ReefGeekster, I have had my Idol for comming up on 6 months now. I honestly don't think he prefers any particular type of sponge. He eats just about any sponge I put in the tank if I leave it sit in there long enough.
As for all the questions reguarding whether or not Moorish Idol's are reef safe. In my experience, they are certainly NOT reef safe in the least bit! From what I have observed from the ones I have seen in captivity, they have a varying degree of what what corals they will and will not eat. For my Idol, it wasn't a matter of which ones, but a matter of when he would decide to destroy a certain coral in my tank.
My Idol sampled just about every coral in my entire tank before I moved him. The only one I can think of that I didn't ever see him pick on was a green torch coral I have. I have made several lists a few pages back in this forum where I listed which corals he ate. Feel free to go back and check them out.
As far as regulating them in the trade. I don't see too much of a reason to. I think if the people catching them would feed them more before they were shipped out as well as more care taken in shipping them. And then they were fed again once at the wholesalers, they would acclimate much better once they got to our tanks.
Like I have stated before, from my experience, the problem stems from getting an unhealthy specimen to begin with. This comes from them "starving" for several days while they are being shipped everywhere. As we all know these fish have a VERY high metabolism and they tend to pine away rather quickly if not fed at least a couple times a day. I think that if these fish were fed more before they were shipped, shipped better, and introduced into a good environment as quickly a possible, the chances of them surviving would be much greater.
When I got my Idol, I had the privledge of getting him right out of the bag from the wholesaler. I cut out the entire time this fish would have had to adjust to a retailer's tank. Instead he went straight to my tank at home. I think this is one of the key things to why my Idol has done well.
I also think (from my several experiences with Idols) that once they are completely adjusted to aquarium life, meaning they are "filled out" eating regularly and their banner is very long and thick, they are very hearty aquarium fish.
This was proven to me this year when we got yet another direct hit to my area from hurricane Wilma. We were without power for 7 days. We had a generator running the tanks, however, during the storm my tanks were out for around 8 hours before we got the generator running. Then every 15 hours or so we would have to shut the generator down, wait an hour, fill it with gas, and then fire it back up again. Each and every time my tanks would be going on and off, lights going on and off. My Idol never faultered, never flinched and he remains as healthy as ever, even in a smaller than adequate tank.
This experience proved to me that he is a healthy and even hearty fish once he was completely established in my system. I think everyones Idols can be like this if they aquire a healthy specimen and take the time and care needed to get them over that initial "hump."
As far as what other fish I house my Idol with, right now he is with a very large Broomtail Wrasse and a rather small Regal Angel. He bullies both of them from time to time. He will get up next to my Broomtail (who is 3 times his size) and extend his dorsal fin and bump up against him. Very interesting behavior. The Broomtail just looks exasperated and tries to ingnore him.
Anyway, I hope that answers some of your questions. And that should get you caught up on my Idol lately. He continues to do well. I just hope I can get him a bigger home soon. Him and my Broomtail are out growing that 110 gallon tank really fast. I'll post more pictures in the comming week or so. Right now because of this hurricane our internet has been going up and down.
I'd love to hear some updates from some of you guys we haven't heard from in a while! Lets hear it!
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