My Attempt at the Infamous Moorish Idol

[Miami Reef]

I want to document about my future experience with a Moorish Idol.

My tank is 250 gallons. My tank is fallow but I have fish in QT. I originally had a plan to keep aggressive fish, but the most beautiful fish in my opinion were the delicate ones!

So. I know this is an expert only fish. I do have a well thought out plan on how I’m going to care for it.

I purchased this fish from live Aquaria Divers Den, so I know that the worst part (getting it to eat) is done. Getting it to eat in MY care is the next challenge.

Here’s my plan:

1. Only keep calm fish
2. Keep tank 100% parasite free (that’s the easy part). Tank went fallow. All fish prophetically treated.
3. High oxygen, high flow, lower temps (77F-78).
4. feed live blackworms (I have a sustainable culture).
5. Feed multiple times a day with frozen LRS, NSW pellets.
6. Dose Silicates for sponge development? @Randy Holmes-Farley What is your experience with dosing silicates for sponges?

Here’s why I think I might fail:

1. I’m only keeping one singly. If I theoretically tried pairing them up, would it matter the sex of the other moorish? I don’t know how to sex them.

2. The odds are against me with this fish. Nobody can keep them alive. But I want a challenge. I think I’m going above and beyond with my plan.

The next post is my current stocking list. Note: I don’t have any fish in DT yet. They are all waiting in QT. If there was a theoretical bad candidate I can rehome them. My goal is to have moorish in tank FIRST for a week before introducing any other fish.

 

[Miami Reef]

This is what I CURRENTLY have at home:

 

[NowGlazeIT]

I did not know the divers den fish are eating before they sell them. I’ve heard the bigger companies don’t feed everyday, to lower the risk of high ammonia during shipping.

 

[tehmadreefer]

 

[tehmadreefer]

They are not impossible to keep long term by any stretch these days. Also hope you don’t plan on having softie, lps and even sps will get nipped lol

 

[Miami Reef]

I did not know the divers den fish are eating before they sell them. I’ve heard the bigger companies don’t feed everyday, to lower the risk of high ammonia during shipping.

Understandable. I saw a picture of the guy on the website, but I didn’t take a screenshot before purchasing, and now the photo is gone. I emailed LA for the photo. I didn’t see it skinny in the picture.

 

[QuarantinedCorals]

I think you should do it, I like the plan, its been thought out and you're putting in the effort. I would love one as well but I'm scared of losing coral, that's why I haven't gotten a regal angel Good luck! I applaud the qt effort btw!

 

[NowGlazeIT]

Understandable. I saw a picture of the guy on the website, but I didn’t take a screenshot before purchasing, and now the photo is gone. I emailed LA for the photo. I didn’t see it skinny in the picture.

That’s good I’m rootin for you, thanks for bringing us along your journey!

 

[LaloJ]

That is an excellent plan, I'm sure that LADD did a good job with that fish, usually (and from what I have read) you can contact them to request information about the current feeding of the fish. I would not try to match these fish, as I know of experiences where one fish will kill the other, and maybe I only remember one occasion where two or more Moorish idols worked together but I just wouldn't try. I have the same plan as you with a regal angel.

 

[Littlesquishy]

Theres something called AngeLixir you could look into getting to supplement their diet. Its made specifically for fish that have sponge in their diet. I found this product exist when I ran into it at my LFS. I'm planning on purchasing it when I feel confident in trying to keep a moorish idol.

 

[Viking_Reefing]

The difficulty of these guys is way overblown in my opinion.
I’ve kept three over the last 20 years and two of them have done very well.
The one that didn’t was completely my fault: I bought it on a whim in the early 2000’s when I was about 13 and had no idea on how to take care of it. It ate and all that but in the end it starved to death due to me being an idiot and not feeding enough.

They aren’t that difficult but there are however a couple of requirements that needs to be met or it just won’t do well and where I think a lot of people fail:

These guys burn through food at a rate which is out of this world and need to be feed 4+ times a day white a diet that includes sponges and algae.

A large established tank (I would say a couple of years at least) so that there’s a lot of stuff for it to peck on.

A large tank with open spaces and a lot of circulation/oxygenation.

I wouldn’t personally try to put one in a sterile QT environment, it’s a lot better to just introduce it straight in to a reef setting from the start.

Best of luck! If you need any tips moving forward I’m happy to help

Edit: don’t try to keep a pair, it never works long term. The only way I I’ve seen people have any luck keeping more than one is in groups in a huge tank.

Here’s some pictures of my guy Fat Frank:

 

[Miami Reef]

@MichaelE @Jay Hemdal

This moorish was pretreated at live Aquaria with copper, formalin, metro, and prazi.

Here’s my question: How long would an observational QT work for the moorish? Can I use a 2 week observation since it was already “pretreated”?

If I need to do a month QT, I might as well just copper it.

 

[Miami Reef]

Ok. My current plan is to put him in observation tank for 2-4 weeks. I’ll see how he does.

Update! I got the picture and the stats.

It’s a moorish idol from Indonesia. 3.5”.

Here is the photo.

Live Aquaria said it was eating mysis and brine shrimp.

Edit: will that stringy part on the top get longer as he grows?

Update: LA said it will since it’s still a juvenile.

 

[Stain]

I would skip the qt/'observation' 100% for this fish. You said its been pre-treated, so why prolongue the strees. Dump him in and let him get used to the real tank. Even if it wasn't 'pre-treated' i'd still do a quick drip and set him free.

 

[Miami Reef]

@4FordFamily

Will an observation period for 2-4 weeks be ideal? I cannot risk my DT getting infected with ich.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

@MichaelE @Jay Hemdal

This moorish was pretreated at live Aquaria with copper, formalin, metro, and prazi.

Here’s my question: How long would an observational QT work for the moorish? Can I use a 2 week observation since it was already “pretreated”?

If I need to do a month QT, I might as well just copper it.

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

 

[Viking_Reefing]

@MichaelE @Jay Hemdal

This moorish was pretreated at live Aquaria with copper, formalin, metro, and prazi.

Here’s my question: How long would an observational QT work for the moorish? Can I use a 2 week observation since it was already “pretreated”?

If I need to do a month QT, I might as well just copper it.

Unfortunately I can’t help you here as I feel that the best course of action with my more “sensitive” such as idols, achilles etc is to just put them straight in to the DT (or a similar sized reef).

 

[ClearRain]

I had an Idol in QT at work for a customer for 4-6 weeks. It came in with black spot disease but was already an aggressive eater. He was in a 125 with 2 hotb filters and 1 circulation pump. He got a malachite green/formalin treatment for the BSD. Fed him about 3 times a day with mysis, ocean nutrition trigger formula, and his favorite.... omega one kelp pellets. Cleaner wrasse lived with him and a purple tang. Never had one do well at the store in my 7 years there, but he was a champ. Hope any part of this helps!!

 

[Miami Reef]

Thanks. Wanted to update you guys on my plan.

Acclimate Moorish Idol to my new sterile QT. Spend 1-2 days to get a feeding response. Then I’d use my standard 14 day treatment protocol and add directly into my tank.

I ordered silica and a test kit and will start dosing the DT in preparation. I did research and I learned sponge grows FAST. I feel pretty confident if I’m being honest. Planning to keep my silicates around 1ppm-2ppm silica.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I’ve never seen sponge grow in a freshly established tank. Have you got a process to feed it? Not all sponge species are palatable, do you have a list that idols will feed on? I’ve only had four types of sponge grow in tanks; pineapple, gray, purple and a round flat species that grows in fish systems.
Jay