Moorish idol

[mmaisonneuve]

Nice job ! I'm preping for mine !!! thr QT tank will get 2 more water change with the DT water before receiving the MI. Now I see that you talk about Sponge to feed them....can I get detail of what is it ?

[Amy]

That's great! I stopped feeding 5 times a day, we are now down to 2 or 3 feedings a day. That's why he's nipping at the zoas... but he eats more food eveMy water parameters havent changed much also, but I have some green algae in some places.. Doesn't bother me much since its not the main tank.
The moorish idols remind me a lot of the copperband butterflies... they're always searching for food and nipping everywhere, they have the same routine. Mine is always up very early, he starts nipping at the live rock 5 hours before the light comes on, and he goes to sleep very very late, I always see him roaming around before going to bed. I saw mine took some weight also, you can see they get rounder in shape, a good sign for sure.
I stopped feeding him clam pieces and oysters cause i'm afraid I wont be able to keep clams with him lol! I dont want to sell mine and I have a feeling he will nip at it later, my CBB did, and so does the flame angel if I dont feed him..  She needs a break!

I think the powerhead might be responsable for the streamer being chopped off..The tissue looks really fragile. When my MI is near a powerhead, it looks like it's almost gonna leave in the current. I'm actually thinking about removing some of the powerful powerheads... Not that he has a hard time swimming, but maybe he would eat better if the food didnt fly so fast in front of his face. He will 'run' after pellets real quick, but nothing else. He's really a Pellet-a-holic! I don't think it's too good for a moorish idol if he only eats that everyday.. I'll try to buy some ornamental sponges and break it into pieces, maybe if it's floating near him, he will taste it and finally eat them.

[Dakotamay]

Nice job ! I'm preping for mine !!! thr QT tank will get 2 more water change with the DT water before receiving the MI. Now I see that you talk about Sponge to feed them....can I get detail of what is it ?

In the wild from what I read MI mainly eat soft sponge. When we first got Maury he gobbled down the sponges that had been growing naturally in the sump on my 80lbs of live rock I keep down there. Once he finished that up. I had to go into Ottawa and pick up some pink and yellow sponges from Az at Aqua Valley.  $100 bucks later and he now has 3 nice pieces of sponge to nibble in the tank. I haven't seen him go for the yellow sponge yet. Just the large pink one.  Strangely the sponge doesn't seem to be bothered by being picked at either. It still appears quite healthy and happy. I also think it likes light! It gets smaller and paler in color during lights out and larger and more intense pink when lights are on. 

Watch for my pics this afternoon. I'm going to get some new ones to show of Maury and put them in the thread I started.

[Dakotamay]

That's great! I stopped feeding 5 times a day, we are now down to 2 or 3 feedings a day. That's why he's nipping at the zoas... but he eats more food eveMy water parameters havent changed much also, but I have some green algae in some places.. Doesn't bother me much since its not the main tank.
The moorish idols remind me a lot of the copperband butterflies... they're always searching for food and nipping everywhere, they have the same routine. Mine is always up very early, he starts nipping at the live rock 5 hours before the light comes on, and he goes to sleep very very late, I always see him roaming around before going to bed. I saw mine took some weight also, you can see they get rounder in shape, a good sign for sure.
I stopped feeding him clam pieces and oysters cause i'm afraid I wont be able to keep clams with him lol! I dont want to sell mine and I have a feeling he will nip at it later, my CBB did, and so does the flame angel if I dont feed him..  She needs a break!

I think the powerhead might be responsable for the streamer being chopped off..The tissue looks really fragile. When my MI is near a powerhead, it looks like it's almost gonna leave in the current. I'm actually thinking about removing some of the powerful powerheads... Not that he has a hard time swimming, but maybe he would eat better if the food didnt fly so fast in front of his face. He will 'run' after pellets real quick, but nothing else. He's really a Pellet-a-holic! I don't think it's too good for a moorish idol if he only eats that everyday.. I'll try to buy some ornamental sponges and break it into pieces, maybe if it's floating near him, he will taste it and finally eat them.

Ours does the same thing. Up before the birds lol and is the last to go to bed at night. He darts around the tank late at night all the time.  They are constant grazers. Maury is always on the look out for a morsel lol.  I would think that is why he is after your zoas. See if you can figure a way to keep some meat in the tank during waking hours for him. It's worked for us.

I would try just turning off your powerheads during feeding time. I tried that with Maury but he was less interested in the food the slower it went. Strange. We'll see this morning if he goes after the mysis the way he did yesterday morning.

I'm noticing this morning that the long streamer is starting to re grow. Hopefully it was dietary and he'll keep it this time. He did run out of sponge for a couple of days before he lost the streamer. He's now had sponge back since Sunday.  Maybe sponge in the diet plays a part. But, you mentioned your's isn't eating sponge. Maybe he is getting some off of your rocks? It's great to be able to compare fish and their habits and the results.

[mmaisonneuve]

I've read that the streamer will grow and fall and then regrow and fall again. Some people had MI for years and kept seeing this lost and regrowth thing. I would suspect that if it grows back he's getting the proper food.

[Dakotamay]

I've read that the streamer will grow and fall and then regrow and fall again. Some people had MI for years and kept seeing this lost and regrowth thing. I would suspect that if it grows back he's getting the proper food.

Thanks for that info. I hadn't read that anywhere. His is short and growing again. I just posted updated pics in the thread I started.

[Amy]

Here's a little update of my moorish idol:

He finally settled down completely! He has become quite aggressive towards the bristletooth tang, to the point where the tang will let him eat first (he used to be the most dominant fish in there, always charging from one side to the other, showing some attitude to everyone and always tried to steal the food too!) Luckily, the fish I have are all tough and don't get nervous, they back down but not in fear. The moorish idol will bolt to the front of the tank to be the first to get the food, he will even ram the other fish, and he eats pellets like crazy! He has a huge belly, you can see the bump. He's still not a fan of mysis and brine, he will eat some but clearly doesnt like the taste of it (spits most of it)

He's not camera shy at all too, everytime I take pictures, he constantly swims by.
He's really mellow, I had to redo all the live rock since I really didnt like how it was placed and when I had my hands in there and moved everything, he still swam around like normal.
He ate a couple of minutes after I redid his rock palace!

He still has his streamer at the same length and doesn't seem bothered at all by the size of the tank, which is great since I want to keep him in that tank for another 2 months at least!

Here's a picture I took last night of him.

[Cheebs]

What an amazing fish, I'm happy it's working out, good job

[Pablo]

Here's an update of the Moorish idol..
He's now feeding really agressively on a mix of mysis, brine, pellets. He loves his algae disks and seaweed on a clip!
He's in the 210g since 2 weeks now.. had some trouble with the purple tang, but now they dont bother each other anymore.
Still completely reef safe so far, has no interest in corals or the clam, just grazes on algae.
Really not shy at all, always the first to eat basically, he's always in the front, loves to swim but always stays in the corner where I put food  He's a begger.
And his streamer is getting ridiculously long lol!









Hes still not eating sponges.... he loves the pellets too much!

[Dakotamay]

Hey Amy,
It's been a while. How is your MI doing?

[FocusFin]

Any updates.

[NjOyRiD]

Mi is doing good, its in my tank now..eating all the time, non stop.