Moorish Idol - nighttime colors

[110reef]

Just thought I would post some pics of my Moorish Idol, in its nighttime colors.

Here is what it normally looks like:

And here are the nighttime colors:

Sorry about the pic quality. But I think it is interesting how the colors change at night (as they do for most fish)

 

[nayrgaijin]

Has he been a hard one to keep ?
I'm looking to do one in a 125 when mines ready.
Can you keep more than one at a time ?
Any info you can give me would be great, I hear they are 'finicky' (sp?)

They look so cool at night too.... haha

 

[MikeB]

How long have you had him? The success rate of these in home aquariums is not promising. Good luck and keep us posted

 

[110reef]

I ordered three Idols through a friend, thinking they may do better in a group, when I was setting up my 240 gallon tank. When they came in (Jan 22, 2009), my tank was not ready yet, so my friend held them in a sump of one of his tanks for about a month or two.

Well, being in a small area in a sump, two of the Idols ganged up on the other and picked on it til it died. Then the other two battled til there was only one left. So I have that one, I never took possession of the other 2 (or even saw them, the above pic was sent to me from my friend). I don't know if they would have been OK if they went into the 240 rather than in the close quarters of a sump, but I suspect they may have done better.

At any rate, I have had this one in my tank since March, so about 8 months now. I really love this fish, it is always swimming around, always looking out into the room and watching everything that goes on. It eats well, and I feed it mostly pellets, but also frozen foods including mysis and Rods food. Early on, it stopped eating for a day or two a couple of times, but I was always able to get it eating again with Rods food. However, the last 6 months, feeding has not been an issue. It is really a wimpy fish with no real defenses that I can see, so you can't keep it with anything aggressive. I have it with an Asfur Angel, a Yellow Coris Wrasse, a rabbitfish, a Firefish, 3 Blue Devils and a Royal Gramma. The Asfur Angel chases the Moorish Idol unmercifully, but the Idol just takes it in stride. Another thing is the Moorish Idol has developed a taste for zoas and palys, and has pretty much wiped out all my zoas and palys. Otherwise, it has not bothered any of my other corals.

Also, it came down with a mild case of ich a few weeks ago. It looks to be mostly gone now, but it still has a few spots. It never stopped eating the whole time.

So, to-date I am extremely happy with this fish, it has been great. I hope it continues to thrive as it has so far. I don't want to recommend it for everyone to go get one, but it has really far exceeded my expectations so far. By the way, I have been keeping saltwater fish for over 35 years now, so don't think I am some newbee guy recklessly trying my hand at such a difficult fish...

 

[nayrgaijin]

Another thing is the Moorish Idol has developed a taste for zoas and palys, and has pretty much wiped out all my zoas and palys.

I don't like that part

 

[J&O'sdad]

Good luck with that fish. You seem to be doing something right for now.

 

[110reef]

I don't like that part

Yeah, I hear ya. But in my tank, the Idol comes first. I didn't have many zoos or palys in there to start, and now I have almost none.

 

[The Nomad]

Cool pics Ken! Did he eat all of the green palys you got from me?

 

[110reef]

Troy -

He has tried hard to eat them. I think there are still around three polyps that are alive, but they stay closed up. I relocated them to a more secluded spot in hopes that the Idol won't see them and maybe it will leave them alone. Over the past few days they have partially opened back up, but aren't looking too good. Hopefully they will recover. They sure are tough!

 

[110reef]

Good luck with that fish. You seem to be doing something right for now.

I have been pleasantly surprised as to how well the fish is doing. I hope it continues to do well, it is by far one of my favorite fish I have ever had.

I have heard all the stories about how they don't live long etc. But its all good so far knock on wood.

By the way, I don't want to make this thread a debate about to keep or not to keep a Moorish Idol. Just wanted to show nighttime coloration of this beautiful fish.

 

[110reef]

Another thing that I think I should mention with the Moorish Idol is that it doesn't seem to eat a lot all at one time. I think it does best if you feed it a little but often. Once it settles into tank life for a while, you can get by with feeding it a little less often, but I still think its capacity for storing food in its stomach is limited and it needs to basically eat all day.

Any other questions on my observations are welcome, since I guess I seem to be having good success with this fish so far.

 

[110reef]

Thought I would give an update - Moorish Idol is still doing well, coming up on a year in my tank. I have been seeing other people being successful with this fish lately. Maybe the collecting methods have improved or shipping methods or something, but I have heard of far more success stories than failures on keeping this fish in the past two years.

And, by the way, my Moorish Idol seems to eat byropsis, which is more than I can say for any other creature I have had in the tank. Not enough to put a dent in it, but it definitely eats it...

 

[stunreefer Verified Sponsor]

Nice streamer on that guy Ken!

IMHO, people are doing more research on fish they buy due to forums and such, and many LFS don't bring in nearly as many of these as they used to (meaning less bad stories from inadequately prepared aquarists). They not necessarily a hard fish to keep, they're a hard fish to adapt, and they need to be in good shape upon receipt.

 

[fenderguy1]

Congrats a year wow, If i ever have a big tank that is top on my list of fish. Any new pics

 

[110reef]

Nice streamer on that guy Ken!

Thanks, but the thing I have found with the Idol is the streamer gets long then falls off, or gets bitten off or something. Anyway, it gets shorter from time to time, then grows back again. So currently, the streamer isn't as long as in my avatar. But it is growing again!

 

[110reef]

Congrats a year wow, If i ever have a big tank that is top on my list of fish. Any new pics

I haven't taken any new pics lately except with my cell phone, the quality of which is horrendous. If I take pics with my point and shoot, the quality improves some, but still isn't very good.

This is one of the more recent pics I have, as you can see it is terrible...

 

[fenderguy1]

Its works Thanks!

 

[Blackhawk Fan]

I would feed him fizzy lizzy's if it kept him alive. I love moorish idol's. That is so awesome you have kept one for so long.


Maybe one day you could make a movie of him swimming around the tank.

 

[110reef]

I would feed him fizzy lizzy's if it kept him alive. I love moorish idol's. That is so awesome you have kept one for so long.


Maybe one day you could make a movie of him swimming around the tank.

Haven't tried Fizzy Lizzys! :bigsmile: It eats pellets and flakes mostly. Very un-picky eater.

Making a movie would be something new for me. May try it if I get a chance, though the quality will likely be bad. I think the lens on my cell phone is scratched, the pictures it takes are just awful. of course, some of it is my lack of skill, but still, the cell phone is truly lousy.

 

[110reef]

I had two they lasted about two weeks!
Money down the drain!!!!!!!!!

Well, thats why I really don't encourage anyone to get one, necessarily. I am just saying that this particular one is doing really well for me and that it is a great fish personality-wise, has so far been easy to keep, and it looks great. Sorry to hear of your trouble.