Reef Central Online Community

Go Back   Reef Central Online Community > Marine Fish Forums > Reef Fishes
Blogs FAQ Calendar Mark Forums Read

Notices

User Tag List

Reply
Thread Tools
Unread 08/21/2016, 03:01 AM   #3076
Ouscazz
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Sweden - Europe
Posts: 25
New MI owner from Sweden. Thanks to this fantastic thread and the knowledge spread through here, I am now a happy owner of three fine young Moorish Idols. After three days in the tank, they are eating everything I offer them.




Ouscazz is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 08/29/2016, 12:56 PM   #3077
heuerfan
Registered Member
 
heuerfan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: New Hyde Park
Posts: 1,249
I was shocked to see a fairly young idol start to eat pellets and flake food at my lfs. So decided to give him a try, its been a week and so far he continues to eat spectrum pellets. Goes for nori but doesn't seem to like it yet. He is in a 55 gallon all to himself until he fattens up. This is my second attempt at a moorish idol, tried one over a decade ago..... Fingers crossed




heuerfan is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 08/29/2016, 01:58 PM   #3078
pinnatus
RIP Ludinano
 
pinnatus's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Baton Rouge, LA
Posts: 1,572
Some nice idols. Best of luck!


__________________
- Ken

Current Tank Info: 240 gal Fish-Only, 13-gal w/ clowns
pinnatus is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 09/14/2016, 06:07 PM   #3079
Breakthecycle2
Registered Member
 
Breakthecycle2's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Hasbrouck Heights, NJ
Posts: 261
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ouscazz View Post
New MI owner from Sweden. Thanks to this fantastic thread and the knowledge spread through here, I am now a happy owner of three fine young Moorish Idols. After three days in the tank, they are eating everything I offer them.

It wont last. You will absolutely have to re home two, unless they kill each other.


Breakthecycle2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 09/15/2016, 09:25 AM   #3080
pinnatus
RIP Ludinano
 
pinnatus's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Baton Rouge, LA
Posts: 1,572
Quote:
Originally Posted by Breakthecycle2 View Post
It wont last. You will absolutely have to re home two, unless they kill each other.
That is my experience also.


__________________
- Ken

Current Tank Info: 240 gal Fish-Only, 13-gal w/ clowns
pinnatus is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 09/16/2016, 12:08 PM   #3081
Ostri
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
Posts: 222
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ouscazz View Post
New MI owner from Sweden. Thanks to this fantastic thread and the knowledge spread through here, I am now a happy owner of three fine young Moorish Idols. After three days in the tank, they are eating everything I offer them.

Moorish Idol do not school in home aquariums unless they are huge tanks. You will be fine for a while and then 2 of them will die.


Ostri is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 10/23/2016, 06:30 AM   #3082
big mamma
Registered Member
 
big mamma's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: west chester pa
Posts: 137
hello everyone,

i have had my idol for over a year now and i would like to add some soft corals to the tank so it does not look so bare. i was thinking about a kenya tree, a cauliflower, and a sinularia sp. does anyone have any experience with these together with idols or could recommend a different coral ? thanks for any help.


big mamma is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 10/23/2016, 12:48 PM   #3083
Callum96
Registered Member
 
Callum96's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2016
Posts: 59
Also, to add to the above, will idols leave lps alone? Acan, cats, blasto's etc.


Callum96 is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 10/23/2016, 02:05 PM   #3084
big mamma
Registered Member
 
big mamma's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: west chester pa
Posts: 137
Quote:
Originally Posted by Callum96 View Post
Also, to add to the above, will idols leave lps alone? Acan, cats, blasto's etc.
probably not safe from what i have read. i tried a toadstoll leather once and the idol picked enough to kill it. my idol does eat 3 times a day and is a healthy weight with no lines. i just bought a large green sinularia today and so far so good.


big mamma is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 10/24/2016, 07:16 AM   #3085
NerdCage
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 12
Checking back in, I got very busy at work and stopped keeping up with this thread. My Idol is almost at 8 months and doing great. I'd like him to be a bit fatter, but he's healthy.

I wound up ditching the funnel feeding method. He never went for it. I got a floating feeding ring and have the auto-feeder set up to drop pellets in that 3 times a day. The fish really seem to have learned the timings and all gather and wait for it.

On top of that I feed a chunk of LRF every night. I used to do the Mega Marine Angel food in the morning. The idol doesn't seem to sleep, so when I get up, and turn the lights in the room on, he's up and all the other fish are still asleep. I used to feed the Angel food at this point, but after I ran out my LFS had the hardest time getting it back in, so I was going without. They finally got it last week, so I'm starting that routine again.

I got a cheap sponge frag, let it grow out a bit in the sump, then cut some off and offered it to the idol. No interest.

Last time I posted it was just the idol and a foxface in the tank. The idol was the boss. Now he has new tank mates, an axilspot hogfish, a quoyi parrotfish, a blue spot puffer, a regal blue tank, 5 blue/green chromis, and a snowflake eel. The hogfish is now the boss of the tang, but the idol still holds his own.

I was on vacation for 2 weeks, and had a neighbor feeding the fish. To keep things simple, I just had him come a couple times a week. Of course I was most nervous about the idol, but he handled the reduced feedings just fine.

Just last month I finally started adding corals (I first battled a green hair algae outbreak, then red slime.) I had been waiting so long, and had a bunch on hand waiting to go. A bunch of zoas, a mushroom, some montis and acros, a couple torches, some trumpet corals, and a couple mushrooms. So far he has not so much as touched a coral. Also have a feather duster, a couple rock anemones, and a RTBA. He likes to steal food from the RTBA, which makes me nervous, but so far so good.


NerdCage is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 10/31/2016, 04:41 PM   #3086
zsxking
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 48
Quote:
Originally Posted by Callum96 View Post
Also, to add to the above, will idols leave lps alone? Acan, cats, blasto's etc.
I got a Moorish Idol for 3 weeks now. These are what I saw in regards to reef safeness.

It totally destroyed one of my zoanthids colony. But that happen to be the color I like the least (it's brown/dark green), so I'm OK with that ... It didn't bother the zoanthids of different colors, even they are on the same rock next to each other (those are pink, red, orange). Could be the one it destroyed is close in color to what it was eating in the ocean.

I have two different colors of Acan, none got picked on. Both are over a year old.

I got a new open brain Trachyphyllia a week after the moorish idol. It had kept picking on it to an extent that it won't open anymore. But close observation didn't see any obvious damage. After several days, I moved the the coral to another tank, and it opens daily since then and look healthy. So I don't think the fish cause much damage to it other than stressing it and stop it from opening.

Didn't pick on any SPS or clam that I noticed.


zsxking is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 10/31/2016, 04:58 PM   #3087
zsxking
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 48
My success on getting moorish idols to eat is feeding it nori on rock.

It doesn't pick any food from water column. It still doesn't take mysis, or brine. It only pick food off rock or on sand. I started to give it nori that rubber banded on a small rock. The bad thing about feeding it nori is it's very messy. It shreds the nori when feeding, and at least 1/3 were picked loose and blown away. Once the nori was loose in the water column, the idols will ignore it, and will need to be handled by the tank's filtration.

Later I notice it start picking pellets (OCN F1 & F2) that fall on the sand. Last week I tried to give it algae waffer and it likes it too. So now I don't give it nori much, but give it algae waffer and pellets instead.


zsxking is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 12/18/2016, 10:39 PM   #3088
Ouscazz
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Sweden - Europe
Posts: 25
My Moorish Idol feeding frenzy.

https://youtu.be/PoRq9PP6vzQ



Delivered with an iPhone via Tapatalk


Ouscazz is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 12/30/2016, 08:16 AM   #3089
Saltwater2
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 15
Moorish Idol

I have had my Idol for 4 years and it is incredibly fat, I feel like the staple for its diet is NLS pellets fed with a auto feeder 6 times a day, along with a frozen homemade mixture of roe, mysis, dulce seaweed,(from amazon), nori and Selcon. The stomach area of my Idol is at least 1 inch thick, and it will eat practically anything it is fed.


Saltwater2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 12/31/2016, 02:57 AM   #3090
Naraku
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2015
Posts: 512
Does he always eat or does he stop eating sometime?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Saltwater2 View Post
I have had my Idol for 4 years and it is incredibly fat, I feel like the staple for its diet is NLS pellets fed with a auto feeder 6 times a day, along with a frozen homemade mixture of roe, mysis, dulce seaweed,(from amazon), nori and Selcon. The stomach area of my Idol is at least 1 inch thick, and it will eat practically anything it is fed.



Naraku is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 12/31/2016, 08:00 PM   #3091
Breakthecycle2
Registered Member
 
Breakthecycle2's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Hasbrouck Heights, NJ
Posts: 261
Quote:
Originally Posted by Naraku View Post
Does he always eat or does he stop eating sometime?
I just got one in QT that eats everything and then one day he stops. Then the next day he starts again It's weird.


Breakthecycle2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 12/31/2016, 08:37 PM   #3092
Naraku
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2015
Posts: 512
my experience is that they don't eat for a long time after they stop.
When they finally eat, they eat a little but at that point, they get skinny and die.


Naraku is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 12/31/2016, 08:51 PM   #3093
Breakthecycle2
Registered Member
 
Breakthecycle2's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Hasbrouck Heights, NJ
Posts: 261
Quote:
Originally Posted by Naraku View Post
my experience is that they don't eat for a long time after they stop.
When they finally eat, they eat a little but at that point, they get skinny and die.
This one is eating but sometimes its like he forgets. I have a Quoyi parrotfish as well. He wasn't eating for the first week I got him. Now he seems to eat everything.


Breakthecycle2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 01/14/2017, 01:59 PM   #3094
LotsaTanks
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: San Diego County
Posts: 131
New Moorish Idol

Hi, I got a Moorish Idol from someone locally who had it for a couple weeks and said it ate everything (pellets, mysis etc). It's eating lots of Ocean Nutrition Formula 2 flakes and mysis, and doesn't really care about pellets. It also picks at algae and things on the live rock. My purple tang has kept it in the corner of the 300 gallon but is starting to let it swim around more. Hopefully the tang mellows out and stops chasing it, the tang isn't trying to kill the new fish just chasing from time to time. Right now I'm feeding about 5 times a day as it settles in. There are also some zoas in there that it can eat if it wishes. Will the Idol be okay with just the flakes and mysis and picking at live rock or should I supplement it's food more?


LotsaTanks is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 01/18/2017, 04:22 PM   #3095
LotsaTanks
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: San Diego County
Posts: 131
I just got the Idol to eat nori by soaking the nori, shredding it, and mixing it with the flakes. I've had it a week now and it's eating quite a bit at each feeding and I'm still feeding a few times a day. The purple tang is fine with it now too. Hope it continues going well.


LotsaTanks is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 01/25/2017, 08:23 PM   #3096
Naraku
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2015
Posts: 512
I have a question.

Why do all the Moorish idol I get stop eating? When they do eat, they don't eat consistently.

They all get skinny and die from not eating.

I am positive that if they will eat consistently, they would have made it.


Naraku is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 01/25/2017, 09:20 PM   #3097
Breakthecycle2
Registered Member
 
Breakthecycle2's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Hasbrouck Heights, NJ
Posts: 261
Quote:
Originally Posted by Naraku View Post
I have a question.

Why do all the Moorish idol I get stop eating? When they do eat, they don't eat consistently.

They all get skinny and die from not eating.

I am positive that if they will eat consistently, they would have made it.
Not always the case. I've had ate regularly and sometimes just died. QT'ing them, feeding lots of seaweed and doing deworming makes a difference.


Breakthecycle2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 01/26/2017, 12:25 PM   #3098
pinnatus
RIP Ludinano
 
pinnatus's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Baton Rouge, LA
Posts: 1,572
Quote:
Originally Posted by Naraku View Post
I have a question.

Why do all the Moorish idol I get stop eating? When they do eat, they don't eat consistently.

They all get skinny and die from not eating.

I am positive that if they will eat consistently, they would have made it.
I have found that especially when young, Idols seem to have little capacity to store food - that is they eat a little at a time, but basically need to graze all day long. Other fishes can eat a bunch and then not eat for a while - not the Idol.


__________________
- Ken

Current Tank Info: 240 gal Fish-Only, 13-gal w/ clowns
pinnatus is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 01/26/2017, 05:09 PM   #3099
LotsaTanks
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: San Diego County
Posts: 131
I think that is correct, that Idol's need to eat all day. My purple tang is getting fat, and the Idol while not thin, isn't fat. My Idol really does seem to need to eat throughout the day. Still feeding several times per day. It is about 4" so definitely not full grown. I've seen one that has been in someone's tank for years that is full grown and it eats 2x/day and seems fine. So maybe it is true that younger ones need multiple feedings per day.


LotsaTanks is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 01/26/2017, 07:42 PM   #3100
Naraku
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2015
Posts: 512
The problem is that I offer through out the day but they still don't eat whats offered.


Quote:
Originally Posted by pinnatus View Post
I have found that especially when young, Idols seem to have little capacity to store food - that is they eat a little at a time, but basically need to graze all day long. Other fishes can eat a bunch and then not eat for a while - not the Idol.



Naraku is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
wrong link on first video

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On



All times are GMT -6. The time now is 02:16 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Powered by Searchlight © 2024 Axivo Inc.
Use of this web site is subject to the terms and conditions described in the user agreement.
Reef CentralTM Reef Central, LLC. Copyright ©1999-2022
User Alert System provided by Advanced User Tagging v3.3.0 (Pro) - vBulletin Mods & Addons Copyright © 2024 DragonByte Technologies Ltd.