The Moorish Idol Journey

little_fish

Butterfly Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#41
Good luck with these guys.

A friend of mine has been able to keep 3 of them long term (year +) but they are in a custom build 380 gal tank by themselves. They are also feed live sponges and anemones (bubble tip and carpets being their favs), around 10-15 a month. I personally think the reason why most of them will eat like pigs in captivity and then die for no apparent reason is because they are lacking some critical nutrient that they can only get from eating the anemones.
 

othercents

Tang
M.A.S.C Club Member
#42
that0neguy1126;75388 said:
If I remember right, it is actually a defense mechanism. The idea is predator's would try to bite the streamer instead of the fish. That is why it grows back so fast. Kind of like a lizard tail.
Maybe you need fish now to eat the streamer, so it doesn't grow too long and get stuck somewhere. Might get so long that the fish gets all tied up in a knot.
 

djkms

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#43
little_fish;75820 said:
Good luck with these guys.

A friend of mine has been able to keep 3 of them long term (year +) but they are in a custom build 380 gal tank by themselves. They are also feed live sponges and anemones (bubble tip and carpets being their favs), around 10-15 a month. I personally think the reason why most of them will eat like pigs in captivity and then die for no apparent reason is because they are lacking some critical nutrient that they can only get from eating the anemones.
Now thats a new one too me. Never heard or read anywhere about MI's eating anemone's. From my research keeping them for years now is pretty commonplace. Many don't consider you successful with MI's until you keep them 10+ years in captivity. The guesstimated lifespan of a MI is around 15 years. Also pretty interesting that your friend is able to keep 3 of them together in a closed system. In the wild MI's are usually only found in pairs. I would guess it more the feeding of the sponge then the anemones. The people who have kept them longterm have been feeding sponge, live or processed. I have also added foods with sponge to his diet. I have also been looking into adding sponge to my system, just trying to figure out a safe and cost effective way to do so.

othercents;75821 said:
Maybe you need fish now to eat the streamer, so it doesn't grow too long and get stuck somewhere. Might get so long that the fish gets all tied up in a knot.
No way I would add a fish to eat the streamer! It has grown even more, it is very fragile however so I doubt it would cause the MI to get stuck anywhere, it would just rip off.
 

jonthefb

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#44
Yeah i would suggest looking into the frozen angel foods and trigger foods that Ocean Nutrition make, would be a good way to work in even more dietary variety. You might scour lfs' to see if anyone is ordering ball/tree sponges that are not looking great and see if you can snatch them at a bargain.

Cheers!
Jon
 

djkms

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#45
I have Angel Formula (Frozen) and Mega Marine Angel (frozen). Both list sponge as their first ingredient.

As far as live sponge;
I was thinking of ordering some live sponge, should I blend it and freeze it in with other food or should I try to keep it alive in the tank for the Idol to munch on? I know nothing about sponge but I have read that a dying sponge in your tank can become a real problem. Any info on this?
 

jonthefb

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#46
Nah a dying sponge isn't going to cause any harm other than a potential ammonia spike. I would finely chop it up but probably not blend it and freeze it and then work it into your feeding regimen.

Sponges are tricky. They are very much like starfish in the sense that if they are mishandled during collection/transit, they are doomed.
 

djkms

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#47
From what I understand the biggest thing is not to expose it to air. If I picked up some sponge as food and decorated the tank with it, would the Idol (and I bet my Angel would want to get in on the action) kill the whole thing by nibbling on it or just the parts it nibbles? Make sense?
 

djkms

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#49
Sweet, time to look into some sponge, thanks for all the help and info Jon!

btw I had a question about a seachem product, I asked in your section, go check it man!!
 

Zooid

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#50
Oh crap, the purple sponge I got at DBTC is doomed? doh!

j/k.....I never let sponges or stars hit the air if I don't have to.
 

othercents

Tang
M.A.S.C Club Member
#55
Are those pictures more of a progression shot? Looks like the first picture was when you first got him/her and the last picture was a few days after. Then the middle picture seams to be the latest. I say that because of the bottom fin and the streamer. Could be my imagination or something to do with they way they swim.
 

djkms

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#56
The pictures were all taken last night. Its just the angle of the fish in the shot and the streamer is about 1/2 hard and half soft. So if the Idol is moving than the streamer extends horizontally and when the Idol is idol it extends more vertically.
 

djkms

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#58
Well its been almost 2 months now and I still haven't killed him! He is doing real well. Fat, happy and eats like a champ. He loves him some NLS pellets!! He has pretty much set himself at the top of the pecking order in my tank. Im starting to think that he wasnt actually eating my pipe organ or green paly's but was eating the bugs on them...

btw I was at Elite about a week ago and they had a beautiful MI in their store. Wonder who bought it, really good looking Idol, really long streamer and seemed pretty happy. Mike I think you sold it, do you know who purchased it?
 

djkms

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#59
Here is a short video of the Idol. He is a fat big and eating everything. Pellets, Rods, Nori, Dictoya, if its edible he is eating it!

In the video its about 15 minutes past dinner time, he is pacing wondering where the heck his food is!!
[video=youtube;jbYmg192Ar4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbYmg192Ar4[/video]
 
Top