The Moorish Idol Thread - Page 2

MrMongoose · 06/09/2005, 06:22 PM

Yes its a free contary but for some its comparable to a homeless person adopting a child...its got no chance.

So I've elected myself as a member of the "Moorish Idol Placement Agency"

MIPA hehehe

zfunk007 · 06/10/2005, 11:14 AM

Very good points everyone. And don't worry i'm not jumping to conclusions just because my Moorish Idol is eating. But you do have another good point. Perhaps they need to live in a mated pair to do well. And I think we need to find out if it really is possible to tell the sexes apart cause if you could get a male and a female it may greaten their chances of living in captivity.

However I am of the belief that the bigger the tank the better your chances are. I have a 210 gallon tank that my Idol is in and I think its chances are better in a tank this size than if he was in a 100 gallon. Simply because he has more room to swim around. And obviously the bigger the more natural.

Your right MrMongoose it is VERY hard not to bash people because alot of people are in this hobby for the wrong reasons. I work at an LFS (im actually here now) and I hear and see all kinds of rediculous things. But like I said, I do my best to educate people instead of being hard on them.

As for my Idol, I have taken some more pics and I will post them when I get home tonight. He seems to be doing well. He is eating almost everything I put in now except for the pellets which he still isn't quite sure about. He seems very healthy and happy for the moment.

There is one thing that is bothering me though. He has a small white spot forming on the black part of his head on the left side. It's small and there are no other visible spots on him anywhere, so we'll see how it goes.

When I got him I broke from tradition and didn't quarantine him because he was a Moorish Idol and I wanted him to get into the best environment possible as quickly as possible. None of my other fish have ich and have all been very healthy and vibrant. So i'm hoping it will go away, whatever it is. We will see.

Paul B, another question, how many times a day do you feed your Idol? I'm a little worried because my lights don't come on till around 11 oclock in the morning and the days I have to work I leave before they come on. So on the days I work I will only be able to feed him at the most twice a day. I have been leaving some of the algae strips in the tank for him to munch on while im gone. And he seems to be going for them now. What do you think I should do?

Paul B · 06/10/2005, 02:00 PM

007 I think what you are doing is fine. Twice a day should be OK. I only feed mine twice during the week and sometimes only once. I have a very busy life and I can't really be there to feet him all day. I think I will get an automatic feeder though to dump some pellets in his feeding dish a few times a day until I come home to give hin plankton. Your 210 gallon tank should also be fine, mine is in a 100 which is too small.
Today I brought home some local orange sponge which grows a lot here on wood pilings and the Idol is trying to eat it but it is too hard for him to bite. I do not know if this sponge is any good for him, it may kill him but there is only one way to find out. I am going to cut it in small pieces and feed it to him with the frozen plankton to see if he will eat it. If he does and he does not croak I will collect a lot of it and feed it every day with his normal food.
I will let you know what happens.
Paul

Paul B · 06/10/2005, 02:10 PM

OK slight update. The moorish Idol loves the sponge in small pieces. I was feeding him from a large kind of a turkey baster and he just about jumps out of the water to get more of it. The only problem is that the other fish love it to. I don't want to give him too much at one time. If he looks OK tomarrow I will feed it again. If it looks good in a week I will collect a lot of the stuff and freeze it. I also have a small tank of it to see if it will live but I doubt it very much. The water here is in the low sixtees but I will try anyway. Maybe there is something in live sponge that they need (or maybe it will kill him.
Take care.
Paul

zfunk007 · 06/10/2005, 02:52 PM

Interesting about the sponges Paul. And your in New York right? Yikes... cold... Down here in South Florida we have some tropical and sub-tropical species of sponge that I could give my Idol.

Me and my bro went to go diving yesterday only to find out that the sea was very rough. So we didn't end up going in the water. Little did I know that there was a tropical storm out there already! It's only been hurricane season for 9 days! So next week will be the earliest i'll be able to go get some sponge. I'm sure my Idol will like it if yours likes New England temperate sponge!

If you can take some pictures of the sponge so I can see it and compare it to what we have here.

Paul B · 06/10/2005, 03:04 PM

I will try to take some pictures. It is rough and bright orange and it looks like shoe leather.
I am going to dinner by boat tonight to Connecticut and I will also see if I can find any there. On the south shore of Long Island we have a lot of it but I live on the north shore. Not too far though.
This stuff may be photosynthetec because I only find it almost at the surface of the water. I don't remember ever seeing it while diving here but since our visability is usually less than a foot I would probably not see it anyway.
Take care.
Paul

VolitanLioness · 06/10/2005, 03:57 PM

When I had the MI it loved sponge and went nuts for it, sponge seemed to play a large part in its diet. I had a large area of sponge growing on my LR but it was covered so the MI could not get to it so I would move my rocks around to keep exposing the sponge so the MI could get to it. I would buy the sponges in LFS's that were dieing for cheap also.

Kaye

Milkshakeboi · 06/10/2005, 09:19 PM

Hello everyone!! I too have a moorish idol!!
have it for about a month and 2 weeks!!Doing great but he only eats pellets!!I was now thinking of soaking mysis in garlic guard to see if he will accept it!!
Great to hear bout yours zfunk007!!

Paul B · 06/11/2005, 08:11 AM

Now I know that I have to collect the sponges and freeze them. After one day in a tropical tank they start to die. I don't want to start a chilled tank just now to keep sponges but if I get time before the summer ends I will build one. The Idol still eats it like crazy, I even fed him in the dark so the other fish did not get much. I do not have much sponge left so I will collect some today from my boat.
Take care
Paul
Paul

zfunk007 · 06/11/2005, 10:23 AM

Thanks for joining the conversation Milkshakeboi. I highly recommend soaking any kind of food you want your Idol to eat in Garlic. For mine is seems to stimulate his appetite. Plus i've done some research on Garlic in fish and it appears to be good for them in alot of different ways.

I got some Formula Two flakes and some bloodworms soaked them in Garlic and Selcon and tried feeding those to him last night. He went for the formula two but didn't seem to care for the blood worms. Mysis are still by far his favorite.

Good news about his "white spot." When I got home last night it was gone. And his appetite was as good as ever. So all is going well so far. Monday or tuesday I am going to go diving if I can and I plan on collecting quite a bit of the tropical sponge that resides off the coast here in South Florida. If anyone else has an Idol and is interested in me shipping some of the sponge to you i'd be happy to do so. Cause it will most likely survive in your tank much longer than that temperate sponge Paul was talking about.

I'll let you all know when I get some. I'll post some more pics of my tank and Idol later tonight if I get a chance. Keep the posts and info comming!

KimC · 06/11/2005, 06:57 PM

I bought a MI 6 weeks ago. It has been in QT for the past 5 weeks as it came down w/ich. The ich is just about gone. I have had great success in feeding pellets. I did not research this fish before buying!! After I got it settled in.. I looked it up and the words that jumped out were "a fish to avoid" I was dissapointed that LFS would sell such a fish but decided that I would do the very best I can to take care of. I did learn a valuable lesson... I will research before buying!!! But is a beautiful fish!!

zfunk007 · 06/11/2005, 07:00 PM

As promised here are some pictures I took tonight:

Heres one of my Idol and a Neon Goby I caught in the Palm Beach Inlet. (he was about a quarter of an inch when I caught him)

Heres another of the Idol, along with one of my fairy wrasse to the side.

Heres another of the Idol, as you can see his dorsal fin is growing quite long now in only the past few days. I hope that means hes healthy.

And heres a pic of my Broomtail Wrasse, Maroon Clown and French Angel thrown in for good measure

As you can see from most of the pics I don't have really any big corals in my tank yet. I am starting with all small frags so they can grow into place.

Paul B I have another question for you. I've noticed a pretty solid line that goes down my Idols body somewhat horizontally. It looks like one of his bones sticking out. Does yours have this line? Is it normal? Mines had it since I got him and most Moorish Idols i've seen have it. But I was just wondering if its normal or if maybe its a sign of mal-nutrition or something. It's hard to notice in the pictures but when you see him in the tank its pretty noticable.

zfunk007 · 06/11/2005, 07:07 PM

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. I started a thread a couple months ago about this but I don't know if any of you have seen this so i'll re-post it here. Paul you may be able to appreciate this since you like "out of the ordinary" type tanks.

I have worked at a couple different LFS's. About a year and a half almost 2 years ago me and a co-worker decided to build the finding nemo tank (so the kids would be happy and shut up)

. Here are some pics of it:

Now don't get me wrong, i'm not suggesting anyone go and do this, cause its probably not the best idea in the world (it was a pain in the butt to keep it that clean plus i'm sure the fish would be happier in a more "natural" setting). But we were able to do it successfully. All the fish did very well including the Moorish Idol which lived for about a year up until the hurricanes came and everything died

. But I thought you all might get a kick out of it so I figured i'd post them. Enjoy.

zfunk007 · 06/11/2005, 07:09 PM

KimC don't feel to bad about buying the fish. Be thankful that you bought it and not someone who will not care for it at all. Just keep comming to Reef Central and find out as much info as you can. Like I said I will be posting my results with my Moorish Idol on here for the forseeable future. So just check back from time to time if your looking for advice. There is a wealth of knowledge on this site.

KimC · 06/11/2005, 08:41 PM

Thanks zfunk007!!

iceemn360 · 06/11/2005, 11:04 PM

I've heard fronther websites that sponges are an Essential part of theri diet much likfe rock beauty angels.

Paul B · 06/12/2005, 04:56 AM

Zfunk, it looks like an exact duplicate of "Finding Nemo" nice job.
I don't know what the line is running down his back, I will have to look at mine when the lights come on but all fish have a lateral line that runs horizontally all the way to the tail. It is connected to their nervous system and it also is for a scence that we do not have that allows them to "feel" other animals in the water with them. Thats why you have trouble catching a fish with a net. Even if they do not see it they can feel the vibrations, it also keeps them in formations in schools without hitting each other.
Take care.
Paul

VolitanLioness · 06/12/2005, 08:52 AM

Here is what wetweb says on them "Adults have a prominent spine in front of their eyes that is larger in males."
There is another site that explain more on this.

Kaye

zfunk007 · 06/12/2005, 10:03 AM

I just read that bit on wetweb SpecialK. Interesting, it says they principally eat sponges and algae. Which means that anyone who tries to keep a Moorish Idol should most definitely feed them sponge. Welp, I know what i'm doing tommorow. Me and my bro are going diving early in the morning and I think i'm going to make it my priority to get some sponge.

Another site i'm looking at says they eat coraline algae also, interesting.

About.com has a really good article on them:

http://saltaquarium.about.com/blpick101397idol.htm

Here's a quote: "The body looks full and rounded out, not squeezed or dented inwards anywhere on the body, and its colors are bright and not faded out."

This is what i'm worried about with mine. He has those lines running along him and he's probably skinnier than he should be. However he was like that when I got him (which is probably a bad sign) and he is by all rights still a juvenile, so perhaps they are skinnier than the adults. But it still worries me a bit.

He is still doing well, eating like a pig when I feed him, picking on the rocks, although he has stopped picking at my corals which is nice. Probably because he is getting more to eat now than he was when I first put him in. Yes, its definitely time for some live sponge.

zfunk007 · 06/12/2005, 10:26 AM

Ok, I found another amazing link:

http://www.aquahobby.com/marine/e_moorish.php

Paul B, make sure you read the last post on the page. This guy claims that he's kept an Idol for 9 years. 9 years!!! I'm going to email this guy and ask him some questions.

He is fortunate enough to live in Austrailia, but still. He has some secret.

ToonPack · 06/12/2005, 10:54 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by zfunk007
KimC don't feel to bad about buying the fish. Be thankful that you bought it and not someone who will not care for it at all.

I must admit, reading this thread I had a BIG guilt trip.

BUT I have to confess I have an Idol (pic below) and your quote Zfunk sums up why I bought him (her?) I actually saved him from a couple of "and we'll have two of them and one of those and ooooh what's that" merchants.

So I confess I am a newby with an Idol and a HUGE sense of responsibility.

Anyway you can flame away, but I will contribute to this thread as well if that's OK on my "trials and tribulations" (or rather my precious Idol's up and downs)

Anyway - feeding, first two days he was very reticent about eating, I tried all sorts of combinations including foods pasted to rocks and glass with colorfin reef gel and he sort of nibbled and spat it out.

On day three we tried "emerald entree" omnivore frozen food and BINGO he LOVED that, I personally think he was carried along on the rough and tumble of his tankmates attack on the food.

Now all of a sudden he's eating anything I choose to put into the tank. I am varying his diet with the E/Entree, brine and mysis shrimp and Prime Reef flake, all of which he accepts with gusto.

He is probably the most responsive member of my tank community, if i'm near the tank he's there, I'm sure willing me to feed him, and from the pic you'll see he enjoys the occassional trip to the cleaner shrimp.

So in truth, it's so far very good.

Now I am VERY concious of it's early days yet (in terms of the Idol and my aquarium) so any advice will always be gratefully accepted.

One final point have any of you noticed your idols changing colour at "lights out". I watched him last night and when the lights went off he puffed up his daorsal fin and over about a period of 5 minutes, his middle white/yellow stripe turned battleship grey, his face went black and he developed a silver stripe down the middle of his front black stripe - astonishing to watch, I'll try and get a picture tonight but don't know how it'll come out as I won't use the flash (obviously). Whilst this is going on he patrols as normal, obviously a defence mechanism which maybe he'll stop when he's really settled in.

zfunk007 · 06/12/2005, 01:20 PM

Toonpack, thanks for posting your experience so far. Feel free to keep posing with your progress. Don't worry, I didn't make this thread for flaming, it is for education ONLY.

Here is a link to what you are talking about:

http://www.amonline.net.au/fishes/fi.../zcornutus.htm

Look at the third picture down and you'll notice the color change at night. Mine does the exact same thing. Hes also the first fish up in the morning and the last to goto bed.

Thats great that hes eating, mine took on a similar pattern before he was eating normally. I had to entice him with garlic as I mentioned above.

I noticed in your picture that yours has that same somewhat horizontal line down the middle of his body. I think most of the Idols that make it to our fish stores have that line. I haven't noticed it in any of the wild Idol pictures. Probably has to do with them not being fed by the wholesalers. And i'm guessing this is the reason they are typically harder to get to eat once they finally make it to your aquarium because they have been slightly "starved" on their way here. Keep us posted on your progress!

Paul B · 06/12/2005, 02:54 PM

Zfunk, 9 years, thats pretty good, Thats what I am hopeing for but who knows.
I started diving in Australia but I do not remember seeing Idols there, I am sure there are plenty. I also believe what he said about collecting fish and putting them right in a tank in a half an hour has a lot to do with your success with these and most fish.
I am sure you know from working where you do that fish do not look too well after being on a plane for two days. I know that I was fairly uncomfortable flying to Australia and Tahiti. Australia is a 24 hour flight from me and I was not breathing in a plastic bag.
Paul

zfunk007 · 06/13/2005, 12:01 PM

Well I emailed that guy that claims to have kept the Moorish Idol for 9 years. No response yet. But its only been a day, hopefully he will respond.

My Idol continues to do well, luckily I have the day off so I can feed him regularly today.

Paul B, I am going out tommorow morning to collect sponge. Would you like to trade some of your sponge with some of mine? Do you think it would be worth it? I could probably ship you some of mine live, although correct me if im wrong, but once you take some types of sponge out of the water do they not die immediatly?

Let me know what you think.

zfunk007 · 06/13/2005, 12:15 PM

Not to make you all jealous or anything (for those of you that live up north that is)

but I figured i'd post a few pics from the places I like to go diving around here.

I have an old underwater camera somewhere and i'm going to start taking pictures with it again. When I do i'll be sure and scan and post the pictures.

For now here are 2 above water pics from West Palm Beach:

This place holds a special place in my heart. My dad grew up on this island. (Singer Island) I spent a good deal of my childhood on this island at my grandma's house and diving in this inlet. I still think that if you want tropicals (and all you have is snorkel gear) this inlet is the place to go.

This picture is from the shore off the Breakers Reef in West Palm Beach. This is supposedly one of the nicest reefs in Florida. You can see the reef edge in the picture. It doesn't look like it but the reef is a good 2-300 yards off shore. Quite a swim if all you have is snorkel gear like me! (I'm going to get certified for scuba later this summer finally!)

Wish there were Moorish Idols out there to catch, but I guess i'm just happy to live in Florida hehe.

06/09/2005, 06:22 PM	#26
MrMongoose Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: West Lafayette, IN Posts: 370	Yes its a free contary but for some its comparable to a homeless person adopting a child...its got no chance. So I've elected myself as a member of the "Moorish Idol Placement Agency" MIPA hehehe __________________ Understand first....Buy later.

06/10/2005, 02:10 PM	#29
Paul B Premium Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Long Island NY Posts: 15,549	OK slight update. The moorish Idol loves the sponge in small pieces. I was feeding him from a large kind of a turkey baster and he just about jumps out of the water to get more of it. The only problem is that the other fish love it to. I don't want to give him too much at one time. If he looks OK tomarrow I will feed it again. If it looks good in a week I will collect a lot of the stuff and freeze it. I also have a small tank of it to see if it will live but I doubt it very much. The water here is in the low sixtees but I will try anyway. Maybe there is something in live sponge that they need (or maybe it will kill him. Take care. Paul __________________ I used to get shocked when I put my hand in my tank. Then the electric eel went dead. Current Tank Info: 100 gal reef set up in 1971

06/10/2005, 03:04 PM	#31
Paul B Premium Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Long Island NY Posts: 15,549	I will try to take some pictures. It is rough and bright orange and it looks like shoe leather. I am going to dinner by boat tonight to Connecticut and I will also see if I can find any there. On the south shore of Long Island we have a lot of it but I live on the north shore. Not too far though. This stuff may be photosynthetec because I only find it almost at the surface of the water. I don't remember ever seeing it while diving here but since our visability is usually less than a foot I would probably not see it anyway. Take care. Paul __________________ I used to get shocked when I put my hand in my tank. Then the electric eel went dead. Current Tank Info: 100 gal reef set up in 1971

06/10/2005, 03:57 PM	#32
VolitanLioness Registered Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: OC MI Posts: 1,528	When I had the MI it loved sponge and went nuts for it, sponge seemed to play a large part in its diet. I had a large area of sponge growing on my LR but it was covered so the MI could not get to it so I would move my rocks around to keep exposing the sponge so the MI could get to it. I would buy the sponges in LFS's that were dieing for cheap also. Kaye __________________ The Last Thing Many Fish Will Ever See . . .

06/10/2005, 09:19 PM	#33
Milkshakeboi Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Singapore Posts: 129	Hello everyone!! I too have a moorish idol!! have it for about a month and 2 weeks!!Doing great but he only eats pellets!!I was now thinking of soaking mysis in garlic guard to see if he will accept it!! Great to hear bout yours zfunk007!! __________________ Ahhh Cockatiel SAid Hello!! Current Tank Info: 48 by 24 by 24,Brown Tang,2 true percula clown,yellow tail damsels from Bali, marine plants and tons of life rock.And a 3 feet tank with a Volitan lionfish cum 2 feet QT tank!

06/10/2005, 11:14 AM	#27
zfunk007 Premium Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Jensen Beach, South Florida Posts: 467	Very good points everyone. And don't worry i'm not jumping to conclusions just because my Moorish Idol is eating. But you do have another good point. Perhaps they need to live in a mated pair to do well. And I think we need to find out if it really is possible to tell the sexes apart cause if you could get a male and a female it may greaten their chances of living in captivity. However I am of the belief that the bigger the tank the better your chances are. I have a 210 gallon tank that my Idol is in and I think its chances are better in a tank this size than if he was in a 100 gallon. Simply because he has more room to swim around. And obviously the bigger the more natural. Your right MrMongoose it is VERY hard not to bash people because alot of people are in this hobby for the wrong reasons. I work at an LFS (im actually here now) and I hear and see all kinds of rediculous things. But like I said, I do my best to educate people instead of being hard on them. As for my Idol, I have taken some more pics and I will post them when I get home tonight. He seems to be doing well. He is eating almost everything I put in now except for the pellets which he still isn't quite sure about. He seems very healthy and happy for the moment. There is one thing that is bothering me though. He has a small white spot forming on the black part of his head on the left side. It's small and there are no other visible spots on him anywhere, so we'll see how it goes. When I got him I broke from tradition and didn't quarantine him because he was a Moorish Idol and I wanted him to get into the best environment possible as quickly as possible. None of my other fish have ich and have all been very healthy and vibrant. So i'm hoping it will go away, whatever it is. We will see. Paul B, another question, how many times a day do you feed your Idol? I'm a little worried because my lights don't come on till around 11 oclock in the morning and the days I have to work I leave before they come on. So on the days I work I will only be able to feed him at the most twice a day. I have been leaving some of the algae strips in the tank for him to munch on while im gone. And he seems to be going for them now. What do you think I should do?

06/10/2005, 02:00 PM	#28
Paul B Premium Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Long Island NY Posts: 15,549	007 I think what you are doing is fine. Twice a day should be OK. I only feed mine twice during the week and sometimes only once. I have a very busy life and I can't really be there to feet him all day. I think I will get an automatic feeder though to dump some pellets in his feeding dish a few times a day until I come home to give hin plankton. Your 210 gallon tank should also be fine, mine is in a 100 which is too small. Today I brought home some local orange sponge which grows a lot here on wood pilings and the Idol is trying to eat it but it is too hard for him to bite. I do not know if this sponge is any good for him, it may kill him but there is only one way to find out. I am going to cut it in small pieces and feed it to him with the frozen plankton to see if he will eat it. If he does and he does not croak I will collect a lot of it and feed it every day with his normal food. I will let you know what happens. Paul

06/10/2005, 02:52 PM	#30
zfunk007 Premium Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Jensen Beach, South Florida Posts: 467	Interesting about the sponges Paul. And your in New York right? Yikes... cold... Down here in South Florida we have some tropical and sub-tropical species of sponge that I could give my Idol. Me and my bro went to go diving yesterday only to find out that the sea was very rough. So we didn't end up going in the water. Little did I know that there was a tropical storm out there already! It's only been hurricane season for 9 days! So next week will be the earliest i'll be able to go get some sponge. I'm sure my Idol will like it if yours likes New England temperate sponge! If you can take some pictures of the sponge so I can see it and compare it to what we have here.

06/11/2005, 08:11 AM	#34
Paul B Premium Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Long Island NY Posts: 15,549	Now I know that I have to collect the sponges and freeze them. After one day in a tropical tank they start to die. I don't want to start a chilled tank just now to keep sponges but if I get time before the summer ends I will build one. The Idol still eats it like crazy, I even fed him in the dark so the other fish did not get much. I do not have much sponge left so I will collect some today from my boat. Take care Paul Paul __________________ I used to get shocked when I put my hand in my tank. Then the electric eel went dead. Current Tank Info: 100 gal reef set up in 1971

06/11/2005, 10:23 AM	#35
zfunk007 Premium Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Jensen Beach, South Florida Posts: 467	Thanks for joining the conversation Milkshakeboi. I highly recommend soaking any kind of food you want your Idol to eat in Garlic. For mine is seems to stimulate his appetite. Plus i've done some research on Garlic in fish and it appears to be good for them in alot of different ways. I got some Formula Two flakes and some bloodworms soaked them in Garlic and Selcon and tried feeding those to him last night. He went for the formula two but didn't seem to care for the blood worms. Mysis are still by far his favorite. Good news about his "white spot." When I got home last night it was gone. And his appetite was as good as ever. So all is going well so far. Monday or tuesday I am going to go diving if I can and I plan on collecting quite a bit of the tropical sponge that resides off the coast here in South Florida. If anyone else has an Idol and is interested in me shipping some of the sponge to you i'd be happy to do so. Cause it will most likely survive in your tank much longer than that temperate sponge Paul was talking about. I'll let you all know when I get some. I'll post some more pics of my tank and Idol later tonight if I get a chance. Keep the posts and info comming!

06/11/2005, 06:57 PM	#36
KimC Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: lake placid, florida Posts: 2	I bought a MI 6 weeks ago. It has been in QT for the past 5 weeks as it came down w/ich. The ich is just about gone. I have had great success in feeding pellets. I did not research this fish before buying!! After I got it settled in.. I looked it up and the words that jumped out were "a fish to avoid" I was dissapointed that LFS would sell such a fish but decided that I would do the very best I can to take care of. I did learn a valuable lesson... I will research before buying!!! But is a beautiful fish!!

06/11/2005, 07:00 PM	#37
zfunk007 Premium Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Jensen Beach, South Florida Posts: 467	As promised here are some pictures I took tonight: Heres one of my Idol and a Neon Goby I caught in the Palm Beach Inlet. (he was about a quarter of an inch when I caught him) Heres another of the Idol, along with one of my fairy wrasse to the side. Heres another of the Idol, as you can see his dorsal fin is growing quite long now in only the past few days. I hope that means hes healthy. And heres a pic of my Broomtail Wrasse, Maroon Clown and French Angel thrown in for good measure As you can see from most of the pics I don't have really any big corals in my tank yet. I am starting with all small frags so they can grow into place. Paul B I have another question for you. I've noticed a pretty solid line that goes down my Idols body somewhat horizontally. It looks like one of his bones sticking out. Does yours have this line? Is it normal? Mines had it since I got him and most Moorish Idols i've seen have it. But I was just wondering if its normal or if maybe its a sign of mal-nutrition or something. It's hard to notice in the pictures but when you see him in the tank its pretty noticable.

06/11/2005, 07:07 PM	#38
zfunk007 Premium Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Jensen Beach, South Florida Posts: 467	Oh yeah, I almost forgot. I started a thread a couple months ago about this but I don't know if any of you have seen this so i'll re-post it here. Paul you may be able to appreciate this since you like "out of the ordinary" type tanks. I have worked at a couple different LFS's. About a year and a half almost 2 years ago me and a co-worker decided to build the finding nemo tank (so the kids would be happy and shut up) . Here are some pics of it: Now don't get me wrong, i'm not suggesting anyone go and do this, cause its probably not the best idea in the world (it was a pain in the butt to keep it that clean plus i'm sure the fish would be happier in a more "natural" setting). But we were able to do it successfully. All the fish did very well including the Moorish Idol which lived for about a year up until the hurricanes came and everything died . But I thought you all might get a kick out of it so I figured i'd post them. Enjoy.

06/11/2005, 07:09 PM	#39
zfunk007 Premium Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Jensen Beach, South Florida Posts: 467	KimC don't feel to bad about buying the fish. Be thankful that you bought it and not someone who will not care for it at all. Just keep comming to Reef Central and find out as much info as you can. Like I said I will be posting my results with my Moorish Idol on here for the forseeable future. So just check back from time to time if your looking for advice. There is a wealth of knowledge on this site.

06/11/2005, 08:41 PM	#40
KimC Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: lake placid, florida Posts: 2	Thanks zfunk007!!

06/11/2005, 11:04 PM	#41
iceemn360 Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: CALIFORNIA Posts: 757	I've heard fronther websites that sponges are an Essential part of theri diet much likfe rock beauty angels.

06/12/2005, 04:56 AM	#42
Paul B Premium Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Long Island NY Posts: 15,549	Zfunk, it looks like an exact duplicate of "Finding Nemo" nice job. I don't know what the line is running down his back, I will have to look at mine when the lights come on but all fish have a lateral line that runs horizontally all the way to the tail. It is connected to their nervous system and it also is for a scence that we do not have that allows them to "feel" other animals in the water with them. Thats why you have trouble catching a fish with a net. Even if they do not see it they can feel the vibrations, it also keeps them in formations in schools without hitting each other. Take care. Paul __________________ I used to get shocked when I put my hand in my tank. Then the electric eel went dead. Current Tank Info: 100 gal reef set up in 1971

06/12/2005, 08:52 AM	#43
VolitanLioness Registered Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: OC MI Posts: 1,528	Here is what wetweb says on them "Adults have a prominent spine in front of their eyes that is larger in males." There is another site that explain more on this. Kaye __________________ The Last Thing Many Fish Will Ever See . . .

06/12/2005, 10:03 AM	#44
zfunk007 Premium Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Jensen Beach, South Florida Posts: 467	I just read that bit on wetweb SpecialK. Interesting, it says they principally eat sponges and algae. Which means that anyone who tries to keep a Moorish Idol should most definitely feed them sponge. Welp, I know what i'm doing tommorow. Me and my bro are going diving early in the morning and I think i'm going to make it my priority to get some sponge. Another site i'm looking at says they eat coraline algae also, interesting. About.com has a really good article on them: http://saltaquarium.about.com/blpick101397idol.htm Here's a quote: "The body looks full and rounded out, not squeezed or dented inwards anywhere on the body, and its colors are bright and not faded out." This is what i'm worried about with mine. He has those lines running along him and he's probably skinnier than he should be. However he was like that when I got him (which is probably a bad sign) and he is by all rights still a juvenile, so perhaps they are skinnier than the adults. But it still worries me a bit. He is still doing well, eating like a pig when I feed him, picking on the rocks, although he has stopped picking at my corals which is nice. Probably because he is getting more to eat now than he was when I first put him in. Yes, its definitely time for some live sponge.

06/12/2005, 10:26 AM	#45
zfunk007 Premium Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Jensen Beach, South Florida Posts: 467	Ok, I found another amazing link: http://www.aquahobby.com/marine/e_moorish.php Paul B, make sure you read the last post on the page. This guy claims that he's kept an Idol for 9 years. 9 years!!! I'm going to email this guy and ask him some questions. He is fortunate enough to live in Austrailia, but still. He has some secret.

06/12/2005, 01:20 PM	#47
zfunk007 Premium Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Jensen Beach, South Florida Posts: 467	Toonpack, thanks for posting your experience so far. Feel free to keep posing with your progress. Don't worry, I didn't make this thread for flaming, it is for education ONLY. Here is a link to what you are talking about: http://www.amonline.net.au/fishes/fi.../zcornutus.htm Look at the third picture down and you'll notice the color change at night. Mine does the exact same thing. Hes also the first fish up in the morning and the last to goto bed. Thats great that hes eating, mine took on a similar pattern before he was eating normally. I had to entice him with garlic as I mentioned above. I noticed in your picture that yours has that same somewhat horizontal line down the middle of his body. I think most of the Idols that make it to our fish stores have that line. I haven't noticed it in any of the wild Idol pictures. Probably has to do with them not being fed by the wholesalers. And i'm guessing this is the reason they are typically harder to get to eat once they finally make it to your aquarium because they have been slightly "starved" on their way here. Keep us posted on your progress!

06/12/2005, 02:54 PM	#48
Paul B Premium Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Long Island NY Posts: 15,549	Zfunk, 9 years, thats pretty good, Thats what I am hopeing for but who knows. I started diving in Australia but I do not remember seeing Idols there, I am sure there are plenty. I also believe what he said about collecting fish and putting them right in a tank in a half an hour has a lot to do with your success with these and most fish. I am sure you know from working where you do that fish do not look too well after being on a plane for two days. I know that I was fairly uncomfortable flying to Australia and Tahiti. Australia is a 24 hour flight from me and I was not breathing in a plastic bag. Paul __________________ I used to get shocked when I put my hand in my tank. Then the electric eel went dead. Current Tank Info: 100 gal reef set up in 1971

06/13/2005, 12:01 PM	#49
zfunk007 Premium Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Jensen Beach, South Florida Posts: 467	Well I emailed that guy that claims to have kept the Moorish Idol for 9 years. No response yet. But its only been a day, hopefully he will respond. My Idol continues to do well, luckily I have the day off so I can feed him regularly today. Paul B, I am going out tommorow morning to collect sponge. Would you like to trade some of your sponge with some of mine? Do you think it would be worth it? I could probably ship you some of mine live, although correct me if im wrong, but once you take some types of sponge out of the water do they not die immediatly? Let me know what you think.

06/13/2005, 12:15 PM	#50
zfunk007 Premium Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Jensen Beach, South Florida Posts: 467	Not to make you all jealous or anything (for those of you that live up north that is) but I figured i'd post a few pics from the places I like to go diving around here. I have an old underwater camera somewhere and i'm going to start taking pictures with it again. When I do i'll be sure and scan and post the pictures. For now here are 2 above water pics from West Palm Beach: This place holds a special place in my heart. My dad grew up on this island. (Singer Island) I spent a good deal of my childhood on this island at my grandma's house and diving in this inlet. I still think that if you want tropicals (and all you have is snorkel gear) this inlet is the place to go. This picture is from the shore off the Breakers Reef in West Palm Beach. This is supposedly one of the nicest reefs in Florida. You can see the reef edge in the picture. It doesn't look like it but the reef is a good 2-300 yards off shore. Quite a swim if all you have is snorkel gear like me! (I'm going to get certified for scuba later this summer finally!) Wish there were Moorish Idols out there to catch, but I guess i'm just happy to live in Florida hehe.