Moorish idol

yup i agree w/ everyone here...the moorish idol is best left to expert aquarist with a huge tank or an establishment like shedd's aquarium..or furthermore...best left in the ocean....beautiful and tempting fish but best left in it's natural habitat...i think the movie Finding Nemo makes this fish out to be easier to take care of than shown in the movie lol

 

This fish was on many folks bucket list of fish before finding nemo was even thought of.

The MI is on my list, especially after seeing a ton of them while diving in Fiji.

I won't condone the attempt to keep a MI, but I will some day keep one, hopefully for a long time.

Heck, 10 years ago keeping anything but SW fish and easy corals was nearly impossible. Now sps are like weeds to people. So if we can keep SPS like thistles in a garden, I am sure MI's will be figured out eventually.

 

Actually, several people are already successfully keeping these fish. That being said, these people are EXTREMELY dedicated and are willing to take the extra time and effort that it requires to keep this fish alive. Large systems that are set up to specifically accomodate the fish, seeking out and providing proper food, choosing peaceful tankmates, etc. etc. Not everybody is willing to go the extra mile for a fish so unless a person is willing to do extensive research and take extra time out of every day to care for this fish, they will not succeed.

 

As a note, even the Heniochus can be a finicky fish like all butterflies. I would suggest buying local and making sure it is eating prepared food before bringing it home.

I am also on the "want a moorish idol" list, but I am going to save it until I can get the 375 up and running and it has matured enough to support one.

 

I think it's great that knowledgeable people are willing to put in the effort to keep MI's in captivity and keep the notes and do the reasearch to find ways to make it work. They're not a threatened species, they're just a very difficult fish to keep. There are lots of very difficult fish to keep. Any wild caught fish can have its problems with adapting to captivity.

That said I would bet more clown fish and mandarin dragonets die every year than MI's. In the case of clowns because they're cheap and the most commonly kept marine fish by a very large margin. (I refuse to watch Finding Nemo because I view it as part of a larger problem) Even though they're very hardy they can still be killed by people who just don't have what it takes, period. People who buy their 4 year old a clown fish and bring it home and put it in a goldfish bowl, for example. And the Mandarins because like MI's they've proven difficult to feed in many cases, and are simply more commonly available as an aquarium species. The only MI I have seen for sale was eating prepared food and was $100 or so. It's all a numbers game at that point.

Is the death of a MI more tragic than that of a clown or mandarin? Yeah, they can be bigger.... but a dead fish is a dead fish as long as their not endangered.

I suspect the big breakthrough for most fish, MI's included, will come with captive breeding. Given a large enough tank and proper husbandry I figure someone will eventually figure out how to captive breed MI's. Will it be soon? Who knows. Probably not.

If I get involved in this hobby enough I would be willing to try my hand at an MI, but it would be after months of studying them in depth, and talking to others who have succeeded in keeping them for several years. From what I know now I'd need at least a 400-500g tank, TONS of live rock with the right kind of life on them, AND lots of open water area for them to swim in. You can't put them in a small tank with a ton of live rock filling every cubic inch so they'll have enough to eat then not allow room for them to flap their fins. From my observation of them in the wild I know they need swimming room. They don't dwell on the reef, they school in open waters just off the reef and come into the reef to feed/breed/shelter.

Anyways, I fully agree with the initial discouragement re: keeping MI's, but it's also a fish worthy of study and building a knowledge base on. Just make sure you know what you're doing and why. If you want a pretty fish choose something else, if you want to practice marine biology and study them in captivity with the goal of keeping them alive longer - and can make the investment of time and money, then go for it.

 

Awesome man, glad I got to read that. I agree so much with you. MI are very impressive and great fish BUT they are for the knowledged whos seeking knowledge. The professors and biologist. K+ on last post