Moorish idol

[tomtom14]

Hi everyone I wasn't really sure wether to go for this fish or not. However a friend who owns a marine fish shop ordered one in for me because he knows how much I love them.

It is about 5inches and goes crazy for any food. Mysis, brine, flake all of it goes crazy for. seen it eat pritty much everything.

So feeding this guy isn't going to be hard ive got a clean up crew in my tank at the moment and I was going to add 5 blue green chromis so bacteria can handle the extra waste. Then I'll add the moorish idol.

My question is how can I get this moorish idol to live long term? So it gets the proper nutrition and lives it's full lifespan? Please anyone that has experience with keeping this fish.

I don't really care about you just shouldn't go for this fish. It's been ordered in for me I have a big enough tank for it and if I don't take it who knows who will have that guy. Most people who go to his shop have nano tanks so would hate to know he went to a nano tank. Please any knowledge on keeping this fish is appreciated?


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[mr_X]

You should be fine if it's eating whatever you throw at it. That's the major problem with these fish. What size tank do you have?

 

[tomtom14]

500litre display and 100litre sump. I am only going to have the moorish idol and the chromis. Hopefully I can add corals as well.

I did some research and found that if you have a moorish idol that is feeding, great. But apparently 6 months down the line it dies of malnutrition? Is this true? Or if it keeps feeding will it be ok?


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[mr_X]

They get pretty large. I would think you could not keep this fish happy indefinitely.
The malnutrition issue I believe is from not feeding a varied diet. I don't see why you couldn't duplicate it's diet in a closed system.

 

[tomtom14]

Ok well I have a friend that has a 900litre display so I'll have a talk with him and see if he wants a fully grown moorish idol then I could keep it as it grows and give it to him when it gets too big for my tank.

Thank you for the advice I just wanted to double check in the wild what does there diet consist of? Mainly so I can try and duplicate it. I heard it is sponge and clam is this true?


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[mr_X]

I haven't kept any for very long, but The diet varies depending on where you look. Sponges seem to be referred to more than not. The ones I imported I got to eat gut loaded brine. They didn't eat anything prepared before I sold them.
Here is a good read on them, with first hand experience-
Still Impossible After All These Years: Keeping Moorish Idols | Details | Articles | TFH Magazine®

 

[tomtom14]

Thanks


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[Gregcoyote]

One of the more difficult fish IMO. Good luck with him!


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[Memphis Whale]

Ive read theyre practically impossible to keep alive for very long.....one of those awesome fishes that shouldve been left in the sea,not in a tank

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[TheTodd]

If you get it, keep us updated. I agree that they are extremely difficult, but it would be cool to see a success story at least for the time it resides in your tank.

My suggestion would be to pass it on before it looks like it needs a larger tank. I think fish get stressed by confined space before it looks too small for us.


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[superpeytonm]

How is it?


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[tomtom14]

It's still alive in the shop. However my skimmer has broken. Having a lot of trouble with it but as soon as it's fixed and my levels are back to perfect in going to try. Hopefully won't be too long.


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