Moorish Idol feed. Sponge??

konaevent · #1 10-21-2010, 03:55 AM

Someone told me
Moorish Idol have to eat sponges or it will
Die soon is it true??
He's in my new tank about week now eating pellets and nori. What else should I feed him??

FrenchAchilles · #2 10-21-2010, 02:55 PM

I have one live for 5 years on nls pellets, and nori, the only reason I lost him was due to a velvet/ich issue.

cordeiro · #3 10-21-2010, 03:11 PM

Are they reef safe?

Haloreef · #4 10-21-2010, 08:37 PM

In my exp. NOT if you like your reef. Mine ate pellets flake and frozen but in his spare time he would rip wedge shaped holes in my sps. You would not believe what he did to my Chalices.
Keith.

globaldesigns · #5 10-21-2010, 08:58 PM

Moorish Idols are not reef safe. this is the reason I don't have one.

Also they don't tend to live long because most times you don't get them eating pellets or nori or anything, so they die. If yours is eating pellets and so forth, that is great and I wish you luck. They are a beautiful fish.

naesco · #6 10-22-2010, 03:45 PM

Wow it is a long time since I had heard of an lfs bringing in a Moorish Idol.
They die in LFS tanks because somehow even newbie reefers know they have no chance of success.

Yours has no chance of success despite the one post posted here.

Return it to the LFS for a full credit and politely comment to the lfs management that it is simply unethical to import them.

I believe those who own lfs or knowledgeable people who work there will agree with me 100%

George · #7 10-22-2010, 09:29 PM

I neither agree nor disagree with naesco's comment. I subscribe to the philosophy that "buy fish that excites you, not the other people", but at the same time I also know that some fish have a lesser chance of surviving in an aquarium long term than other fish. Until we know more about those fish, I am not going to keep the fish. Moorish idol is one.

globaldesigns · #8 10-22-2010, 10:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by George

I neither agree nor disagree with naesco's comment. I subscribe to the philosophy that "buy fish that excites you, not the other people", but at the same time I also know that some fish have a lesser chance of surviving in an aquarium long term than other fish. Until we know more about those fish, I am not going to keep the fish. Moorish idol is one.

That is a great philosophy and very well put.

naesco · #9 10-23-2010, 02:44 AM

My view is that as reefers we have an obligation to provide optimum conditions for the animals we choose to keep in our glass cages.
The chance of keeping a Moorish Idol alive is slim to none. Conscientious reefers do not want to see fish taken from the ocean home only to watch it die in their tanks.
One day we will know what it takes to keep them and until them we should leave them in their home.
Sadly, when this or similar fish come up in a post you read several success stories (which may be true) but you do not read about the overwhelming death stories unless you read reviews on the fish by experts. It is a disservice to newbies who may not know about the fish's poor survival rate.

AHHope · #10 10-23-2010, 03:50 AM

we curently have 2 idols at my lfs. One has been in a display for almost 6 months eating everything we can throw at it. The other much larger one is for sale and is eating very well, not to mention the other one we last month is doing very well in its new home. I find that if you spend the proper time with any fish you would be amazed by what you can do.