Moorish Idols

[rpam]

Does anyone have any experience with keeping Moorish Idols. I've heard in the past that they can be difficult to keep. I am in the process of setting up a 125 gal. and would like to keep one in my tank. If anyone has had success with this fish I would like to hear about it.

 

[shoer]

i am kinds new to this whole thing but i have read that they are next to impossible but i have never owned one

 

[robchuck]

I've been seeing them alot in LFS lately. I've known a few folks who've had them in their tanks, and they all claim that they could never get them to eat in captivity.

 

[silkks11]

I've kept one, the trick is to make sure that they are fed through transport, if they are when they arrive at your lfs they will eat. Mine ate brine but I soaked it in vitamins. It was also pick at the live rock and the seaweed selects. He would still be alive now if I didn't loose him and everyone else to a very long power outage. Now I have a generator so it isn't a problem anymore. But I'm going to try and keep 4 of them in my 450 when I get it, I plan to put a whole bunch of sponge and polyps into the tank to get the idol to eat. I think that I will have success with this plan. Best of luck to you in keeping one. They are SO hard

 

[saltysyd]

If you are hooked on the look of the moorish idol, maybe you should go for a longfin bannerfish. They look quite similar and I hear are much hardier and easier to keep. I don't have a pic but if you enter their name in your search engine you should get one.

 

[robchuck]

The Bannerfish are sometimes often referred to as Heniochus (part of their scientific name heniochus acuminatus) and are in the Butterfly family. SWF.com has some info, and a photo of them to the left.