The Moorish Idol Thread

[Paul B]

who is to say your Idol wouldnt have lived for another 4.5 years after ?

That is true and I now think I can keep one long term but "only" after I
spent many hours with them underwater and finding a suitable sponge to suppliment their diet with "and" developing a system that feeds them 3 or 4 times a day. Most people would not do all of that. I will not get another one because my tank is only 100 gallons and there is too much rock to allow swimming room for such a large, active.

it seems to me that most of idols who pass the first year, and eat well, dont just die for no reason

Ah but that is the thing, they do die for no "aparent" reason.
I am sure there is a reason but they don't stop eating, they don't get sick and they don't waste away, they just die.
I am talking about every single one, absolutely none of them lived a long life. Not one, not even the most experienced aquarist, only in a public aquarium in a thousand gallon tank or larger.
How many people come on and post that "I saw an Idol in a store and he ate like a pig, even flakes so I bought it and I an sure I can keep it long term"

They all eat flakes, they eat like pigs and I don't know how that rumor started that they don't eat. They eat more than most fish and they will eat anything. I am not sure why they die, but I know from swimming with them that they live in mated pairs and the male leads the female to food, which is usually sponge. In Tahiti anyway, they live on a bright lime green sticky sponge. Thats al I ever say them eat in the sea. Maybe there is something in that sponge that they need. I have no idea.:worried2:

 

[pinnatus]

Well, Paul, I am not disputing anything you have said, but I really hope you are wrong. My 3-yr old Idol is my favorite fish by far, and I will hate the day that it dies. It has already survived two tank crashes that took out a bunch of my other fish, so it seems to be tough. Time will tell I guess, but I will enjoy him every day that I have him.

 

[Paul B]

I hope I am wrong also as many of them live 3 or 4 years.
I hope yours lives forever.
My tank never crashed but my Idol did get pop eye where I operated by sucking the fluid out with a syringe and also injecting antibiotics. He was fine for a couple of more years.

 

[Moorish_Idol]

Can you buy this green sponge??? It would be definitly something to look into and could be the answer to our problems....and I wonder if female idols die earlier or have the most problems because they don't have a male leading them to food.....that's anouther thought. Someday we'll find the answers for idols just like we did every fish we keep. There was a time where it was impossible to keep clownfish, I'm sure you remember that era of the hobby Paul, if you were keeping tanks or alive back then....

 

[foxrazr]

My first Moorish Idol arrived today. I purchased it from Liveaquaria Divers Den section. I placed it in quarantine and started eating 3 hours later. I fed him/her PE Mysis. Very excited as this is my first moorish idol and my wife loves him already. She named him/her louis. I ordered a bunch of frozen food assortments for him just in case he did not want to eat. Ocean nutrition angel formula which contains sponges, frozen clams on the half shell, pe mysis, frozen cyclopeeze, ocean nutrition small angel formula, San Francisco Bay angel and butterfly. My plan is to leave him in quarantine for min 2 weeks and if everything goes well place louis in the 180 gallon. He is also accompanied by a copperband that was also in divers den. Wish me luck guys I really don't want to loose these guys.

 

[Moorish_Idol]

Keep us updated, I've been wondering what the quality of liveaquaria's idols are and if they come in good health...good luck with your idol!

 

[foxrazr]

Will update. Thanks.

 

[Paul B]

Can you buy this green sponge???

I have never seen it. I only saw pieces of it because while I was following Idols they would find this stuff and wen they would leave, the stuff was almost gone. There were only small patches of it and I don't know what it is called.

There was a time where it was impossible to keep clownfish, I'm sure you remember that era of the hobby Paul, if you were keeping tanks or alive back then....

I was alive way before that and remember it well.

One of the Idols I befriended in Bora Bora

Long noses on the same reef

Also same reef, you can see a moorish Idol at the bottom of the picture, They are rather common.

My first blue devil in 1972 over his nest of eggs. I had 7 blue devils then that lived 7 years

 

[SDguy]

Well, Paul, I am not disputing anything you have said, but I really hope you are wrong. My 3-yr old Idol is my favorite fish by far, and I will hate the day that it dies. It has already survived two tank crashes that took out a bunch of my other fish, so it seems to be tough. Time will tell I guess, but I will enjoy him every day that I have him.

I agree, Ken. I would really like to think and hope that a fish that can eat AND grow the way mine has won't end up dying for no reason or withering away

 

[slate55]

New Idol

New Idol

Fox ,
i also ordered an idol just last week from LiveAquaria I
am very satisfied wtih their quality..
Mine is also eating Mysis and brine shrimp . no luck on Nori or pellets yet but hes still a newbee.
he is by far the largest one in the tank.
hes appx 5-6" very beautiful fish...

<a href="http://s1184.photobucket.com/albums/z333/Slate55/?action=view&current=a215171d.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z333/Slate55/a215171d.jpg" border="0" alt="Uploaded from the Photobucket iPhone App"></a>

 

[Allmost]

I wish there was a team of biologists working on this ... testing and analysing what they eat in the sea ... and to see what we are missing, if any.

for now, I try to vary the diet of mine, and hope for the best. its my fav fish by far ...

 

[Moorish_Idol]

The thing is that most advances and discoveries in the hobby have been made by hobbiest themselves, not biologists....just food for thought

 

[Allmost]

The thing is that most advances and discoveries in the hobby have been made by hobbiest themselves, not biologists....just food for thought

no actually, it was made by fish farmers and coral farmers, who employ marine biologists.


and we, the hobbyist adopted them to fit our captive systems.

a prime example, is carbon dosing and probiotic systems.

can you think of ANY discoveries or advances made by hobbiets ?

 

[pinnatus]

I've always wanted to pretend I was a Marine Biologist.

 

[Allmost]

I've always wanted to pretend I was a Marine Biologist.

HAHAHAHA LOL

me too but the universities around here dont offer it makes it harder to pretend lol jks
gotta love George ..."then the great beast apeared in front of me ... "

 

[Paul B]

no actually, it was made by fish farmers and coral farmers, who employ marine biologists.


and we, the hobbyist adopted them to fit our captive systems.

I don't know about that. Everything I know I learned from diving and spending time with the animals I keep in the sea. When I started my tank in 1971 there was no information at all and I had to figure out everything myself.
I also invented and patented two aquarium related items and discovered how to cure ich with quinicrine hydrocloride along with copper. I also figured out how to cure pop eye with a hypodermic needle. I can't think of one thing marine biologists figured out for this hobby.
We hobbiests figured it all out and still are. If you are waiting for marine biologists to do it you will be waiting a long time.
I have a cousin who is a marine biologist professor and he looks in my tank and has no idea what he is looking at. He never even kept a goldfish and to be a marine biologist professor he had to dive exactly once.

 

[Allmost]

I can't think of one thing marine biologists figured out for this hobby.

Probiotic [bacteria driven] systems


I started keeping aquariums and reefs in my birth country, and at the time there was no internet. and I was one of the only reefers there ... so I know what you mean about coming up with stuff ... but I wouldnt go as far as saying I discovered it, cause fish farmers have been using it for much longer. they just never patented it for "closed aquarium systems"

another example of marine biologists helping the hobby is Frank at RCT ... breeding angelfish ... I dont know of any hobbyists doing it. and tht is for sure moving our hobby forward ...


hobbists on cyber space coma up with alot of things based on trial and error, that is not scientific, nor original, cause the Idea came from those doing this for MONEY not us who do it for our enjoyment.
many think Vodka dosing came from some reefer getting drunk and dropping vodka in his tank, and his algae died... even if that was the case, the Idea of carbon dosing came from farmers, and all literature on it, are done by marine biologists ... not a hobbiest.

now about sponges. me and you can not analyse the contents of a sponge, I am a biomedical engineer, and dont have access to equipments to analyse it [maybe you have sources ..], but a biologist does. so they can analyse the amino acids and other contents, and compare to what is available at hobby grade currently, to see what is missing and how to add it...

and lastly, without scientific back up, we would not know if a moorish Idols health lowers in captivity ! as we see on here, unless a fish dies from velvet or ich, or ... we conclude it died for no reason ! a biologist can analyse the animal and have a better conclusion on what was the cause ..

JMO ...

oh about professors ... lol its same as engineering professors, if they understood the field fully, and were creative, they wouldnt settle for a professor job ! they would discover new stuff and have their own business I think the ones who cant land a good job become a professor, so they can repeat yearly what they know. .... of course, not including the researchers ...

 

[djkms]

A little update on my Idol.

I have had him over a year now. It has not nipped or eaten any corals until recently. Came home a couple days ago and a rock with at least 80-100 polyps of dragon eye zoas was almost completely gone. Other zoas in the tank untouched. Good thing he likes cheap zoas!!! About 2 weeks ago I bought a 40 head colony of candy canes. A day later he went to town on them. Pulled the candy cane out to save it. O he also nipped at a acan and chalice that I had to yank out as well.

Other then that he has been good. In a tank with SPS, LPS, softies, trachy's etc.

 

[slate55]

Paul,
in your past experience what do you feel is an ideal temperature for an idol? I know that is a very novice question . But it sure seems that you are the most experienced and would be able to answer.
My idol is from Fiji
my tank ranges from 80-81 °F

 

[Moorish_Idol]

Djkms, How often are you feeing your idol?