The Moorish Idol Journey

[little_fish]

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]

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]

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.

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]

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]

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]

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]

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?

 

[jonthefb]

Yeah the air exposure is what does them in. The fish picking at the sponge would just kill the parts that they nibble.

 

[djkms]

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]

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.

 

[djkms]

Well Maury (yes the wife names the fish) is doing good!

 

[Cake_Boss]

Looking good, did you see AquaImports has one for sale?

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

 

[djkms]

Yeah, Elite picked one up recently as well.

 

[jonthefb]

you need to get another and call it Povich!

 

[othercents]

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]

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.

 

[jgonzz]

looks good Kris congrats

 

[djkms]

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]

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]

 

[Cake_Boss]

What a fatty. Congrats on getting a sweet fish.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk