Moorish Idol
 

Hello,

Thru a fellow reefer, I just purchased a healthy MI, they had it for 4 months & breaking down there whole set-up, thought that I did the proper reading & research on this fish & was willing to give it a try.

Has/ would anybody with experience with Mi's be willing to share what has worked for them.

I love watching him play with my 2 perculas & seems to have adjusted very well in the past 24 hrs.

Thanks
Dwight

I know Deb (EmilyB) has kept one for a while now. There is a picture of it in her featured TOTM I believe.

Zerandise had a beautiful, healthy one for several months before it decided to eat about $800 worth of imported zoos :evil: Keep an eye on it to make sure its not "sampling" your corals. I've seen that MI several times & it's a beauty that's for sure.

Anthony

I got your PM Dwight and will send you some info on my Moo later. :biggrin:

EmilyB if you don't mind posting your info, would be great, would love to get some info as well, as it is a fish I would love to one day look into buying

Hi Dwight.

Got your PM. I wish there was some secret I can tell you but I didn't find my MI extremely difficult to keep other than they need lots of oxygen. In my tank, the MI was the #1 most demanding fish for oxygen with my flame angel being #2. Those 2 fish would suffer from low oxygen way before my Hippo tang, gobies, and clownfish. Those 2 would probably die within a matter of hours of me turning off my aeration while the others would not (Actually I did lose Flames that way recently). I'm not encouraging people to buy a MI but a varied diet of Ocean Nutrition 2 flake and Freeze dried plankton was all I needed to feed mine until it outgrew my tank 1.5 years later.

They are nori piglets. Also enjoy the dark green flake that starts with sp... that I can't pronounce or spell. Fresh meaty foods as well.
Their dislikes include large purple tangs and green carpet anemones.

Spirulina?

First of all, you are probably lucky to be the second owner, as the usual problem is that MI's ship poorly and starve quickly.

Secondly, do you have a skimmer ? Moorish Idols require a very high oxygen level, a skimmer off even over nite can have dire consequences.

Feed a varied diet, PE mysis, spirulina flake, raw oyster/clam/mussel concoctions that have been mixed and frozen prior to feeding, and lots of nori.

Watch your tankmates, moorish idols and tangs can be a deadly combination.

If you have some specific questions, please feel free to ask.

Oh yeah. Forgot to mention what corals mine ate. Zoo's, Hydnophora, Candy Cane, Moon.

Was OK with clams, decorative sponges, shrimps, and crabs.