25 moorish idols

[scchase]

Lol Pablo I buy your food by the bucket, just have a few fish that won't eat it ie Bangaiis and the like though I have had a few start to take it over the years.

 

[Pablo Tepoot]

Lol Pablo I buy your food by the bucket, just have a few fish that won't eat it ie Bangaiis and the like though I have had a few start to take it over the years.

Same here, Bangal cardinals are among a few fish that I have have a tough time getting them to eat pellets.

 

[Feet4Fish]

Moorish idols are extremely aggressive toward their own kind. You are better off keeping one only. 2 or 3 will definitely ended up killing each other. 7 will definitely consider a large group.

Pablo - I am setting up a 650 gallon FOWLR. DO you think with that volume I could keep 7+ or more happy?

 

[Silent]

I could not imagine having 25 of them. Here is mine with a filtered pic.

 

[Pablo Tepoot]

It's very difficult to obtain heathy moorish idols, they are usually come in emaciated. Idols are a very slow eaters, so the tank mate has to be more docile and slow eaters as well.
As far as food goes, make sure it is nutrient dense and water stable without disintegrating quickly. In my other aggressive eaters aquarium, all the food are consume in less than 1 minute, while moorish idols will take up to 5 minutes to consume their food.
notice in my idols aquarium I kept 3 cowfish and 3 tang only. I am planing to get one of my favorite fish- flying gunard, it's also a slow eaters.

 

[Pablo Tepoot]

I could not imagine having 25 of them. Here is mine with a filtered pic.

Don't feel bad! As I stated on my first post based on my research, the only other group were kept in 6.3 gallons of water in Georgia Aquarium. the reason I started this thread is to prove that with proper nutritions, even the difficult fish can be kept with long term health. my group is going on 20 months and I expect to keep them for a long time. Fish nutrition is one of the most important aspect after water quality.

 

[Paul B]

I spent quite a bit of time in the sea with Moorish Idols and they are one of the most common fish in the South Pacific. There they live on dying seaweed, sponges and mulm, things that few other fish will eat. They graze constantly and have a mate which follows the male (I think) about 100 yards back. I don't know how they find each other,but they do and when the mate shows up at a sponge, the "male" leaves the sponge to the female and swims off to find more.

 

[awwinterfall]

How did you train them to eat pellets? Mine wouldn't eat pellets, when I had them.

It's very difficult to obtain heathy moorish idols, they are usually come in emaciated. Idols are a very slow eaters, so the tank mate has to be more docile and slow eaters as well.
As far as food goes, make sure it is nutrient dense and water stable without disintegrating quickly. In my other aggressive eaters aquarium, all the food are consume in less than 1 minute, while moorish idols will take up to 5 minutes to consume their food.
notice in my idols aquarium I kept 3 cowfish and 3 tang only. I am planing to get one of my favorite fish- flying gunard, it's also a slow eaters.

 

[Silent]

Mine eats pellets also. Part of my varied diet.

 

[n21benson]

This is an update on my moorish idols. I took this video tonight- Jan. 30, 2020. Any variety of NLS will do the job. The best pellet should be 1mm or 2mm.

Absolutely amazing! My tank love NLS. Thank you!

 

[Pablo Tepoot]

An interview from coral magazine: https://www.reef2rainforest.com/2020/05/20/video-moorish-idol-shoal-two-years-in-captivity/

 

[unklez]

My MI that I have for 1.5 months now is a very agressive feeder and dominant in the tank with 2 clownfish, copperband and banggai cardinal. This Idol doesnt like the presence of other fish especially the copperband probably because I'm keeping them in a 55 gallon. I'm thinking of giving the copperband that I had for 7 months back to LFS, its very fat and healthy.

I've been feeding the MI and other fish with 2x half mussels a day and 1x nori. But since 2 days I've been giving it NLS pellets and its taking it out of the water column with ease. So I'm going to cut down on the mussels except my copperband isnt fond of pellets.

Also 1 mussel fills my skimmer 1/3rd of a cup thats crazy imo no other food like mysis or whatever does this.

 

[sde1500]

My MI that I have for 1.5 months now is a very agressive feeder and dominant in the tank with 2 clownfish, copperband and banggai cardinal. This Idol doesnt like the presence of other fish especially the copperband probably because I'm keeping them in a 55 gallon. I'm thinking of giving the copperband that I had for 7 months back to LFS, its very fat and healthy.

I've been feeding the MI and other fish with 2x half mussels a day and 1x nori. But since 2 days I've been giving it NLS pellets and its taking it out of the water column with ease. So I'm going to cut down on the mussels except my copperband isnt fond of pellets.

Also 1 mussel fills my skimmer 1/3rd of a cup thats crazy imo no other food like mysis or whatever does this.

I'd be hard pressed to say that 55 gallons is adequate capacity for either of MI or CB on their own, let along together. Competition for space and food certainly can lead to aggression.

 

[Gp!]

This is an update on my moorish idols. I took this video tonight- Jan. 30, 2020. Any variety of NLS will do the job. The best pellet should be 1mm or 2mm.

How are your idols doing these days?

 

[Jase4224]

Wandering the same thing.. great to get them feeding but how is their long term survival rate?

 

[Paul B]

The last one I had only lived for 5 years which is a complete failure.

 

[Jase4224]

The last one I had only lived for 5 years which is a complete failure.

Do you know what killed it? Did it show symptoms or just die suddenly? I understand you feed live white worms and clams a lot but what greens + other foods do you feed? Sorry about all the Q’s just curious! I enjoyed your chat with Humblefish but can’t remember all of it..

 

[Gp!]

Guys! His tank is awesome. I was just hem hawing around to see new pictures =)

 

[Piscans]

i def think NLS is good for fish. if i were to keep a big group of moorish idols, id probably want to use a sunlight tank with a lot of algae. if my tank was a lot bigger (in the ballpark of 1000g), its got lots of sponges tunicates algae, etc, id be confident to keep a group of idols

 

[Paul B]

Do you know what killed it?

No I don't. But moorish Idols do that in captivity. In 4 or 5 years they just waste away, lose weight and die for no apparent reason. I don't think anyone has kept them for their entire lifespan in a home tank.

They are voracious eaters so that is not the problem. But in the sea they graze all day on dying algae and sponge, foods we can't provide at home.