Anyone experienced with Moorish Idol?

I know they are quite difficult to keep. But after having a 0% death rate for the past year where I had success with getting Copperband and Longnose Butterflys eating frozen food, I thought I could finally try to this fantastic fish. As the only one in its species, its also uniquely beautiful in its bold contrasting coloration and striking body type. After a 2 hour drip acclimation he was added to the tank. For the first hour the Powder Blue was all over him, but now they are at total ease with each other. I finally got the right combination of species after a few trades and now its a truley happy community. As for the Idol, he calmly cruises the tank and is actually behaving just like the Copperband at first. Trying to graze on the rock and ignoring all the different kinds of food I introduce. With the CBB I finally got him eating by using Garlic with live Blackworms. Then he started taking garlic-socked mysis and eventually frozen enriched brine shrimp.

I wonder if Ill have to go through the same process with the Idol. I do have some sponge growing in much of the rock but I dont see him trying to graze there. He seems to poke around in areas there is only turf (been feeding the xmas tree worms and feather dusters too much and got a phosphate spike) and Coralline. I actually heard these fish will eat Coralline and I found that interesting. Im especially interested in fish I can provide a sustained food source for, like the Tangs, Dragonets and Seahorse I have in my refugium. So success with this Moorish Idol wouldve been in my mind the pinnacle of fishkeeping experience. To keep a fish that now can feed itself on all the Coralline that has encrusted the tank would be great. But obviously Im oversimplifying the task at hand. Aside from what the lfs told me (which usually is extremely little) I have learned that they also eat sponge and some meaty foods like clam.

So i was thinking... what if in addition to trying to same sequence that worked with the CBB (garlic and live bloodworms), I tried dicing up some clam and mashing it together with some other kind of food. Then soaking it all in the garlic/vitamin drops. I was also thinking about adding the sponge dominated "Angel Formula" to the mix. I wouldnt mash that stuff up though, its way too soft and mushable.

has anyone had success in training a finicky Moorish Idol to take more readily available foods?

 

What size tank is he in??

 

125 gal

 

That's going to get tight for those three fish. I do wish you the best of luck though. That is one of the hardest fish to keep. Near impossible. Its not always getting them to eat that is the problem but keeping them eating. I have read numerous reports of people having success with them past a year only to have them mysteriously stop eating and die. CBB and LNB do not even compare to the difficulties of a mor idol.

You might try mashing some of the angel diet up and spreading it on some of the rock. This should simulate there normal rock grazing. Maybe mix some garlic in there to get it a taste of garlic to help switch it over to your other foods. Also try a fresh clam from the grocery store. Open it up some and place it on the sand. When its picked clean try putting some frozen food in it.

Best of luck to you.

 

I hope you have luck to i always thought about getting one.

 

they are really really tough fish!
Try artic pods or cyclops. Do you add garlic?
Try to feed a couple times a day (small amounts)

 

Thanks guys. They definetly should be avoided and Im feeling a lil guilty buying one. If I didnt have an oversize refugium with a DSB and Miracle Mud chambers and oversize sump with good skimmer, wetdry and bags of chemi pure, phoslock and carbon i wouldnt have thought about it. But the combination of all these methods has afforded me a good deal of success

I have him eating now. These fish are actually grazing machines. What I did was squash four different foods (Sprung's Purple Seaweed, Carnivore Cuisine, Frozen Prawn and Angel Formula) inside a plastic feeding grid and sealed the open end under a rock. He picked at this food for two hours til all that was left was some of the purple seaweed. He got help from the other fish but I think it actually enhanced his interest. I think this will be my preferred method of feeding as it closely resembles grazing situations for all the fish.

Im thinking Ill have to vary the foods I put in the grid constantly if I plan to get the MI to survive past the projected odds. I got lucky in that the steps that took place prior to him arriving in my tank were proper and as a result he was spunky, alert and grazing within an hour of introduction. I took 2 hours to acclimate him too. A steady drip in the dark, til I tripled the bag's origional volume, then dumped out 2/3s of that water and repeated 2 more times over 90 mins. So much of the battle is in just getting him from the ocean to your tank. After that i guess its a major nutrition issue and of course water quality.

If anyone else thinks of a staple, vital food that these fish are provided with in the ocean please let me know. I wanna get him every bit of the well rounded, ideal diet I possibly can.

Thanks again!

 

Congrats! You made it past the first hurdle. I hope you can set a new precedent in success with this fish. Keep us informed.

 

I wish you the best of luck they are beautiful fish that unfortunately in most cases should be left in the ocean. Have any pics of the Idol?

 

WHAT ARE YOU THINKING NOT POSTING PICS FOR US TO DROOL OVER!!!!!! we LOVE hearing about hard to keep fish success storys so pics are MANDATORY!!!