Moorish Idol

DeepSeaIllusions · Jan 12, 2014

Hi everyone,

One of my clients wants to a moorish idol (maybe two) for his aquarium. It's an 8ft wide, 2ft high and 2ft deep.

What do you guys think. At one point these beauties were regarded as one of most difficult to keep fish. Is this still a current statement or has this been changed.

What about keeping them in pairs?

Thanks again

Mtnbikedan01 · Jan 12, 2014

I see a lot more people keeping these fish but I also hear of them destroying reef tanks mainly going after zoas.

DeepSeaIllusions · Jan 12, 2014

People used to say they have problems getting them to eat.

Eienna · Jan 12, 2014

They are still difficult. The availability of live foods and a variety of quality frozens has improved that somewhat, however.

Tell them to talk to nicewrasse here on the forums. He makes sure all his fish are eating frozens well and are healthy before sending them out. He'd probably offer the best chance and asks reasonable prices, especially considering the care they get.

As far as feeding them after they've arrived (assuming they already eat frozens) I would recommend Reef Frenzy and, if you can get them to take it, New Life Spectrum pellets. They may also be interested in Nutramar Ova, though I have not personally tried keeping Idols; most fish seem to find eggs a special treat and even frozen (thawed first) it looks natural to them.

JMSKI333 · Jan 12, 2014

I would keep an eye out on Live Aquariua as well for a pair or something. That would be ideal and probably increase your chancing of getting a healthy fish. I feel ordering through a LFS and taking a chance on a wild caught one would end badly.

Eienna · Jan 12, 2014

JMSKI333 said:
I would keep an eye out on Live Aquariua as well for a pair or something. That would be ideal and probably increase your chancing of getting a healthy fish. I feel ordering through a LFS and taking a chance on a wild caught one would end badly.

I have to disagree, to an extent. Liveaquaria does okay, but they still deal with a large volume of orders and animals. Problems can easily be overlooked. Also, I do believe they list Moorish Idols as expert-only, which means they will not honor the usual guarantee. Nicewrasse takes good care of his customers, from what I hear (I have not yet ordered from him, personally.)

tyler1503 · Jan 12, 2014

My nearest public aquarium has a wild caught moorish idol. They said he was easy to look after, as were others they've had in the past. Getting them to eat is the biggest issue, try spirulina gut loaded live mysis and purple nori, then slowly phase in frozen mysis till it takes the frozens every time without delay.
I wouldn't put them in a reef though. Zoas are a tasty snack

Grissino · Jan 12, 2014

I'd also go with Nicewrasse.

DeepSeaIllusions · Jan 13, 2014

Problem is that we are based in London, UK. So we have to get them in from the sellers over here.

So for us it is more important how we get them to start feeding and if it is possible to keep them in pairs. The client has hard corals. No softies or zoa's so that is a good thing in this case I see.

ssbkm23 · Jan 13, 2014

I've had mine for nearly a year now. Eats everything I throw in the tank.
I think collection method and transit time plays a big part on how they settle into life in a tank.

Mine however nips at sps coral. Some days are worse than others but it hasn't gotten bad enough yet to make me think about removing it.

Reefer93105 · Jan 13, 2014

My MI would did not eat for 28 days. It survived nipping sponges on my live rock. During that 28 day period it was covered in ick. Tried frozen mysis, nori, spectrum pellets with no sucess. Eventually I tried black mussels from local seafood market and it went to town. It recovered and acclimated to my tank and tankmates. Kept the mussel diet for two weeks and introduced peeled whole shrimp and oysters. Also bought an orange tree sponge for it to nip at. In my experience try finding the first type of food it would eat then slowly ween to different types of food. Now it eats nori, mussels, shrimp, scallop, or oysters. Sometimes frozen mysis. Still it won't eat pellets. My observation is my MI doesn't like to eat floating food. It have to be clipped onto something. They are grazers in the wild. This is the second MI I tried. The first was too small and my tangs just harassed it all the time. Also try putting a large mirror in front of the tank to distract other fishes that would harass it. The mirror trick worked when adding my MI and Achilles Tang.
As for nipping at corals, they do. Mine nips at my acros from time to time. I have a large 7 year old chalice that it loves to nip at. I hope this chalice recovers. As long as it doesn't nip at my collector's chalice it can stay in the tank.

DeepSeaIllusions · Jan 13, 2014

So they are still difficult to get the to start feeding but when they do they will feed well. What about keeping them in pairs? Also if you guys have any pictures or video's of these beauties in your display tank, please post them so we can see them in action.

landshark777 · Jan 13, 2014

Moorish Idols dont live very long in captivity.....:-(

DeepSeaIllusions · Jan 13, 2014

Would it be better to try to get it to feed in a QT or feeding by example. When I added a flame angel to my personal Display Tank, I had first in a QT. Problem was that it did not start feeding. I tried a lot of stuff. But until I put it in my DT and it saw the other fish eat, things turned around.

DeepSeaIllusions · Jan 13, 2014

Landshark777 how long do they live for?

Eienna · Jan 13, 2014

What I would suggest is to put one or two less expensive, peaceful fish that are eating well in with it. That way you don't compromise a lot of fish, but they still get the example. Fish well-used to captivity are best.

When I got my pair of Bartlett's anthias, they were too spooked to eat at first. Then I put my young and fearless pair of tank-bred ocellaris in with them and that got them feeling comfortable enough to try what was being offered. Now they're piggies.

A similar thing has happened with my rummynoses in FW. They shock easily from fear, so the first two weeks in a new tank carries a very high mortality rate. However, I've noticed that if I already have one in the intended tank which has been there for a while and is relaxed and healthy, the new guys will take their cues from it. They do much better because they feel it's safe to relax. This is one of the very few fish I'll skip QT with for that reason (unless the established specimen is living in the QT...)

Freshwater diseases are generally much easier to treat because you don't have corals or inverts (usually) to worry about. For SW I'd go with what I mentioned before. Getting the example fish used to the proposed QT first is a good idea too. With my clowns it wasn't needed. Those two know no fear XD

johnnymu · Jan 13, 2014

Get Morish Idols from Hawaii don't get the one's from East Asia. If you can get more than one, the success rate is much better. Like previous poster posted use mussels, clams, oysters to entice them to eat. Hide pellets, mysis, brine any kind of other options inside the mussels so the fish can accidentally eat them. Finally, Pray!

good luck

Eienna · Jan 13, 2014

johnnymu said:
Get Morish Idols from Hawaii don't get the one's from East Asia. If you can get more than one, the success rate is much better. Like previous poster posted use mussels, clams, oysters to entice them to eat. Hide pellets, mysis, brine any kind of other options inside the mussels so the fish can accidentally eat them. Finally, Pray! good luck

Wasn't that one of the fish hawaii banned the collection of?

DeepSeaIllusions · Jan 13, 2014

What about the length of life in captivity? Do you guys second what landshark777 said, that they don't live long in captivity....

tyler1503 · Jan 13, 2014

DeepSeaIllusions said:
Would it be better to try to get it to feed in a QT or feeding by example. When I added a flame angel to my personal Display Tank, I had first in a QT. Problem was that it did not start feeding. I tried a lot of stuff. But until I put it in my DT and it saw the other fish eat, things turned around.

+1
I've heard this about cobberbands and ribbon eels too. I guess seeing other fish eat their food kicks in a survival instinct. Survival of the fittest

The public aquarium had there's last winter, which mean he was collected the summer before (they're only found locally in summer) which means at the moment he's been in captivity atleast 2 years. I figured ice they eat reliably, they're pretty hardy.