moorish idol- week 10

were on day 4 and so far so good. eats very well and i offer alot of different food for its diet. no aggression at all from anyone. i have read where these fish will just die after seeming very healthy so i guess time will tell.

 

so far so good.this fish really does eat alot and has alot of personality.

 

day 29 and so far so good. has gained weight since it arrived. can no longer see its dorsal spine. eats alot of food and i would say the boss of the tank.

 

Looking good, glad to see success up to this point.

 

thanks va, got my fingers crossed !

 

day 37 and still doing well. i have noticed on day 35 my maroon clown chases it sometimes. may have to relocate the clown if it gets any worse. never had any trouble till this point.

 

I have been keeping these fish (not continousely) since the 70s. For some stupid reason they were one of the first fish imported after damsels. My last one I had for five years and killed it in an accident with a load of the rest of my fish. To learn about this fish I went to Tahiti and Hawaii and spent quite a lot of time with them under water. I have never seen them in schools except very young ones. They do live in pairs but not like most fish. They don't really stay close to each other. The male searches for food, which in almost all cases in Tahiti was a lime green sponge. Then after spending a minute or so eating, the female would show up and he would go on searching for more sponge. In Hawaii they eat dying seaweed which covers whats left of the reefs there, even on the remote Islands which is where I took this. You will notice no other fish there as Idols are one of the only fish left because they eat this stuff which other fish don't want. All the large predators there are gone as well as most of the surgeonfish.
I fed mine sponge every day that I collected here in New York on floating docks. I froze it and kept it all winter. The Idol would jump out of the water for it. I also rigged up an automatic feeder that would dispense fish oil soaked pellets into a dish a few times a day as Moorish Idols are huge feeders and need to eat all day.

I took this in Tahiti and the last one in Hawaii




My tank, years ago

 

Paul b. thank you very much for your post. i have read many of your post on other forums and your info has been a big help. you post beautiful pictures. as you may have read my 14 year old maroon clown has started chasing my idol. i removed the clown last night at 10pm. not something i wanted to do before bedtime!. they were fine for the first 5 weeks. again thank you for all the wonderful pictures and info.

 

Thank you Chum

 

week 10 today and the idol is doing very well. one of the most social fish i have ever had. here is a bad pic.