So I got a Moorish Idol

[jmccown]

Doing some Christmas shopping yesterday I decided to stop at one of the local Pet**** just to see what they had. Never planned on finding what I did. I walk back to the salty section and lo and behold I was bedazzled at what I saw. A beautiful, very good size, perfect specimen of a moorish idol. This is a fish I have never seen for sale believe it or not. Being a thread-junky I have read about all of the complications with this fish and how hard they are to keep. I looked at the fish for a minute and tried to look at the others, but some strange power kept drawing me back to the MI. I asked the guy working there how long they'd had it and he said 2 weeks. He said it started eating the 2nd day. He said he would show me it was eating and sure enough it was. I pondered about it for a good 45 minutes. Finally I gave in and told him to bag it up. I brought it home and acclimated it for a couple of hours. It was late last night so I left the lights off. I added the MI to the display (no I don't QT). Got up this morning and it's already made friends with everyone. I turn the lights on manually to check it over, still looks great. I throw in some mysis and POW it attacks it. I was ecstatic that it was eating already. I fed it on two more occasions today, around 1 p.m. I fed it flake and it ate it too. About an hour ago I tried NLS pellets and the MI ate them too. This fish it gorgeous. It is about 7" long and about 7" tall. It is extremely active swimmer. I'm really happy with this fish. I hope my luck continues. Wish me luck guys. My tank should be mature enough at this point. It's been up for 14 months. Pics will come soon.

[DamnPepShrimp]

jmc your crazy! And you just put up a post saying you were done with stocking your tank and bored! HAHA! This is a fish I would love to get someday, but feared it would get picked on. I'd watch out for some of your aggressive fish harassing it or nipping at those streamers/fins. Definitely post new pics! Time for a new video, one at feeding time! Oh and nice find too!

[jmccown]

I know. I hate myself for it. I was doing so good too. I just broke out in a sweat when I seen it and got the shakes and everything.

I monitored the tank all day since it was my day off. I never seen any aggression whatsoever. The fish was only $125. For a fish this size and health I had to try it. I figured if I didn't it would end up in somebody's 10 gallon.

[jd19673]

Theres a good article about keeping moorish idols in

the Jan08. issue of tropical fish hobbyist mag.

[AquaKnight407]

The problem with those isn't that they don't eat, most actually do, it's the lack of proper diet. I would say add live sponge, but it would likely be consumed by the other angels in there quickly. But the bit in your favor is that the failure stories have seemed to come from people with smaller tanks...

And as to how you're doing what you do, and don't QT (esp. with fish from a "local Pet****"), yet a tank of 'hardy' fish like my 125 belly's up over a weekend from Ich is beyond me. Maybe some are truly lucky...

[Snowboarda42]

Make sure you at least suppliment the fish's diet with Selcon and Vitamin C.

And for cryin out loud, post a friggen picture!

[jmccown]

Yep, my food is soaked with Zoecon.

[yoboyjdizz]

You won't be disappointed in your purchase! Mine loves frozen angel&butterfly formula that contains sponge it says...

[John Dawe]

Just remember that MI's are big fish with small mouths and on the reef they eat ALL DAY LONG, so please feed you fish small amounts many times a day.

[seapug]

nice score. They are super cool fish. An LFS near me has had one for the past three months and it's doing great. Too bad my largest tank is a 90 and I've drawn the line on fish stocking.

Good luck and post some pics!

[jetta]

Originally posted by AquaKnight407
The problem with those isn't that they don't eat, most actually do, it's the lack of proper diet. I would say add live sponge, but it would likely be consumed by the other angels in there quickly. But the bit in your favor is that the failure stories have seemed to come from people with smaller tanks...

And as to how you're doing what you do, and don't QT (esp. with fish from a "local Pet****"), yet a tank of 'hardy' fish like my 125 belly's up over a weekend from Ich is beyond me. Maybe some are truly lucky...

I don't QT either and have never had a problem.

Good luck with the morish idol!!!!! I have always wanted one but not sure i could provide the care it needs .

[zemuron114]

you payed 125$ for an idol? Woah!!! i hope it lives for you!

[nybyrne]

Love to see picture of him

[Paul B]

I was just thinking that $125.00 for an Idol. In NY where I live I can get 4 of them for that money.
They are very common and as was said they don't have a problem eating and most of them will eat anything.

[jmaneyapanda]

Originally posted by jmccown
. Got up this morning and it's already made friends with everyone. .

Just out of curiosity, Ive heard many people say this- what does this mean?

[WuHT]

no aggression found in the morning

[jmaneyapanda]

So rather than saying "they're best buds" or "theyve made friends", it is more accurate to say "nothing happened".

The reason I bring this up is that I think sometimes people really misunderstand fish behavior. When two fish are swimming side by side and are inseperable, they may be pair, they may enjoy each others company, but in my opinion, it is far more likely they are keeping the friends close, but their enemies closer. For new introductions, this can be tremendously stressful- being shadowed by a unknown fish which potentially can be a threat. I doubt the new fish is thinking, "well, thank god I have a friend in this totally unrelated species of fish- he'll stick by my side, and definitely wont try to hurt me, or outcompete me for food". Just my opinion though.

[ezcompany]

yeah, think of it like fish going to prison lol

[Carnavor180]

most die from captive nutritional issues.
but best of luck.

[jmccown]

No problems so far. Pics are available in another thread. I even posted a video of the MI.

Yeah, fish are ridiculously priced here. But this fish is really good size, I felt it was worth the price.