The Moorish Idol Thread

[gemini aquarius(t)]

I just joined the club! I bought it from a local reefer/friend. He had it for about 3-5 months, I dont remember, and it is eating EVERYTHING. Flake, nori, pellets, scallops, mysis, annnnddd... my entire sponge population.

 

[gofor100]

I just joined the club! I bought it from a local reefer/friend. He had it for about 3-5 months, I dont remember, and it is eating EVERYTHING. Flake, nori, pellets, scallops, mysis, annnnddd... my entire sponge population.

Good to hear! Why did your friend get rid of him?

Any pics?

-Chad

 

[gofor100]

So here's just one of the reasons I'm glad I quarantined my MI... I noticed that he was trying to "scratch" himself on the side of the tank on Thursday and this continued on into Friday. So although I know he has/had ick (which I just started treatment for), I figured something else must have been bothering him. I looked closely and it seemed that there were a few parts of his black coloration that was blotchy, so I concluded that he must have had flukes as well.

So I crossed my fingers and added the Prazipro (half dose Friday night and the other half Saturday morning after seeing him eat). I was kind of afraid that so much treatment (with Cupramine AND Prazipro) right out of the gate would lessen his appetite, but so far so good.

Some of his streamer got taken off (I'm guessing by the powerhead), but as you can see it is still growing strong...

-Chad

 

[gemini aquarius(t)]

Good to hear! Why did your friend get rid of him?

Any pics?

-Chad

He was getting rid of a bunch of fish to lower his bio-load.

It is REALLY hard to get a pic of these guys, they are always moving!

 

[gofor100]

He was getting rid of a bunch of fish to lower his bio-load.

It is REALLY hard to get a pic of these guys, they are always moving!

Looks good!

Good luck!

-Chad

 

[Dr Colliebreath]

Generally, you are ok mixing Cupramine and PraziPro, just watch the fish carefully. The streamers seems to change length from time to time. Your fish's streamers may have shortened due to the stresses it is encountering (moving, meds).

 

[gofor100]

Generally, you are ok mixing Cupramine and PraziPro, just watch the fish carefully. The streamers seems to change length from time to time. Your fish's streamers may have shortened due to the stresses it is encountering (moving, meds).

Thanks Frank!

Yeah, I knew I was okay mixing it (since this is part of my normal QT treatment), but I also know that this can sometimes cause sensitive fish to lose their appetite for a couple of days, especially when treating so soon after introduction into the QT.

Thanks again,

Chad

 

[AliciaP]

I have joined the group Idol group! I got him on the 1st of May, my LFS got it shipped in and I picked it up still int he bag so he didn't have to be streesed acclimating so many times.

So far he's not eating anything I put in the tank though He is eating stuff in the tank, picking off the rocks and I can watch him "chew" it, he is growing a streamer, but it's really skinny. Is that normal? In the week I've have him, it's only about 1/2 inch long. He has a white dot on his tail fin *had it when I got him, and tore a fin after a few days in the tank. As a precaution because I didn't use a QT for him (too small of a tank, I figured he would get stressed and do more harm than good) I gave him a dip in a solution to help repair fin or scale damage along with a dipping solution to get rid of ich (incase his tail had ich or his fin ripped because of it). He did well in that and went back to the DT after about 45 minutes.

Should I worry about getting him to eat? Like I said, I see him eating off the rocks, and I see a ton of pods climbing around on the rocks, so I know he's getting something. He also blows at food.... is that normal? Maybe he has a silly personality or something? Does it take time for them to learn to eat flakes? He has no interest in NLS food so far, or sponge frozen food, or frozen brine shrimp, or frozen mysis, or Nori. He is very curious about newly hatched baby brine shrimp though, I add that for 3 days straight, then hatch more, takes about a day to hatch and I only have one setup running.

 

[gofor100]

I have joined the group Idol group! I got him on the 1st of May, my LFS got it shipped in and I picked it up still int he bag so he didn't have to be streesed acclimating so many times.

So far he's not eating anything I put in the tank though He is eating stuff in the tank, picking off the rocks and I can watch him "chew" it, he is growing a streamer, but it's really skinny. Is that normal? In the week I've have him, it's only about 1/2 inch long. He has a white dot on his tail fin *had it when I got him, and tore a fin after a few days in the tank. As a precaution because I didn't use a QT for him (too small of a tank, I figured he would get stressed and do more harm than good) I gave him a dip in a solution to help repair fin or scale damage along with a dipping solution to get rid of ich (incase his tail had ich or his fin ripped because of it). He did well in that and went back to the DT after about 45 minutes.

Should I worry about getting him to eat? Like I said, I see him eating off the rocks, and I see a ton of pods climbing around on the rocks, so I know he's getting something. He also blows at food.... is that normal? Maybe he has a silly personality or something? Does it take time for them to learn to eat flakes? He has no interest in NLS food so far, or sponge frozen food, or frozen brine shrimp, or frozen mysis, or Nori. He is very curious about newly hatched baby brine shrimp though, I add that for 3 days straight, then hatch more, takes about a day to hatch and I only have one setup running.

Hey Alicia,

Just a heads up... dips don't work on ick since the parasite's life cycle is too complex for a 45 minute dip to remedy. If you've skipped the entire QT process, then I would just try to keep your water parameters pristine so as to cause the least amount of stress to the fish. Not to say that the dip (depending on what you dipped the fish in) won't help other "injuries of the fish"... but just thought you should know so you don't cause any unneeded stress.

As for feeding, some MI's eat right out of the bag, some apparently take some coaxing to get them started, and even others will eat, then not, then eat again (or stop eating entirely and die). So my advice would be to keep feeding the tank a variety of foods and hopefully he'll start eating sooner rather than later.

Also I would suggest reading some of this thread so you know what to expect and what behaviors seem to be the norm for this fish.

Good luck!

-Chad

 

[AliciaP]

Hey Alicia,

Just a heads up... dips don't work on ick since the parasite's life cycle is too complex for a 45 minute dip to remedy. If you've skipped the entire QT process, then I would just try to keep your water parameters pristine so as to cause the least amount of stress to the fish. Not to say that the dip (depending on what you dipped the fish in) won't help other "injuries of the fish"... but just thought you should know so you don't cause any unneeded stress.

As for feeding, some MI's eat right out of the bag, some apparently take some coaxing to get them started, and even others will eat, then not, then eat again (or stop eating entirely and die). So my advice would be to keep feeding the tank a variety of foods and hopefully he'll start eating sooner rather than later.

Also I would suggest reading some of this thread so you know what to expect and what behaviors seem to be the norm for this fish.

Good luck!

-Chad

Thanks Chad, I didn't know that it might not remove ich. The tank if does with Garlic, and all food has garlic, hoping that helps ward off ich too. I got my hands on a 30 gallon if I need to quarantine him. He and a yellow tang are best buds! I am a stay at home Mom and I feed often, at least until I see him eating food, it's available a lot. I feed small amounts 8-10x's a day. I got these two fish 3 days apart and the yellow tang is starting to eat Nori (not on a clip, too afraid of the clip so I took it out and went for a more natural approach with Nori rubberbanded to a rock). I'm hoping he will see the YT eating it and start eating it as well as they follow each other around.

I've read the whole thread, took me a week! As Paul B mentioned many times that he has seen them in pairs, and the male finds food and the female follows to come eat, these two fish do exactly that! The idol picks a couple times, the YT comes up and starts picking in that spot while the Idol moves on the find another spot to pick.... all day. Thought that would be interesting to tell since it seems a lot like what has been witnessed in the wild.

 

[gofor100]

Cool! Hope everything works out!

-Chad

 

[elegance coral]

FWIW, We just got a MI in at the LFS. Today is day 4. It's a little on the small side. Maybe 2.5", but thick and healthy looking. It started pecking at the rocks immediately after acclimation. It's been eating clams on the half shell like a champ. Today I'll try adding some variety to the diet. I'll probably throw a little of everything at it, and see what it likes. LOL.

Has anyone tried smashing food into LR, and letting the MI pick the food from the rocks?

 

[Dr Colliebreath]

The healthy ones tend to be good eaters from the water column so you probably won't need to put the food in live rock. Try mysis and other meaty foods.

 

[gemini aquarius(t)]

Update: He is now the fattest fish in the tank, with the baby sailfin as a close second. Eats everything, including my acans, but I only had a couple small (but nice) frags. He is a freak with flake food, and eats it a lot better than anything else I throw in there. Also, his streamer is now about 2 1/2"

 

[AliciaP]

FWIW, We just got a MI in at the LFS. Today is day 4. It's a little on the small side. Maybe 2.5", but thick and healthy looking. It started pecking at the rocks immediately after acclimation. It's been eating clams on the half shell like a champ. Today I'll try adding some variety to the diet. I'll probably throw a little of everything at it, and see what it likes. LOL.

Has anyone tried smashing food into LR, and letting the MI pick the food from the rocks?

Mine is 2 weeks in the tank and he picks at the rocks non-stop. Since he does that and blows flake food away, I smash a frozen block of angel sponge food in the rock. I have to get it on the underside of the rock so that it doesn't just float out after thawing a bit. That being said - I'm not sure it's doing any good, never seen him pick at it yet, but I try every couple of days.

He is eating Nori now, or at least trying to, picks at it a lot with the YT and I keep it available all day.

 

[SDguy]

While my MI's staple diet is pellets, the fish got a treat of venus clams this weekend... He was not much bigger than the robustus last year when I first got him!

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[angelfish7]

SD
I love your selection of fish, especially the butterflies! MI looks great.

 

[AliciaP]

Three weeks and my Idol still blows at pellets and flakes but eats Nori so much that I have to put it in 4 or 5 times a day. And he is still eating off the rocks all day long as well. Any advice to make him eat the NLS or ON flakes?

 

[SDguy]

Wrap/roll the pellets in some nori and rubberband it to a rock. That's what I did for my PBT when I first got him.

 

[Texas]

Mine started eating Spectrum pellets, the small ones, after about day 3. He now eats large and small SP, PE mysis, beef heart, nori, broccoli, Formula flakes and mega marine angel. I think he would eat anything I put in there at this point.
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