it, be prepared to possibly take one out of they duke it out too much.

Just my 2 cents.
 
cool i have a 90gal refugium i can stick one in if it really comes down to it or should i get 1 establish it and then add a smaller idol? and the sponge would be awesome i love sponges
 
keefsama, where are you on LI? I don't have enough sponge for the winter yet and the place I collect it, my friend's house, for some reason he cleaned all the growth from his dock. He is a cleaning fanatic but who cleans the sponges from under a dock? I am hoping I can get some from one of his neighbors as they only grow on the south shore and I have only seen them in Seaford. I feed it to the Idol every day and it is his favorite food.
You are welcome to see my tank anytime, I am never home on weekends but I am usually monday to thursday at night. I am going boating now, can't miss a good boat party.
Paul
 
Zfunk,
Don't worry, I'm still here lurking and reading even though I'm not always posting.

For everyone here, something I just remembered and possibly posted in one of the other MI threads. I recently took a trip down to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, calif. They have a rather large outdoor shark tank and in there they have a school of about 6 MI's that are very large and fat. There is no rocks or hiding places in the tank, only a sandy bottom.

I talked to one of the workers there who told me that they have been in that tank since the aquarium opened, about 6 years ago I beleive. He said that is the only place they have been able to kep them alive is in that one tank. He said all of the ones that were in the other tanks they have did not survive.

I did notice that when they swam, they always stayed close together. There seemed to be one leader of teh group. I also saw that they would constantly graze on the algae that was growing on the sides of the tank.

Just thought I'd add this info for everyone as I just remembered it. I may try and see if I can contact them and possibly get more info from someone who has been there from the begining.

Take care everyone and keep the info coming.
 
Very interesting blown63chevy. Thanks for adding that. So there are no rocks what so ever in that tank they are in? And how many gallons is the tank? 6 years... not bad. I'd like to see some pictures of that if possible.
 
blown63chevy, was it the Shark Lagoon at The Aquarium of the Pacific where the moorish idols were located? If so I am on their website now and am watching their live camera feed into the shark tank. Its pretty awsome. Here is the link:

http://65.255.201.44/cgi-bin/client_execute.cgi

If it asks you for a login name and password use: "guest" for the name and also for the password. I haven't seen the Moorish Idols yet. Maybe this isn't the tank they were in?
 
I beleive it's out in teh shark lagoon area. I can't get to the webcam from work. There were two pools, one was a touch pool and the other was just a large shark pol. The MI's were in the large shark pool, not the touch pool. If the webcam shows some large rocks in the background and a bunch of rays in it, then that is the touch pool.

I went on the aquariums website but couldn't find anything on the MI's. I'll try later to contact them and post if I get any info.
 
Someone said they weren't sure if they mated for life. I'm 99.99% sure that they do mate for life!! So you may be out their a while paul haha
 
I don't know about the swimming room, for now its good, but when its full grown, no way jose.
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agreed... but we are talking for now... not 5 years down the line.... no I wouldnt recommend putting an adult MI in a 75 gallon... maybe at the very LEAST a 200 gallon.. but really for an adult a 300 + would be best.. 1,000gallon + being IDEAL!

He is a cleaning fanatic but who cleans the sponges from under a dock?
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.... I read this ... sat back and all I could think about was one person... MY MOM! lol!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I really dont know who on earth would clean sponges from under a dock.... maybe someone who was a cleaning fanatic??? or someone who just plain doesnt like sponges on their docks! LOL!
wait... if you are against sponges colonizing your docks... are you a SPONGEIST?!!! OMG! HE IS A SPONGEIST!!!!!!!!!!!!! gasp!


I talked to one of the workers there who told me that they have been in that tank since the aquarium opened, about 6 years ago I beleive. He said that is the only place they have been able to kep them alive is in that one tank. He said all of the ones that were in the other tanks they have did not survive.
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WOW! 6 years huh??? and no rocks... or anything... it still could however be diet related or It still could be pair related... or swimming room.... either way you need to find out what they feed them, and if the others where kept in groups or not.... and how big the tanks that they kept them in where... also, if they were skimmed... wc? etc... ALL THE TECH STUFF!!!


LOL ... I just read on that Canada site this guy posted this:

They have a really big powerhead in the tank he's in and it was very obvious that he loves lots of current. He was kind of playing in it all while I was there. I say kind of because I can tell that this isn't a silly fish, he seems to want to appear dignified or something so he wouldn't want anyone thinking he was playing. But he was! He would swim into it and get as close as he could before turning sideways and letting it blow him back.
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LOL!!!! dignified!!!! haha.. that just got me!

I have noticed that I MI does like to get right on the return and then turn sideways all of a sudden.. I just thought that was his way of getting his daily cardio! HAHAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There are about a dozen small cleaner shrimp in the tank with him but he doesn't let them on him. They all hang out on the rocks right under the powerheads and when he gets close several will try to jump on him. He never lets them though, it's pretty funny.
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yeah.. Ive noticed mine will not let the cleaner shrimp touch him either!!!

There's also a small cleaner wrasse in his tank. I normally would never condone these fish in captivity but they have several at the store and all are eating fish food, I've seen them.
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The guy doesnt condone CLEANER WRASSES..but condones MI? lol!!!


I ordered a pair of Tunze 6100 Turbelle Streams for him last night. 3175 GPH each. I figure that should be enough circulation for the whole 8' tank and give Gabriel plenty of current to play in
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3175gph?? GEEZE.. thats what I call a HURICAN!!!!!!!!! LOL... Gabriel?.. has anyone else named their MI>??????

I have.. Mine is Gill.. from nemo.. NO I DIDNT BUY HIM BECAUSE OF THE MOVIE... EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW THAT BY NOW! HAHA

I just felt as if he deserved that name!.. plus the nephews kept calling him that... soooooooooooo HAHA!!!

well.. I could change his name to.. Gillbriel! HAHAAAAAAA!!! LMAO!
 
As a rule I never name my fish. I call my Moorish Idol "The Idol" and I call my Broomtail Wrasse "Broom" but I don't actually give them real names. I dunno, its just that in the past (when I was a kid) whenever I named a fish it would die. So I typically don't do it anymore.

I think a Moorish Idol would be the LAST kind of fish you'd want to name considering their survival record in captivity.

My Idol is still doing well. He has just about cleaned off that piece of live rock with all the sponge I put in there. Its funny, he ate the blue, white and purple pieces of sponge but hasn't touched the orange yet. Strange....
 
I think a Moorish Idol would be the LAST kind of fish you'd want to name considering their survival record in captivity.
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TRUE!... the only two fish in my reef tank that have names are the MI and the clownfish... thats ONLY because that stupid movie came out and the nephews just referred to the fish as being Gills and Nemos concidering they dont know their accutal names...

I have a freshwater planted display with discus, cardinals, neons, flame tetras, lemon tetras and serpaes... also some head and tail lights and corals and FW gobies and otocinclus in it... I DONT NAME ANY OF THESE FISH!. lol... the discus (2).. one is a Neon Purple.. so its name is.. NEON PURPLE LOL!

I do not name fish.... but I do name by Birds and turtles... nameing fish in an aquarium is like nameing a painting on the wall.. aquariums are living art... you dont call that picture of the fruit basket on the wall george do you? LOL!... so thats why I dont name my fish! HAHA~
 
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