Anyone experienced with Moorish Idol?

All the huge aquariums that have MI's admit they replace them often and can't get them to last in captivity.

 

Yea I lost him guys. It was a tragic event that cuased the death of 3 fish and a coupe weeks of recovery. Snail got caught in overflow and made 80% of the tank water collect on the floor. For 5-6 hours much of the rock was exposed and fish were pretty much swimming on their sides in the few inches of water left in there.

So yea, very painful loss, a happy MI was truley a joy to see. Also lost a very active Powder Blue that was eating 5 times as much algae as my Blenny. I mourned them and the tank has returned to ideal again. Actually its better than ever with the Ca reactor up and running. I will get those two guys replaced though. According to my observations, theres no reason to believe I cant have another MI that will be content in my tank. Besides as soon as I can get the front panel sanded and polished, Ill be replacing my 75 with a 240. After that its just a matter of supplying outstanding nutrition for the fish. Thats the #1 life limiting factor with ornamental fish, aside from poor water quality. You just gotta feed and soak like crazy IMO. A wide variety of foods, soaked in vitamins and garlic fed 3+ times a day. I have a ridiculously oversized filtration system to account for all this feeding so when I get the new MI, Ill update this thread. Thanks for your interest all

 

Sorry for your loss. It always sucks to lose these beautiful fish.

I have had a lot of experience with idols.

There are 3 keys to success, IMO.
The first may be obvious, but you need to start with one from Hawaii. There are lots floating around from Indonesia that have a virtually 0% chance of survival.
Second, you need to start with smaller ones. The large ones are MUCH more difficult to adapt to captivity.
Third, you need to buy from a source as close up the supply chain as possible. They don't ship particularly well, and tend to break down in transit. If you can buy from a supplier that gets them direct from Hawaii, then the trip to you will be their 2nd time travelling. If you get them from a local store that got them from a distributor that got them from a big distributor in CA....you get the point.

In my 420 FOLR, I had the pleasure of having one 4 1/2 years.
It started about 3-4".
When it finally passed, it was a magnificent 8" specimen.
Fed primarily on frozen mysis soaked in selcon.

HTH.

 

The ones from Indonesia are probably cyanide caught. That probably has more to do with it than anything.

I think the shorter time in transit does play a big role too, but if you get one from the west coast and it comes direct from Fiji or Hawaii or similar place, I would imagine the success rate would be the same. When they get air shipped and only wait over night in a box, it should not matter if it is from Hawaii or other S Pacific island where they live.

Now if you don't live on the west coast, and right in LA or other shipping hub , it will have to go into a holding facility or be shipped out again. if they really ship that badly, then that would definitely play into the low success rate.

Did your MI eat sponges? I have seen tons of them in the wild eating only sponges.

 

mine didn't, but I didn't offer it

 

Jc how is your tank set up that a snail caused 80% of the water to drain onto the floor? Do you not have an over flow box?

If a snail clogged my overflow I would lose all the water in the return chamber of the sump, but it would be limited to about 10 gal.

 

yeah i dont quite get how all the water drained out?

wouldn't it just flood the floor with the fuge sump water? then if the snail moved the water would drain down below the overflow?

something doesn't add up here.

i don't know how you're setting up your tanks but this was a disaster waiting to happen... i'm shocked with as much care you've taken to feed your animals that you wouldn't have something like basic plumbing covered.

not trying to beat you up over it... i'm just surprised is all.