chipchip
New member
Hard to say.. Mine eats everything I feed like a pig! flakes, frozen, pellets, nori, salade etc..
The Moorish Idol Thread
- Thread starter zfunk007
- Start date
Hard to say.. Mine eats everything I feed like a pig! flakes, frozen, pellets, nori, salade etc..
shlap
New member
Oh yeah! Mine will eat flakes too. Just can't get it to eat anything frozen. Strangest thing. I forgot about that as I hardly ever feed flakes. I think I'll try mixing frozen with flakes.
Axolotl
New member
http://http://youtu.be/5tJiWXPgfgY
Ok so i dont know how u guys post videos but i was going to show off my new what i believe to be pair. One follows the other around starts pecking and then the other copies it. Pretty cool.
Ok so i dont know how u guys post videos but i was going to show off my new what i believe to be pair. One follows the other around starts pecking and then the other copies it. Pretty cool.
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tanked_life
New member
I just wanted everyone to know that the key in keeping these beautiful fish are to put them in groups of two or more
Axolotl
New member
Ok im going to try and post my video. Quick question my idols wont eat anything out of the water column in fact i was pulling out a sheet of nori that i left in the tank for them to hopefully eat while i was at work (they didnt touch it) and it broke into thousands of tiny particles and scattered around the tank the big idols face changed color and got scared of the nori particles. They just wont eat anything out of the water column. I tried pe misis, clams on the half shell stuffed in rock holes, brine, misis soaked in garlic guard, nls pellets, and mega marine angel formula w sponge. All they want to eat are my large toadstool leather and my xenia and red monti. Im wondering should i move the toadstool out it hasnt opened in two days since they have been attacking it but are doing little damage. The most damage is to the xenia which i really dont care about. Im worried that the toadstool or xenia will emit off a poisonous toxin or something in self defense and nuke my tank. Are leathers toxic when constantly being chomped on? I really need to know if i need to move my corals so they dont kill my idols. Also maybe if i take out the corals would the idols be forced to eat frozen/ prepared foods? This is day four in the tank and all they have eaten are the sponges that are all over my live rock, pods, xenia and toadstool leather pieces. I guess its good they are picking at everything and the big one has some body weight to him. I can see the little ones lateral line though and would really like to get these guys fattened up. When should i start worrying?
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tanked_life
New member
My suggestion would to try angelixer. It is great stuff that you actually soak the mysid,brine, pretty much anything even formula 1 pellets in and what it does is it coats the prepared food with a combination of sponge and other ingredients essential to the idols needs. The taste of sponge in the elixir is what really entices them to eat it up and also look for a clip to put the nori sheet on so that they can come and go to eat the stuff as they like and not have that problem. This will keep your water clean, parameters in check and won't make your xenia nuke the tank as I am sure they won't even in bad parameters so don't worry
tanked_life
New member
Also the Xenia getting destroyed won't harm your tank since it is a softy and are primarily made out of water anyways. They don't have anything in particular running through them that is toxic let it happen if you really don't care about the animal but my suggestion is that Xenia are still an animal and i suggest moving them to save they're life
Axolotl
New member
Thanks Tanked but the nori was on a clip. The stuff was in the tank about 10 hours while i was at work and when i grabbed the clip it fell apart. I think the co. that makes it (the brand at petco and petsmart) changed their mixture because it smells and looks different and falls apart way too fast. Anyways i did a 30% water change last night and all is good except they wont eat prepared foods still 
munching away at coraline and the sponge thats in there and my toadstool that has shriveled to a quarter its size Where can i get the elixer? Is it exclusively online?
munching away at coraline and the sponge thats in there and my toadstool that has shriveled to a quarter its size Where can i get the elixer? Is it exclusively online?Dr Colliebreath
New member
I agree that your idol's problem probably was the heater. The streamers seem to grow best when the idol eats vegetables (nori, spirulina or other algaes, etc.). I feed veggie flakes and pellets.
Many dose both Cupramine and PraziPro at the same time in quarantine without issues. I have done so with most of my fish, including my idol without incident.
Used properly (as you did, ramping up slowly), Cupramine is an effective and safe medication. Some fish react to it and stop eating, but most are fine with it. It actually is very stable in solution assuming you don't have calcium based rock or sand to bind it.
tanked_life
New member
Thanks Tanked but the nori was on a clip. The stuff was in the tank about 10 hours while i was at work and when i grabbed the clip it fell apart. I think the co. that makes it (the brand at petco and petsmart) changed their mixture because it smells and looks different and falls apart way too fast. Anyways i did a 30% water change last night and all is good except they wont eat prepared foods still
Unfortunately I have checked several lfs and neither one of them have it I have just been buying it online.
Dr Colliebreath
New member
Start worrying around 2 weeks if they still haven't eaten much. Assuming your idols weren't damaged in capture and transport and aren't being hassled by other fish in your tank, they should start eating from the water column over the next several days. Your thought of removing the corals is a good one so the idols have to look for other food. Keep offering a variety of foods and they should start eating - frozen mysis and spirulina brine, regular and veggie flakes and pellets, and chopped seafood from your grocery store such as scallop, shrimp and clam.
Getting fish eating prepared foods is one of the advantages of quarantining your new arrivals before putting them into your display tank.
Axolotl
New member
Thanks Dr. Im thinking of moving the corals soon. Is there a specific temperature i should be keeping these guys at??? I know that temperature usually has a large role to play when getting animals to feed naturally. Currently at 76 degrees and up to 78-80 degrees when all lights are on.
Dr Colliebreath
New member
Your tank temps are fine.
Good luck.
Good luck.
Axolotl
New member
They are pooping quite abit so they are eating something. But still not putting on any weight i want to fatten these guys up!! Im trying different foods everyday still nothing is eaten out of the water column so im stuffing foods like chopped clam and nls pellets in holes in the liverock so they will at least have to look at it. I noticed that both have what appears to be a cloudy eye which i know is usually the start to popeye infection issues. Its like they both got scratched by something in the tank on the same eye. Is there anything i can do other than offering different foods and maintaining excellent water quality through water changes? As i dont really care to much for the corals i dont want to put anything in the tank that will hurt the bacteria or corals
Is there a reef safe antibacteria out there that anyone uses in there display tanks??
Is there a reef safe antibacteria out there that anyone uses in there display tanks??
H.reidi.MN
New member
What does that have to do with Moorish idols?
