The Moorish Idol Thread

[JohnL]

This thread was automatically split due to performance issues. You can find the rest of the thread here: http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...90#post8740890

[lendz]

Oh thanx paul.. they had ich.. Its weak already and im so depressed.. I liked them so much.. I have no spare tank for quarantine.. i guess it would be my next project... Thanx paul..!

[BlueNWhite]

Originally posted by lendz
Oh thanx paul.. they had ich.. Its weak already and im so depressed.. I liked them so much.. I have no spare tank for quarantine.. i guess it would be my next project... Thanx paul..!

Mine had a little bit of ich too, but it continued to eat and does not show any more signs of it any more.

So like Paul said, just keep feeding them some good quality food with some additives.

Good luck.

[Kennyboy1984]

Hello to all you Moorish Idol enthusiasts. I'm joining the club. My first Idol and it's eating new life spectrum right out of the bag. I pray to the reef tank gods that I will not be postings it's obituary in the days to come. Here it is.

[Paul B]

Kenny, good luck with your Idol. I also hope he lives a long life. To help with that feed him a few times a day and frozen food should be a main part of his diet. Not just commercially sold food, I would add frozen clams, mussels, fish, oysters squid etc.
Take care.
Paul

[thelostrican]

i have had my moorish for 1 year and about 3 months so far great eater(no frozen), he eats pellets everyday, at least twice a day, about 30 or so pellets per feeding, and once or twice a week he eats clams and oysters, depending on abailability, he likes oysters a lot and just recently started to eat green seaweed...funny enough, he is on my 72, i qt him there and i am afraid of moving him out, so he is there for now, with an achilles tang, and powder brown tang( both of which need to get bigger before they go to the 180)...

i guess i will move them out at the same time, which will be in about one or two more years....

[thelostrican]

paul b:
how you feed the squid, do you just cut it to small size.....there is usually a good amount of fresh squid in the supermarket, i will try that...

[Paul B]

I feed squid, clam, mussels and oysters the same way. I freeze them in a small plastic container then shave off thin pieces to feed. Shellfish are better than squid. With squid you will only be feeding squid mantle which is muscle. When you feed shellfish you are giving the entire clam which includes the guts where all the minerals and vitamins like vitamin "A" are

[latinbeachboy10]

Hello,
Do any of you with Idols have them in a mixed reef? If so, can you share your experience with me. I think these fish are amazing and would really like to have on in the 800gallon reef I am building.

I have other risky fish in my reef already (large angels), so I understand that some fish with in the same species will respond differently than others.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thank you!
~Christian~

[thelostrican]

Originally posted by Paul B
I feed squid, clam, mussels and oysters the same way. I freeze them in a small plastic container then shave off thin pieces to feed. Shellfish are better than squid. With squid you will only be feeding squid mantle which is muscle. When you feed shellfish you are giving the entire clam which includes the guts where all the minerals and vitamins like vitamin "A" are

clams and oyster are great mine loves oysters, so that is treat to him, i havent try the squid though, i told the wife to bring some for "max" as she calls him...

[Kennyboy1984]

I don't think I will have fresh oysters or clams available to me. Can I just go buy some frozen clams and oysters in a box at my local supermarket? Also do I use small pieces and throw it in the tank or do I leave it in the half shell and stick it at the bottom of the tank?
Thanks

[Paul B]

Since we eat that stuff all the time it is easy for me.
Christian, my Idol is in a mixed reef and has been for four years.
They are not an easy fish and I would even say "almost" impossable to keep for many years. They need special care and a lot of feedings. Any fish will live four or five years so that doesen't count. To have success with this (or any fish) you need to be able to keep it for at least it's normal lifespan which I estimate for a fish the size of a moorish Idol to be about 12 years.
As far as I know, no one has kept one that long.
I am trying very hard though at the expense of my other reef inhabitants.
Paul
As you can see, he is in a mixed reef

[latinbeachboy10]

Thank you Paul.

I've been following this thread for some time now and have also read books on them. All the literature I can find says that they are impossible to keep period. However literature also says that about some anemone species and my oldest is 20yrs old. (I inherited her from my gradfather 5yrs ago).

Like I said the tank I am in the process of building is 800 gallons with anemones, sps and lps. Your Idol likes sponges so that gives me a little more hope for mine because I have a tank connected to my system just for sponges and live rock.

Anyway, thank you for your response and I look forward to reading more on this thread as it progresses.

p.s. do you guys think 800gallons is big enough for a pair of adult Idols?

[Paul B]

Christian, two Idols can go into an 800 gallon tank with no problem. I agree with what you said about books being incorrect sometimes. I know anamones can last very long but there are some people who keep anemones for many years. As far as I know, no one has kept an Idol for many years. Anemones are very easy to provide for being sessile animals with most of their needs being taken care of by light. I myself never had a problem with any anemone except I seem to have lost a lot of them (most of them) to accidents. I can't remember ever loseing one to anything else.
With an Idol it is not just food and I know it is not water conditions but I do think it has something to do with living in a mated pair. If you can get a mated pair, and that is a big if. A pair does not mean a mated pair, but if you could and if you have an 800 gallon tank with a supply of the type of sponges that they will eat then you may have a shot. One of the most important things is to feed them a few times a day. I am quite sure that if I had the room I could keep them for at least their normal lifespan which I estimate to be 12 years (speculation)
I know you are in your early twentees and I remember when I was too. You need some time to properly care for these fish. I think you are the type of person that will make a go of it.
Good luck.
Paul

[Kennyboy1984]

I liked my first idol so much I went down to the lfs to pick up his buddy. Here they are. The new idol is missing a piece out of his dorsal fin. I'm not sure if it was my existing idol that did it or my purple tang that has been my only fish to pick on them. Do idols have a tendency to fight with each other? Although when I observe both idols they are perfect citizens with each other.

[John Dawe]

I really have to say, Morrish Idols can be easy to keep IF you do the following. Only buy a small ones, they are about 2 1/2 inches before they look like a MI. Stick with the ones around 3 inches. Always assume it has ick when you get it and treat it before you put it in your tank. They are ick magnet. Make sure they are eating in the store. Most small ones will eat everything after a short time period of several days to weeks. Feed them often, I feed my fish every time I look at the tanks. (And do lots of 50% water changes, sometimes twice a week because heavy feeding) Its a 'big' fish with a small mouth that picks all day long on the reef, so again, feed , feed, feed.

[Paul B]

I agree with the above post that they are easy to care for but only for a year or two. To keep them for 5 or 10 years which is probably not even half their lifespan seems to be almost, if not entirely, impossable.
For a fish this common and this beautiful, if they were easy, they would be in everyone's tank.
Have a great day.
Paul

[Kennyboy1984]

Video of my idols

[Outerbank]

Kennyboy, that is a great video!! Best of luck with the idols!

[Crusty Old Shellback]

OK Paul and the rest of my MI friends, time for a little help. I think I've finally found a good canadite of a MI, actually two of them. We have a new LFS in town, they've been in the maintance bussiness for a long time and this year decided to open a SW only store front. Anyways he has 3 MI's in the store that I saw yesterday. One he got from a customer that had him for 4 months and he's eating. He keeps Nori in a clip and the MI picks at it constantly. AS for teh other 2, he just got them in from Hawaii. He put them all in the same tank with the hope that the 4 month old would "teach" the others how to eat. Well as I was sitting there admiring them, sure enough, the smaller of the new ones was following the 4 month old around and up to the clip to take a taste.

So here's where I'm at right now. I'm still setting up my 400G tank. It's up and running but I'm letting it "brew" for a while while I finsh off my woodworking and plumbing. I run it during the day but am cutting of the pumps at night as they are too loud. That's why I'm still working on it.

Right now I have a 200G tank set up with my live stock in it. It does have my rock and sand from the 400 that's about 1 1/2 years old. All of the rock came from estabilished tanks so it has a lot of life, including sponges growing on it.

AS for live stock, I have the following fish:
12" Male Naso Tang
10" Female Naso Tang
8" Pink Tail Trigger
6" Blue Hippo Tang (BIG wimp)
5" Red Corris Wrasse
3" Lepoard Wrasse
3" Wrasse. Has a yellow triangle near it's head
3" coral beauty angel
3" Copper Banded Butterfly
2" Marron Clown. Hides in my bubble coral all the time
2" carpenters flasher wrasse
2" Royal Gramma (2)
2" Yellowtail Damsel

And my new addition that I got last night, 2" Majestic Angel

As for corals, I have a few Monti Caps, bubble and a leather toadstool along with a few zoo's. When the 400 is up and running, it will house mainly monti cap corals along with my large bubble and leather toadstool.

So my question is, do I go ahead and bite the bullet and pick up the two idols that are eating and following each other around? Or do I just hold out and wait till I get the 400 set up and then go looking again. I was going to ask the owner to hold the two MI's for me for about a week so that my Majestic can get settled into the tank.

Even though I have some large fish in the tank, I have no problems with any type of pecking order. Most of the smaller fish were scared of teh larger ones when I put them in but they soon found out that the larger fish didn't even give them a second look. As a mater of fact, last night when I put the Majestic in teh tank, he wound up hiding in the rocks where my female Naso sleeps. She was in there and didin't pay him any mind. About the only fish that even took a look at him was my Coper Banded.

So let's here from those of you who've been doing this a bit. Should I go ahead and get them or wait til the 400 is ready? Thanks in advance for the help.

[Kennyboy1984]

I would jump on it. Eating idols are good idols!

[Asuran]

i'm reading feeding banana's to MI... how does one go about doing that? i understand the oysters, freeze then shave...

i recently also picked up a small MI eating mysis and loves pellets

[cthetoy]

Its hard to find a Moorish Idols that are eating. I would jump on the MI that had a previous owner and maybe the other 2 from Hawaii. I bought 2 Moorish Idols direct from Hawaii while I was on vacation. Hawaii ones tends to do better that the ones from Indonesia. Unfortunately after the 1st month the two Idols fought constantly until one perished. The other Idol is still doing great after 5 months. Its growing and getting fat. The trick is that you have to feed it constantly. I feed mine 4x a day. 2x from the automatic feeder and the other 2 while Im at home. I know my bioload will increase but thats what I have to do to keep an healthy idol and hope I can keep it as long as Paul B's Idol

[kyrie_eleison]

That is a beautiful video! Can you email that to me? Or post more of them?

[Paul B]

Chevy, a 12" and a 10" tang. I call that dinner. You have some herd there, even for a 200. I personally would not put moorish Idols in that tank. The only reason I say that is because of the stock you have. You will have to feed the Idols at least three times a day, four would be better. And they eat a lot. I don't know how you would do that with those other large fish in there. I think they would steal most of the food. My Idol is the largest fish I have by far and he is able to push the other fish away, but a 12", 10", 8", 6". 5" etc fish will be hard to out-compete. Idols have no defense mechanisms like tangs and they can't even bite anything (very weak mouths and tiny almost non existant teeth)
In the sea they eat a diet of mostly sponge which very few other animals eat so they have any competition. They also live in very shallow water so most of their companions are smaller than them. I saw many more of them while snorkling in 10" of water than Diving deeper. I don't know if you will even have luck with Idols in a 400 gallon tank with those large fish. Their longivity depends a lot on how much food you can get into them and how often you can feed them. You know about my feeding dish but it only works because none of the other fish I have will eat pellets. For the third feeding I always feed with a baster. I need to get the food to the Idol before the fast eaters steal it.
Anyway Chevy, that is just my opinion, I could be entirely wrong. I can only go by my experience. Now if you diden't have those two large fish, that would be an entirely different story.
One more thing, While my Idol eats almost anything, He will not touch nori.

About feeding bananas, I freeze them then slice off small pieces just like I do for clams. Freezing them makes them a little tougher and they stay together better. A moorish Idol will not eat anything large. They can't bite hardly at all.
Have a great day and good luck Chevy.
Paul