moorish idol
- Thread starter shrmnator
- Start date
sharkbait9
Active Member
Moorish idol’s do not really belong in the saltwater hobby per say. Me personally would not try one.
As gorgeous as they are, a lot still needs to be learned about them. I give your friend a lot of credit for being able to keep one for 6 years in captivity. For all any of us know your friend may be hold a “special one” or has learned what to do.
You should ask your friend to write about his experience with the Moorish idol and post it on hear for perspective keepers to read and maybe learn a thing or two.
As gorgeous as they are, a lot still needs to be learned about them. I give your friend a lot of credit for being able to keep one for 6 years in captivity. For all any of us know your friend may be hold a “special one” or has learned what to do.
You should ask your friend to write about his experience with the Moorish idol and post it on hear for perspective keepers to read and maybe learn a thing or two.
wilsonreef
Member
I would like to have one too. Unfortunately, everything I've read or heard about them is that they are near impossible to keep. Just like your friend has shown there are times when the exception rules. I'm sure everyone gives a hat's off to your friend for keeping one for so long. That is not the case 99.9% of the time. I will wait until someone comes up with a cure on how to successfully keep them. After all it has been said before this hobby takes a lot of PATIENCE....
seannmelly
Active Member
The longest time I've heard of someone keeping a moorish idol is 2 years and counting. I would love to have one myself but, I have a full reef and don't want to take the chance. However, at the lfs I work at we have 2 and they were extremely stressed from being shipped. Now, they eat anything you give them!! Brine shrimp, formula 2, omega one pellets, zoecon enriched pellets...
sharkbait9
Active Member
Originally Posted by alyssia
Your friend is actually the only person I have heard of that has had success with the Moorish Idol.
Maybe for you. I have seen and heard of other veteran keepers having great success with Moorish idols. Moorish idols are one of a few fish that definitely need a large tank and have a very specific diet that can not be altered. I have told that strict dedication and the willingness to locate and use the foods to feed them along with other proper husbandry.
Your friend is actually the only person I have heard of that has had success with the Moorish Idol.
Maybe for you. I have seen and heard of other veteran keepers having great success with Moorish idols. Moorish idols are one of a few fish that definitely need a large tank and have a very specific diet that can not be altered. I have told that strict dedication and the willingness to locate and use the foods to feed them along with other proper husbandry.
anthropo
Member
Originally Posted by fanker
idols arent impossible, its just that some are sutable for a fish tank and some arent. if u want one than if u are getting one from a store than ask them to hold it as long as they can and just keep an eye on it and if it eats well than it will usually live,
idols are very close to impossible unless you have a huge tank and the food that it needs to live...sponge being part of that. even then a lot of them will die. these are fish best left in the ocean until we know more about how they need to be taken care of instead of taking a shot at it hoping they survive. if you don't buy it at the store they won't order it.
idols arent impossible, its just that some are sutable for a fish tank and some arent. if u want one than if u are getting one from a store than ask them to hold it as long as they can and just keep an eye on it and if it eats well than it will usually live,
idols are very close to impossible unless you have a huge tank and the food that it needs to live...sponge being part of that. even then a lot of them will die. these are fish best left in the ocean until we know more about how they need to be taken care of instead of taking a shot at it hoping they survive. if you don't buy it at the store they won't order it.
teen
Active Member
Originally Posted by fanker
idols arent impossible, its just that some are sutable for a fish tank and some arent. if u want one than if u are getting one from a store than ask them to hold it as long as they can and just keep an eye on it and if it eats well than it will usually live,
thats not true. like 99.99% arent suitable for tanks. just because it eats at the lfs doesnt mean go ahead and buy it, its gunna live. where did you get this information from?
shrmnator: what size tank does your friend have?
idols arent impossible, its just that some are sutable for a fish tank and some arent. if u want one than if u are getting one from a store than ask them to hold it as long as they can and just keep an eye on it and if it eats well than it will usually live,
thats not true. like 99.99% arent suitable for tanks. just because it eats at the lfs doesnt mean go ahead and buy it, its gunna live. where did you get this information from?
shrmnator: what size tank does your friend have?
fanker
Active Member
i got that from a lfs that has had morish idols in a 300g fish tank for before i started going there, and they siad that they get batches of them in and more than half of them eat aquarium food, and have no problem in the aquarium...and this isnt a nother crappy lfs, they build all there own setups and we just bought a full set up for 10 grand, they specialize in reef, and salt water. and they know more than any of us here
barbiganti
Member
I was in a marine biology club in my junior high school in Colorado and one of the fish that got thrown in with one of the orders that our teacher advising us in the program put in was a Moorish Idol. We had a massive wipe out in one of our tanks after an initial success over 3 months, and the Morrish Idol was one of only three fish that survived it. Surprisingly enough, he was still alive by the time I moved away a full year later, and it didn't look like he was letting up either. I think what helped is having a tank full of live rock and offereing a diet with sponge-based foods. By the time I moved away, he had been weaned onto brine shrimp and copepods as well, and he started picking at some of the Caulerpa on our live rock, too. They just need to be watched closely, and weaned onto a captive diet very slowly. Even then, success can't be guaranteed, but the Moorish Idol isn't as impossible as some people insinuate. At least, not with my own experience.
shrmnator
Member
lol.. after i have read more about these fish and gotten private messages on other forums about em, even if u have one for 10 years and it dies, everyone still says it was unsuccessfull and that u should never have bought one!!
its too funny about how some people react about this fish! These people are worse then the tang police!
They sell Moorish Idols here on SWF.. so does that mean that we shouldnt buy them and just let them die in the store or stock tanks if purchasing online?? once they are out of the ocean, they are "doomed" according to some people! its rediculous!
its too funny about how some people react about this fish! These people are worse then the tang police!
They sell Moorish Idols here on SWF.. so does that mean that we shouldnt buy them and just let them die in the store or stock tanks if purchasing online?? once they are out of the ocean, they are "doomed" according to some people! its rediculous!
anthropo
Member
Originally Posted by shrmnator
lol.. after i have read more about these fish and gotten private messages on other forums about em, even if u have one for 10 years and it dies, everyone still says it was unsuccessfull and that u should never have bought one!!
its too funny about how some people react about this fish! These people are worse then the tang police!
They sell Moorish Idols here on SWF.. so does that mean that we shouldnt buy them and just let them die in the store or stock tanks if purchasing online?? once they are out of the ocean, they are "doomed" according to some people! its rediculous!
actually yes, reason being that if they get the picture that people won't buy them then they won't order them and then they won't be collected.
lol.. after i have read more about these fish and gotten private messages on other forums about em, even if u have one for 10 years and it dies, everyone still says it was unsuccessfull and that u should never have bought one!!
its too funny about how some people react about this fish! These people are worse then the tang police!
They sell Moorish Idols here on SWF.. so does that mean that we shouldnt buy them and just let them die in the store or stock tanks if purchasing online?? once they are out of the ocean, they are "doomed" according to some people! its rediculous!
actually yes, reason being that if they get the picture that people won't buy them then they won't order them and then they won't be collected.
teen
Active Member
Originally Posted by shrmnator
lol.. after i have read more about these fish and gotten private messages on other forums about em, even if u have one for 10 years and it dies, everyone still says it was unsuccessfull and that u should never have bought one!!
its too funny about how some people react about this fish! These people are worse then the tang police!
They sell Moorish Idols here on SWF.. so does that mean that we shouldnt buy them and just let them die in the store or stock tanks if purchasing online?? once they are out of the ocean, they are "doomed" according to some people! its rediculous!
no, if youve had one for 10 years then thats succesful. if people would stop buying them, then fish suppliers would realize that there not going to sell them and in turn stop buying them. and yes, even if swf.com sells them, i still feel you shouldnt buy one unless you have an extremely large tank, and have certain type of sponge available for them to eat.
swf.com also sells elegance corals, i dont reccomend buying one of those either, but the site still sells them.
lol.. after i have read more about these fish and gotten private messages on other forums about em, even if u have one for 10 years and it dies, everyone still says it was unsuccessfull and that u should never have bought one!!
its too funny about how some people react about this fish! These people are worse then the tang police!
They sell Moorish Idols here on SWF.. so does that mean that we shouldnt buy them and just let them die in the store or stock tanks if purchasing online?? once they are out of the ocean, they are "doomed" according to some people! its rediculous!
no, if youve had one for 10 years then thats succesful. if people would stop buying them, then fish suppliers would realize that there not going to sell them and in turn stop buying them. and yes, even if swf.com sells them, i still feel you shouldnt buy one unless you have an extremely large tank, and have certain type of sponge available for them to eat.
swf.com also sells elegance corals, i dont reccomend buying one of those either, but the site still sells them.