MorishIdol in the aquarium

[idol1]

All the forums on MorishIdol are old. The latest posts I could find are from 2011,I would like to know if any of you have this fish and have been successful,I have one going on 3years and another 1 year,My friends here wount even try them any more.Im the only one here that has success with this fish,I just want to get your take on this fish.I have to spend hours a day on them.My wife says I spend more time on them ten I do with Her.I would just like to here wat you have to say on this fish.

 

[Sniperhank]

They belong in the ocean. They have such a high mortality rate due to their eating and stressors, isn't worth it.

 

[idol1]

I agree with YOU. My advantage is natural diet,plus the Idols are fed 6 times a day,the diet is varried at each feeding,They have to have oysters witch is the worst feeding due to the mess.Have to do water change after that feeding once a week. MorishIdols are so parasitized.Quaranteen is no less than 7 weeks. They have to go into copper immediately other wise they will be dead in 3 to 4 days. This is why we see a lot of Idols in the fresh water rivers and streams that run into the ocean.They are in pure fresh water for a time not brackish.My idol will not adjust to chane have tried to put her into the 125 few times. She establish her self as queen of the tank but refuses to eat. Put her back into her 55 and she amediately eats every thing she can.So there she stays queen of her own tank with her 3 redbared cardinal and her snowflake moray and 1 pair of coral banded shrimp.

 

[Andy Sager]

While I do agree they are not for everyone and probably most do not have the right sized tanks for them, when I was importing them, I found that ones from different locations had different results. The longer they would be in a bag, the worse they did in the tank. Being in FL, I found that the ones I got from Hawaii were the best for me and they frequently were eating flake foods the day after arrival. The ones I got from places like Bali or Manila however did poorly. Conversely, my customers in Europe had better success with the ones from Bali than they did from Hawaii.
So I don't think you are going to get "new" information that is going to change that result. It's a tough fish to keep because it's more a schooling fish than a solitary one when smaller and aggressive toward it's own when large. Their diet is complex and should include a variety of foods as gut contents included multiple food types including meat and sponge and vegetable matter. So they are not really a "One food fits all" fish.
Next issue is tank size. These are swimmers and need a lot of room for swimming. They also need good areas to hide as well so only larger longer tanks are going to have the better results long term.
Being that the OP is located in Hawaii, I can only assume his success with his Idols is because their travel time had to be short. People further away may not have that same success.

 

[idol1]

capture time to tank 15 minutes

 

[Andy Sager]

capture time to tank 15 minutes

Lucky you.
If I lived there, I could definitely see a 3000 gal tank for them in my back yard. Dick Boyd, creator of Chemi- Pure, used to have me bring in Idols for his 3000 that was in his garage. The tank was a monster ( but it was set up for Idols.)

 

[idol1]

don't you think the benetti butterfly should be placed in the same category as the Morish Idol high priced but will starve.

 

[Andy Sager]

don't you think the benetti butterfly should be placed in the same category as the Morish Idol high priced but will starve.

I do love that Bennetti Butterfly but I have to agree with you, unless you are going to feed it live corals, it's tank life expectancy is going to be short. Truth is, I've had better success with Idols than that Butterfly. It's on the same line as Myeri, Ornatissimus, Reticultus and some of the other coral dependent species. You need to stick with species like Raccoons, Aurigas, Collaris and the other 'flys that are not so coral dependent. For those others, you should just buy a video of them in the wild and watch them that way. It's better for all involved.

 

[idol1]

the benetti butterfly has secret. All I read on benettis no one has got the diet right! I knew one person who kept benetts alive and well. He worked at the NewYork Aquarium back in the 60s.I brought Benettis in for him. 2 for him and 2 for me. He was also a photographer,He had loads of pictures in all the aquarium magazines and national geo. benettis were his favorite .He showed me the secret of keeping this fish.The public aquariums know the true diet of this fish. They will not publish what they know. its not the food but the dinner plate the food has to be served on,mine ate conch and clam the food was grated, but what you serve the food in was the key.I no longer have the dinner plate.I lost it when I moved to Hawaii and its irreplaceable,so I wouldn't even try a benetti they just starve no matter how much coral you give them.