Yet Another Moorish Idol Thread

[Jaws]

I've had success with some of the New ERA flake, pellet, and grazing wheel food. It seems to be smelly enough to entice some of the more finicky eaters. At the end of the day though, idols are always going to be hit and miss and I wouldn't personally buy one unless it was already eating very well before I bought it.

[straightrazorguy]

Thanks Anthony; I may contact MyKiss.

Update: they are both picking at food, chewing and spitting back out, most of the time. But after observing them for a while I noticed they don't spit all the food; they seem to swallow some. I tried feeding all kinds of foods: nori, pellets, flakes, frozen mysis, clams, frozen brine, soaked in Selcon or not, etc. The smaller moorish seems to favour nori and the bigger one clam bits. Keeping my fingers crossed!

[Treebeard]

I know it's a long shot, but maybe try Docs Eco Eggs Brew. All of my fish love it, including a Kole Tang that would only eat New Era Marine Grazers, and otherwise survives on whatever algae he picks off the ricks.
http://docseco.com/product/docs-eco-eggs-brew/

[Cody]

I've been debating getting a Moorish Idol myself, and a guy that has successfully kept one told me that the key is a diverse diet with all different types of food. He feeds frozens, dried, pellets and flakes. Obviously there is more to it than that including great water conditions, but he felt the feeding diversity is crucial.

Good luck!

[straightrazorguy]

Slow progress: the smaller fish eats reasonably well now. The big one still picks at it, spitting back out most food. Watching him eat is like watching paint dry. But the food disappears off the bottom and the nori gets eaten off the clip while I'm gone. And I'm feeding a variety of foods: flakes, pellets, nori and mysis. I soak them in Doc's Eco Eggs Brew, shich I piocked up at J&L (thanks Treebeard!). I'm quite hopeful!

[Tracey2]

you could try live black worms, not many fish can resist. I agree to hold off on the prazipro until they are eating well.

[KPG007]

I was at King Ed's a week and a half a ago and they had a few Moorish Idols. I just set up a 4'x8' frag system and was looking for some fish for it. Because of the size of my tank, I took a chance on one of the Idols. It took him a few days to come out from hiding when I came around, but eventually he did. He wasn't eating anything I put in the tank, but I did notice him pecking at rocks and at some algae growing on frag plugs. He slowly progressed to where he would get into the feeding frenzy and chase mysis around when it was added, but he would just spit it out.
Finally yesterday came the big breakthrough! I was going to add another sheet of Nori, but at the last minute decided to add some flake first. Wow! He started eating it like there was no tomorrow! He's out swimming much more comfortably now too. He has also buddied up with another new fish - an XL Naso tang (who is also hiding a lot and not eating, but I just got him last weekend). The Naso is a big boy and will hopefully come around.
I was suffering a little buyers remorse when I picked up the Idol, knowing they are not an easy fish to keep. I'm definitely a little more optimistic now that he's eating and more relaxed.

I was talking to Robert at King Ed a few years ago and he was telling me the '3' milestones of new fish:
A fish will die within 3 days due to capture and shipping.
A fish will die within 3 weeks if he does not start eating
A fish will die within 3 months if he was captured using cyanide.

So almost two weeks in and I think I passed the first two. Still a lot can go wrong, but so far so good.

Good Luck with your Idol!

[straightrazorguy]

Yeah I got my two moorish at King Ed as well. Update, I had the tank set with Prazipro to begin with, and slowly drip acclimated them last Thursday when I got them. In retrospect, it was a stupid thing to do. I did do a 25% water change 3 days later, and they are eating reasonably well now. They are still slow, deliberate eaters, but they eat nori and flakes.

Like I said before, they got a full dose of Prazipro for 3 days which isn't quite enough. The question I have to you experienced fish guys, should I, at some point treat them with Cupramine for Ick? Or should I do Hypo? They are in a bare tank, and I hope to move them to the DT as soon as it's safe to do so...

[straightrazorguy]

After eating like pigs for a few days the idols stopped eating. They were hovering near the surface breathing rapidly. I did a 30% water change and lowered the water level in the tanks so they get more oxygenation (the hang on back filter is the only turbulence they get). They seem to be better, but they are still breathing rapidly and not eating.

Any ideas? Suggestions?

[Aquattro]

check ammonia?