Moorish Idol

[SethKim]

I know I know, but I had to...
I've been good staying away from M. Idols for about 7 yrs now, but after seeing M. Stern's idol, I made up my mind:irked:

I've picked up 3 Moorish Idols from Mike Stern yesterday, they were nipping on mysis when I was picking them up ^^

Mike told me that his shipping is good, so it should reduce stress on these fish.

so far all three are casually feeding on NORI and few brine shrimp...
all pecking on algae formula and reef plus II...but spitting it back out ㅠ.ㅠ

I have these fish quaranteen in my sump, this way they get really custom to the water quality of my system. And I don't plan on moving them to the main tank unless all three are feeding well.

As I closely monitor these jewels I begin to understand their charactor.

These fish are not all that agressive feeder, so I'm treating them like sea horse, Also they are like anthias...having to be fed constantly...

The only worry that I have right now is that some of my fish in the main tank are like vacuum cleaner, so I may have to swap out some fish...

Oh well, wish me luck guys!!!!

P.S
Thank you NY Aquatic for healthy fish!!!

Sincerely,

 

[nycmat]

just keep in mind that they like a sponge base diet because there system does not do well with certain foods that makes them perish, good luck with them

 

[crox99]

Good luck with them. They look pretty healthy right now. How big is the tank that thet are going in?

 

[sporty]

very nice fish.

 

[SethKim]

Crox ...the tree moorish idol is going into 480gal main tank.

I'll be hitting some LFS for some sponge.

I've been reading up on RC. Paul B and other guys had some luck trying different feeding methods,

I loved seeing Paul B's feeding plate go from white to purple, and reading about some australian guy feeding catfood...

hey guys if you find more new info let me know please..

Sincerely,

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=607477&perpage=25&pagenumber=1

 

[michael stern]

Seth,

FYI, my moorish idol, 3 years and counting, eats anything and everything. It's main diet is frozen mysis, krill, Hickari mega marine angel (sponge) and nori.

 

[Paul B]

A few years ago I found a great place to collect sponge to feed the Idol. My Idol loved it and I would feed it every other day. Of course I also fed bananas, avacado, oysters, clams, mussels and any other thing that I would find in the sea. I think my feeding dish which fed him twice a day was the best thing I ever did.
I recently dove with them in Tahiti and learned that they do not school and they are mostly in shallow water. They live in mated pairs with the male leading the female to food which was always a lime green sticky sponge that I could not identify.
Unfortunately, almost all of my fish died two weeks ago from an accident. My Mother was found in a comatose state and she is in the hospital, she is dying. My fish were in a smaller tank for a day for some much needed maintenance and I was at the hospital 24/7 for two days then every day after that. One fish must have died and fouled the water as there was no filter in the tank. My moorish Idol was a little over four and seemed very healthy. He was also much too large for my 100 gallon long tank. He was about 7". I was thinking about giving him to a public aquarium due to his size. My corals were suffering badly because Idols eat so much so often. You really should feed them a few times a day. After spending so much time with them under water and having had about a dozen of them I now feel I could keep them for their normal lifespan which I will guestimate at about 15 years. I don't want to get another one unless I increase the size of my tank.
Have a great day.
Paul

 

[michael stern]

Paul,

I am so sorry to hear about your losses, and your personal problems. I think I speak for all of MR when I say our prayers are with you.

 

[Paul B]

Thanks Michael, the fish can be replaced. My Mother is 96 and has never been sick as far as I can remember so she had a good life.
If I can get almost that many years I will consider myself very lucky.
My Mother is in hospice and has been for about a week. The doctors don't know how much time she has left so I go there every night to visit.

I feel worse about my copperband butterfly than the moorish Idol but since the Idol was considered "old" in moorish Idol years I am disappointed that I couldn't continue the experiment further.
I will retire in a year and will probably get a larger tank, I may then get another Idol. They are arguably the most beautiful fish and since I put so much time into researching and diving with them I think I would like to study them further.
I would also like to experiment with orange spotted filefish too but i have to spend some time with them underwater first.

My tank is still suffering but after this is over I will remedy that.
My reef is very old and will recover.

 

[SethKim]

I'm sorry to hear that Paul

My M.Idols are doing ok, I have three. all three have taste buds for different dinner, Lg one like formula one, med likes mysis shrimp, and sm likes Nori only... I had them acclimating well in my sump until they got used to the environment/water and was territorial among themselves, so decided to move them to my main tank yesterday. way sooner than I expected to...

All three are feeding in the main tank, I give them three separate dishes to accomodate their preferences.

They are truly georgeous fish ^^

 

[SethKim]

Its only been a week, but oh what a joy I've been getting out of my trio!!!

Lots of feeding, so my water quality is going down, but I'm trying to keep up by doing small 10gal water change everyday...

They can be so much happier only if my sailfin would leave them alone, but not too stressful!!!

Enjoy some pics,

P.S. Hey Paul B. do you have some frozen sponge leftover?????

 

[ireefny]

good luck!

how big was the QT, & how lomg did you have them in there before transfer?

 

[SethKim]

I had them in Q-tank for 5 days, size is about 30 gal. It was alot sooner than I wanted, I think it was the right move, they were all feeding in Q tank, but occationally fighting with one another...

In the main tank, they are swimming gracefully, except my sailfin tang doesn't like them as much as I do.

I'm hoping that the sailfin will mellow out, else he's going into my refugium...150gal.

 

[regal]

Looks like your tangs have head erosions or lateral line diseases probably diet related?

 

[Paul B]

SethKim thanks.
Idols are truely gorgeous fish, I feel they are by far the best looking fish there is. Unfortunately we have a long way to go and a lot to learn about them. If I get another chance to dive with them I want to collect some of the sponge they are eating and I would also like to find some babies in the sea. I haven't seen any young ones only adults. I don't know at what age they find a mate. I would also like to learn about their breeding behavior not that I believe they could ever spawn in a tank but any information learned about these fish will help.
I know there is only one classification of Idols (Zanclas) (sp?) but I will swear that many of them look different to me. I think there are at least two classes of them but that is just me.
You need to get all of those Idols eating different foods, they will not live long on nori alone.
Good luck.
Paul

 

[Deanos]

Update? :scratch:

 

[PalmTree]

I love the pics. Idols are very relaxing and comforing to the eye. It must be a combination of their soothing colors and soft flow in movements. Great insight Paul. Hope mom is doing better.

 

[Paul B]

P.S. Hey Paul B. do you have some frozen sponge leftover?????

Actually I do have some sponge left over but you are a long way from me to get sponge. I am in New Hyde Park Long Island.
Paul

 

[Nsr250NYC]

keeping them well fed is very important. when i had my idol, i had to feed it couple times a day, variety of food. but it died when i went away on a trip. i guess diet play a main thing in idol survival. I agree that idols are the best looking fish, especially when they have perfect streamers.

 

[SethKim]

5 Week Report

Its been 5 weeks since I got my M. Idols, and they give me both joy and pain...

I lost one 1 Idol on second week, it developed mouth infection/fungus and didn't survive the treatment.

So I have two M. Idols left
They don't touch my corals and I'm lovin it except that they fight viciously with one another @ rendezvou.
in terms with feeding? I've been successful with getting one to feed an all frozen, but the other one still refuses to feed on frozen,

I'm still trying, but no food stimulates his appetite other than Nori, so I've been soaking Nori on silcon, and vitamin etc.

What to do, are they fighting because there is only two of them???
What is my option???? get more moorish idol? if not separate them?
what a headache....

But boy what a joy they give me...