Moorish Idol... Getting one.

reef diver

Active Member
Originally Posted by Pallan
one of my local LFS will not carry or even order this fish. He has worked in the public aqurium sector and says even large zoo aquariums have trouble with this fish.
that said. Glad he is doing well. please keep us updated. someday one of us is going to figure out how to keep this animal.
I hope so.
 

eaglephot

Member
Originally Posted by zjhoward
I just hope someone tells him how hard Idols are to keep again


That was very funny. Wow! This section has become a pretty good thing. There are some great posts (and bad posts
). This is a good thing for everyone who is looking at having a MI in captivity to look at. I think it has been a month or so since I have been on SF.com. Its been too long. The Idol isn't doing to well which is sad to say. Yes I know. You shouldn't have bought the fish. Well, I knew what I was getting into when I bought it and the pet store WON'T be getting anymore in as they are closing soon. I do havepics that I will post when I can figure out how to move pics from one computer to this one. Thanks for all the posts and KEEP posting with your good advice to help people decide NOT to take these beautiful fish from the ocean where they belong. Yes yes I know, then why did you buy one? If you asked that question go to the top of this section and read it again.
 

rykna

Active Member
Originally Posted by 1journeyman
Exotic, imho, usually goes hand in hand with "improper pet".
Like Gill said "Fish aren't meant to be kept in tanks kid , it does stuff to ya".
 

scotty37

Member
Our local fish store constantly has moorish idols in stock, in a 55 gallon tank. Hes sold several pairs out into 55-95 gallon tanks with not one death so far in the 6 months hes been doing it. Only reason he tried was just for the challenge. He keeps track of all of them. Hes noticed that as long as there are 2 together, they have been very easy to keep. Completely opposite from everything I have ever heard.
 

ophiura

Active Member
6 months is nothing. Idols very commonly, quite commonly in fact, live a year, and die suddenly at that point. If he has lost nothing in a year in a half...
first, I will say he is trying to sell something
Second, I will say he is outright lying (statistically it does not work out...even "hardy" fish would be expected to have some mortality rate in that time period)
If he has lost a few in that year and a half, then there might be something to it all. However, these are still not fish (especially 2) for tanks under 100g. They are just large fish.
 

xdave

Active Member
He is also not counting the ones that died at the capture site, on the boat trip to the collection station, or the trip to the distributors. That one fish in his tank represents at least 100 that died in the process, and that is an understatement.
 

ophiura

Active Member
And I don't know about everyone else, but I think more than a few "LFS guys" have some slightly exaggerated stories. Not "the fish was this <________________________> big" but stories of keeping difficult fish without issue.
 

reef diver

Active Member
I agree. My LFS recently got an Idol in from a rescue shipment, because of the massive storm Denver suffered. HE promptly placed it into a display of his in store, but refuses to sell.
 

zoboo2

Member
Ok so for those of you that ARE keeping one let's see a pic all ready, or are you just telling "fish stories"?
 

xdave

Active Member
Originally Posted by zoboo2
Ok so for those of you that ARE keeping one let's see a pic all ready, or are you just telling "fish stories"?

Anybody can buy one and take it's picture. I want to see a pic from when they got it and one from a year later.
 
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