Moorish Idol

[PootyTang]

Okay,
So I've heard everything bad about Moorish Idols. I am well aware that 99% of the time, nobody can get them to eat with any kind of gusto, if at all, in captivity. I have come across, however, an extremely healthy fish who has been at my LFS for a month and at the wholesaler's for a month as well. At both places it has been eating very well, is quite plump and as a bonus, hasn't been touching corals. In what may sound like an excuse, but what is actually a legitimate point, please keep in mind that I live in a very small town and that I legitimately am the only person here with the system to maintain this fish, we do not have a public aquarium within 500 miles, so it's either the fish comes home with me or it stays in the 60 gallon in the store. Preventative ramblings aside, I was wondering if anyone might be able to offer advice for the care of the fish, anything you can tell me about how I can ensure its health and happiness would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you so much for your help

 

[DrHank]

I understand your position and certainly recommend that you not purchase the fish. Having said that:

Moorish Idol Fish Information

Saltwater Aquarium Fish for Marine Aquariums: Moorish Idol

Moorish Idol - Zanclus cornutus

Hopefully this will discourage you but if not, I wish you the best. Honestly, the only way to discourage collection of extremely difficult fishes is not to buy them. I know that the fish will die in the LFS tank (and that is a shame) but as long as the owner has a demand, s/he will continue to buy.

 

[PootyTang]

DrHank,
I completely understand your sentiment. From the start I had said that I would not purchase this fish for the same reasons you stated. I should mention as well that my LFS has actually felt the same way since he opened the store and told me the first day I went there that we refused to order the fish. This fish was actually delivered to him by mistake when he attempted to order bannerfish. He has already told me that this will be the first and last moorish idol I see at his store (and as I said before, he has no real reason to order further fish as none of his customers can support one, he will not purchase fish unless he knows the aquarium can support them). I'm not trying to argue DrHank, I just wanted you to know that I am certainly not in the habit of taking chances with fish, and saw this as simply a situation where the rules required a little bending.

 

[Frankie]

Your tank is not even large enough to support a Moorish Idol. I would not recommend anyone with less water volume then a 300 gallon extremely mature system over ran with multiple species of sponges.
Let me give you another reason why you should not introduce this fish to your tank, disease. As the fish declines it will become susceptible to all kinds of diseases and parasites that in turn will flourish and get your other fish sick. Don't get it not just for the sake of the species but for the sake of your current fishes health~

 

[ReefnLot]

If your a risk taker i'd do it, but personally I wouldnt touch it.

 

[DrHank]

I'd agree with Frankie. I've got a 3 1/2 year old 200 gallon tank mixed reef with at least 4 species of sponge and I wouldn't try it. Think about it. Could you actually be buying it for the wrong reason? To me, it wouldn't be worth the chance.

 

[PootyTang]

Out of curiosity, would the idol eat sponges? I have a couple different ones in there, will it eat them? if so, is that a reasonable (although) expensive way to feed them?

 

[DaveK]

I had a moorish idol about 6 or 7 years ago. Like you, I did see it eat a lot at the LFS, and the fish did look good. I put it in my 125 gal reef and it continued to feed well. The fish did well until it choked on a large kril.

I did find that it was a very timid, high strung fish. It need plenty of places to hide, and it's got to be in a tank where it's going to get plenty of time to be out without something in the room scaring it back into the rocks. It helps to have a lot of large holes and areas it can go into. It also helps if you have a long tank, say 6 foot long, compared to a 4 foot long tank. Think of the way tangs go about, multiply by a factor of about 5, and you'll have a rough idea of what a moorish idol will do.

I found that the fish would eat many frozen and fresh foods, especially brine shrimp, mysis shrimp, and blood worms. Yes, they will eat sponges. This is usually not a problem in a reef, since few of us specifically keep them. They also will devour soft corals, especially leather corals. No doubt an excellent food, but it's tough on the corals.

If you read the links referred to in Dr Hank's excellent post, and realize what you are getting involved with, and are willing to set up your tank to accommodate and maintain this fish, and willing to risk your soft corals, I'd say go for it.

In other words, you must have a specific plan for keeping the fish. This can not be a "well, I'll try it and see how it works out" kind of thing.

 

[PootyTang]

Hey everyone!
Thought I'd post an update. So I did a whole lot of research on these fish and after alot of deliberation, decided that the only way I would do this was if I saw the fish eat New Life Spectrum Pellets. From what I've heard, alot of foods keep them alive for a couple of years, but only these specific pellets were good long-term. Sure enough, the Idol seemed to like these more than anything and I took him home that day. He's in a 5-foot long 125 gallon tank with a hepatus tang and pyramid angelfish being his only significant counterparts in the tank. I've had him for about a week now and he seems to be doing very well. He's still not as plump as I hope he will be, but he's by no means skinny. He did go on a hunger strike that had me terrified for about 3 days, but now he eats everything and I'm giving the pellets 2-3 times/day. Other than a small touch of lymphocytis, everything seems to be going great. Now I know that this is by no means a story of long term success (yet lol) I just wanted to update you.

 

[seafansar]

Way cool. If I was in your position, I would have bought the fish too. Sounds like you have a very responsible LFS. Good for them for trying to avoid hard to keep species, and good for you for trying to care for one when it had no other place to go. Take lots of pictures and keep us posted!

 

[Nowellsy SNR]

Thanks for the update been keeing an eye on this thread i love Idols! Try and get some pics of him would love to see him.....

Good luck

 

[Sapphire]

goood to hear (so far!)

 

[Frankie]

Hey everyone!
Thought I'd post an update. So I did a whole lot of research on these fish and after alot of deliberation, decided that the only way I would do this was if I saw the fish eat New Life Spectrum Pellets. From what I've heard, alot of foods keep them alive for a couple of years, but only these specific pellets were good long-term. Sure enough, the Idol seemed to like these more than anything and I took him home that day. He's in a 5-foot long 125 gallon tank with a hepatus tang and pyramid angelfish being his only significant counterparts in the tank. I've had him for about a week now and he seems to be doing very well. He's still not as plump as I hope he will be, but he's by no means skinny. He did go on a hunger strike that had me terrified for about 3 days, but now he eats everything and I'm giving the pellets 2-3 times/day. Other than a small touch of lymphocytis, everything seems to be going great. Now I know that this is by no means a story of long term success (yet lol) I just wanted to update you.

Thanks for the update. Keep doing research and reading on them. You will find a lot of info telling you not to attempt this fish but look past that and find the info that is going to help you learn how to possibly keep it.
I am not to sure about those pellets being the only food to feed and would also in addition to them feed other varied foods. You might also consider trying to grow your own sponges in a separate tank. Also there is a product by zeovit called SpongePower. I do not know what is in it but it sure does promote sponge growth in my sump and under the rocks in my display tank. My clams seem to benefit from it also. Check it out. Good luck!

 

[Witfull]

ok as a former idol keeper,,,i wish you luck,,,the odds are against you. one of the main issues is Idols are browsers. this means they have a small digestive tract that need to remain constant. one or two large feeding to make their belly fat does not constitute health. they need many,,,5-8 feedings a day of small, but beneficial diets. look into ocean nutrition angel formula, it has a moderately decent sponge diet,,,,best you can find. then go to your LFS and get a brain coral skeleton. slightly thaw the ocean nutrition food and press firmly in the coral skeleton. freeze. place in tank in a low flow area and allow him to browse. this is the best i can offer. they are VERY HARD FISH!!!

 

[Frankie]

I really like that idea about pressing food into a brain skeleton! I am going to try that for the tangs. I am sure I have some skeletons up on the victims shelf~

 

[Witfull]

Frankie,,,you know im a way outside the box thinker~

 

[PootyTang]

I'm going to try that idea with the brain and the pellets, see how it goes. But won't the pellets just rot? And in response to what was said earlier, yes I do have a very responsible LFS, in fact he's giving me the spectrum pellets for free in an attempt to keep the fish healthy.

 

[PootyTang]

Tried the brain coral with the food thing. It seems to work pretty well! My hepatus and butterfly don't go anywhere near it and the Idol seems to like it. The only problem I ran into was my shrimp and hermit crabs. I have 6 shrimp in the tank (2 scarlets, 2 blood shrimp and 2 coral banded) and they seemed to like it, although they didn't take ALL the food, they took a good chunk and then the hermit crabs got there like an hour later to clean up what was left (which the Idol probably couldn't have gotten anyway). But either way, I put 4 jumbo pellets on the brain coral, and I think the idol probably ate 2 or 3 over the course of an hour, which, combined with morning and night feedings should be pretty good, wouldn't you say?

 

[Witfull]

use the frozen ON angel formula. not pellets.

 

[Witfull]

im sorry for not being more specific, Ocean Nutrition frozen "large angel formula". they also make a dwarf angel formula,,,,much less sponge and more algae in that one.