My Attempt at the Infamous Moorish Idol

[Lionfish hunter]

Do yo

That's a tough call.

I have two idols that were acquired in 2015 from A&M Aquatics. They are in a huge tank, and have been doing very well - they seemed paired up. IIRC, they were given 30+ days of Coppersafe and 3x prazi. However, they were quarantined in a 1200 gallon, well established Q tank.

Idols are prone to ich, but it is easy to see on their black stripes.

The dorsal filaments grow back quickly.

I guess, if pressed, I would say two weeks of Coppersafe, and moving the fish out while still in copper, would be better than a two week purely observational quarantine.

Jay

Do you still have these idols?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Do yo

Do you still have these idols?

Yes they are still doing very well. I’m no longer involved in their care, but they look perfect to me last time I saw them. I think the size of the tank has a lot to do with them doing so well.
Jay

 

[Lionfish hunter]

Yes they are still doing very well. I’m no longer involved in their care, but they look perfect to me last time I saw them. I think the size of the tank has a lot to do with them doing so well.
Jay

Excellent! How large a tank? I have one going into my 235 today after almost 2 months in quarantine.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Excellent! How large a tank? I have one going into my 235 today after almost 2 months in quarantine.

90.000 gallons

Jay

 

[SCReef'n]

This is Elvis

 

[SCReef'n]

More pics and content on IG (@hypoxiareef) This site still can’t figure out how to support iPhone videos. What year is this?

 

[jx fang]

Our Moory (my 5 years old named the fish) almost 2 years in the tank.
Hopefully many more years to come.

jx

 

[i cant think]

This is Elvis

The meleagris in the back though, It’s still a dream to try get a good photo of my wrasses whilst trying to also get photos of my other fish.

 

[unklez]

Just my few cents in my experience with butterflies and moorish idol. The idol has to be king of the tank which means he gets first dibs on all food especially nori. If say you get a small idol with established tangs i think its going to be good as dead in a short time. Tank size doesnt really matter as long as its king.

And yeah NLS pellets really work superb, i also cut mussels every day in to little pieces and feed that, fattens em up well.

I fed my boy a little less this week and he ate some zoa colonies for the first time ;Nailbiting
But i expected him to do that a long time ago heh.

 

[Miami Reef]

@unklez Thank you for sharing your experience. Beautiful tank and fish!

I had a similar experience with my moorish idol. The best thing is getting them as a juvenile and ensuring they are the boss. My moorish is actually on the more aggressive side which is great.

People told me that a moorish idol was more reef safe than the “poor man’s moorish idol”. In my experience, these fish are hardly reef safe. Mine really enjoyed LPS corals (brains, acans).

And yes, my moorish is still alive and well.

 

[Doctorgori]

@unklez Thank you for sharing your experience. Beautiful tank and fish!

I had a similar experience with my moorish idol. The best thing is getting them as a juvenile and ensuring they are the boss. My moorish is actually on the more aggressive side which is great.

People told me that a moorish idol was more reef safe than the “poor man’s moorish idol”. In my experience, these fish are hardly reef safe. Mine really enjoyed LPS corals (brains, acans).

And yes, my moorish is still alive and well.

I got two and their taste preferences and aggression vary. One of them is a pig and is outright nasty, he demolished ALL of my Lobo and Trachys in short order, next went my lords…many 2-4 yrs old….
the other doesn’t bother anything ….
…just adding data samples ..
edit add: just for info, I think I got mine to eat mussel then Formula Two pellets, now NLS which they love