The Moorish Idol Journey

[djkms]

I have been doing a lot of research on the Moorish Idol. To me this is one of the most fascinating and beautiful marine fish out there. Ever since getting into the hobby 15+ years ago I have been intrigued by this fish.

The biggest hurdle with keeping the Idol longterm is getting it to eat in captivity. Even then they have been known to just end up dying one day for no apparent reason. Getting the Idol accustomed to captive life provides quite the challenge. Well the day has come and I am ready to take up the challenge!

I get daily updates from Divers Den Live Aquaria. For those not familiar with Divers Den they are probably the leading company when it comes to selling ornamental fish and inverts to our hobby. They quarantine all their fish and make sure they are eating prepared foods before selling them to the public. They also make sure that all their fish are disease free. I have gotten almost all of my fish from Divers Den and they have all eaten well, been disease free and are the most vibrant, healthy fish that I could ask for.

11:30 am - Received daily Divers Den Sneak Peak email. The Idol was listed! I have only seen a Idol listed one other time in the last 6 or so months I have been receiving the udpates.

With Divers Den, the more rare, sought out items sell quick (I would categorize a Idol as one of those), so quick that they are already gone before the update email goes out! They update their Divers Den Section between 4-5pm weekdays.

4:00 - Login to the website and begin hitting F5 every 10 seconds

4:19 - Divers Den updates, I frantically add to cart and check out.

4:20 - Success the Idol is mine!

Talk about lucking out! Not only was I able to land the fish but its also a Juvenile! According the info I have found, the younger and smaller they are the better the success rate. Well this guy is only 3", in Idol standard he is a little guy. Rather ugly right now LOL but he will grow into his own in the next few months.

From the website:
overview
Size: 3"
Fijian Moorish Idol, eating frozen mysis and brine very well and has been conditioned for over a month.

He will arrive here either Wednesday or Thursday morning, depending on the day I can get off of work to acclimate him. Of course I will pick him up from the sort facility so he isnt on a truck all day.

Needless to say I am really excited and this will be our journey, stay tuned!

 

[Rebel]

Congrats on your find. I know you have been looking for some time. I am just about finished QTing my regal, and he is really attacking the food now. I started with clams on half shell, then PE mysis and some pellets, and finally the Rod's. With the Rod's he really began attacking the food, and now he hits nearly everything when it hits the water.

I hope you have similar luck with your idol. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help out.

J

 

[that0neguy1126]

Good Luck! Do you know if this guy was tank bred or did they catch him wild? I remember this used to be a very hard fish to keep, but since they have been successfully bred in captivity, the tank bred seem to have a very high survival rate.

 

[djkms]

Thanks guys! Wild caught, I was not aware they where breeding in captivity, do you have any links?

Sent from my Droid Incredible.

 

[that0neguy1126]

Can't seem to find any sites selling tank bred ones. I could of sworn I had read that somewhere, but might of been a different species.

 

[wirick181]

Cool fish

 

[gh0st]

You may be thinking of the Piniatus Batfish which have recently been tank bred. The pic of the adult piniatus in the press release looked a lot like Morish Idols from the top.

 

[Wicked Color]

Good luck Kris!

 

[projectx]

Good luck, I have wanted an Idol for a long time. I am afraid of killing it off, and if it were to survive, it eating my corals.

 

[djkms]

Good luck, I have wanted an Idol for a long time. I am afraid of killing it off, and if it were to survive, it eating my corals.

The survival rate is pretty poor for MI's. A lot of that has to do with getting them to eat in captivity. This is exactly why I purchased it from Divers Den.

I guess I look at a Moorish Idol the same way I do with Angelfish. Some will eat corals some won't. I figure as long as his appetite is for only one type of coral (which it usually is) then I am ok with that. If it eats Zoas then no zoas, if it eats brain corals then no brains. Of course I am sure he will go after my most expensive corals if he does in fact eat coral!

That reminds me I should probably put my Space Monsters and Chalice in my fuge until it appears to be ok. Anyone ever hear of coral fish eaters having a taste for chalices?

 

[Rebel]

In my research on the regal angel, a few mentioned that they ate their chalices. However, these comments were quite rare--most noted zoas mostly with occasional acan type LPSs. I have no idea about a MI (I didn't even know they ate coral!).

Good luck. When he gets settled I'd like to come see him. BTW, I have a TON of different foods from getting the regal starting to eat (he munched pellets and even some flake today), so if you want some portions of a large variety to test what he will/won't take (in addition to what you already have), hit me up.

 

[djkms]

You got it Jason, thanks. I'm in class all day for work so the wife had to acclimate him. So far so good I think!
View attachment 1515

Sent from my Droid Incredible.

 

[jgonzz]

Nice score

 

[djkms]

8:30am my dad picked up the Idol from FedEx - Weighed 18lbs. They shipped the fish quadruple bagged and the bags where huge! I figure they shipped it in about 2 gallons of water

8:45am the wife started to float the bag

9:15 wife emptied most of the water and started adding water from the display via a cup. about 1/2 cup every 2 minutes. Then at 15 minutes she removed about 5 cups of water then continued adding 1/2 cup increments.

9:45 She emptied as much water as she could and opened the bag into the tank releasing the Idol. Normally I do not add any shipping water to my display tank but with as fragile as I knew this fish would be I didn't want to risk netting or using my acclimater. I keep my parameters almost exactly how Divers Den keeps theirs so I knew the transition would be easy since the fish didnt have to adjust up in salinity. She said that it was the smoothest acclimation we have done so far, the fish wasn't breathing heavy or anything.

9:45-12:30 the wife and my dad observed the Idol. For the first half hour he explored everywhere and picked at some rocks. Then after that he pretty much stayed behind the reef.

5:30 I got home and fed the tank Rods & PE Mysis. Everyone ate but the Idol showed no interest from what I could see.

Pretty much all night he has been behind the reef swimming around. He has come to the front of the tank a few times but hasnt swam in the open yet.

And that's day one.

No aggression from any of the fish towards him or him towards any fish. He looks really healthy and is a beautiful fish. I will try to get some killer pictures in the next few days.

 

[jgonzz]

I love the way your documenting this Kris, I have always wanted one myself.

 

[djkms]

I love the way your documenting this Kris, I have always wanted one myself.

Thanks Josh. I hope he does well but honestly I am nervous as hell. I understand the challenge with this fish and am constantly doing research so I can do the best I can to keep this fish thriving in my system.

He doesn't appear stressed at all but is being shy. Other fish I have added to my system stayed in the back though for a day or two. I think a lot of it has to do with my led's though. They are really bright and probably take some getting used to.

Sent from my Droid Incredible.

 

[djkms]

Day 2 observations:

Idol still staying in the back for the most part. He is however coming out to the front a bit more. He is also spending more time picking on the rocks.

Fed the tank Rods & PE Mysis. He did eat a couple of Mysis shrimp but is very passively eating. Not "attacking" food yet.

Jason I would like to get together with you this weekend and get some food.

 

[crisc]

Hey Kris-

One of my clients really wanted one as well and despite my repeated warnings we ordered one, qt'd him, and introduced him about 9 months ago. He is doing great and has grown quite a bit. The only problem we have had is that some of the other fish keep nipping his long top fin's streamer and it never seems to get longer than 2" for more than a day or two. I think it is the pair of semilvatus butterflies, those little jerks pick at everything.

As I remember, I got him eating with clams on the half shell first and then he quickly converted to mysis, Hikari first and later PE. Not he eats everything including formula 1&2 which is what we feed that tank.

Good luck!

Cris

 

[djkms]

Thanks for the info Cris. The MI came to me conditioned already on mysis and brine from Divers Den.

I did call Live Aquaria before purchasing the Idol to get some info from them. He was housed by himself while at their facility. My biggest hurdle I think will be getting him used to competition for food. The other fish in my tank are pretty aggressive at getting food during feeding time. When I put the feeding cup on top of the tank the fish know feeding time is coming and they all huddle around at the middle of the tank. I feed from the middle because the currents from the powerheads shoot food off in all directions. I broadcast feed the tank. Since getting the Idol I have been doing it a bit different though. Since the idol stays in the back of the tank I have been using my baster and adding food to the opposite side of the tank for everyone else then I spot feed into the area where the Idol is to make sure he is getting food. It's not that he is not eating at all, he just isn't aggressive about it yet.

I am hoping when he starts swimming out in the open more it will be easier to feed him.

Clams on the half shell are on my list of food to pickup this weekend among other things. I have even been doing some research on getting live sponge to add to the tank since this is their main staple in the wild. I know Paul B from RC feeds his Idol sponge. I have also been thinking about picking up some Angelixer from Brightwell Aquatics but no store locally carries it.

 

[djkms]

Day 3 observations:

Today was a successful day! The Idol has been swimming out in the open, in and out of the reef and picking on rocks along the way!

Broadcast fed the tank Elite Reefs frozen blend of food and the Idol went to town chomping on all kinds of pieces and chasing it around! Kudos to Elite Reef for making a good frozen food!!!!!!!

Sorry for the crappy photos, I will get better ones soon.

I will also start changing to weekly then monthly updates for those who are following the thread.