Moorish Idol and Freeze Dried Mysis Shrimp

How is your moorish idol?

Crabby Jim, its been 4 months since i last heard about your MI. Hope all is well with yours. Mine started eating mushrooms. All those brown ones you see in my pics are gone. I replaced them with SPS frags. Luckily he left all the pretty ones alone. I was starting to get worried that the brown ones were taking over anyway, he solved my problem.

 

Well the good news is he did really well he ate he got along with everyone and his banner fin grew completely back and he was thriving the bad news is he could not stay away from the vortech powerhead and last week he got too close again and got caught in in he promptly fell into my large BTA which is right below the powerhead and was eaten once the BTA was done sucking on him he fell to the bottom and the hermits cleaned it up. I know now that I could support one which is nice but I have been so busy I havent added anything too the tank since I put him in and have no plans to do anything new so I am just going to let it grow and maybe in a few months I will try another fish. The rest of my fish are doing well.

 

if the powerhead is causing so many problems maybe consider a closed loop before trying another one? glad to hear he didn't have problems eating

 

such an awesome fish!

 

Im truly sorry to hear that.

Still, you did better than me the 1st time. The vortech pump has a optional mesh screen to prevent sucking things in. Perhaps try a pair or trio of idols next time? Since my MI started eating polyps his colors almost fluoresce, and he has a little pot belly. Good thing I had several large rocks in my fuge covered with the polyps that I rotate into the tank. I am so happy to see my MI everyday, im glad you experienced that as well.

 

That looks to be a very healthy MI rayjay. I suspect eating the polyps is your key to a happy MI.

Typically people cannot find a suitable total diet for their MI to eat. So even if they do eat prepared foods, they starve or wither away from not eating a diverse enough diet.

 

Thanks hornk. I have to stress that this MI was aggressively eating when I got him from the LFS 16 months ago. In my tank he even stole thawed silversides, squid and prawns from the oral disk of my RBT anemone, and pimp-slapped my tangs for the frozen food cubes or nori in their mouths. Variety in daily feeding, and the ability to graze continually sustained him. He only developed a taste for polyp tentacle in the last 3 months but has since mowed down approx 3x2 sq foot area. The guru who sold him to me for $20 said all the people he personally knew who suceeded in keeping them for more than a year did so in a mature, large reef systems. Of these, more than half were returned or re-sold them because they started eating coral. SPS or mixed reef seems a requirement not only in providing varied live food (coralline & sponges), but also since they require pristine water conditions to mature and tend to have refugiums attached to them. In Los Angeles I have seen several stores keep them in their display reefs for months, only to sell them for $$$ to someone who wanted to try it at home. I have never seen one get old in a FOWLR.