Moorish Idols

I have a feeling (that is all it is), that Moorish Idols often die from bad acclimation procedures.  I think they may be more prone to ammonia gill damage and therefore die within a few week/days.  (this is all total speculation)

Great article! Thanks for taking the time to write it Adam.

By the way Connie, which corals was your Idol Picking at that prompted you to get it out of the tank?  SPS? LPS? or something else?

 This is very interesting to see all these reports of how well these fish do in home aquariums. I have been misled over the past decade with all the caveats on other forums telling us how difficult they are. It's great to see how many people here are keeping them so successfully. I settled for a Heniocus butterfly (sorry about the butchered spelling of that funky latin name) because I thought I couldn't have one! Anyone seen one of these funky fish around in the fish store lately? I have room for one more fish!

Good read Adam thanks for the time spent.

I kept 3 of them alive for over 5 years, only died when I had to move & gave them to a fellow fish lover, they do get very tame & will eat out of your hands, I started them off by feeding them opened clams I got from the local grocery store, then they just ate everything like all the other fish did, this was along time ago before new life spectrum, it was over 20 years ago long before the reef craze & those bland looking dead coral skeleton systems, they were in with large angels, tangs, eels & triggers, it was an odell 220 gal, if anyone remembers odell tanks, who knows why they were with me that long, some of the angels were also hard to keep species, like the rock beauty, emperor & even an achillis tang! I still look at my old photo's of them & wonder why they lived, I just thought they were suppose to, however I couldn't keep a powder blue to save my life! now I have one who is happy, healthy & oh so mean!

Well, I wouldn't say "impossible" - but I'd still recommend against most people trying them...

Crystal- are you sure you posted that?  Dang that post sounds like I wrote it.

If we ship 100 clown fish from Indonesia to Salt Lake City and only 5 come alive that means we have the %5 strongest fish.  Chances are you will do well with those 5 fish.  If we ship 100 Moorish Idols from Hawaii to Salt Lake City, almost all 100 will make it here alive.  If 95 of them die in a week we're still left with the %5 strongest fish.  Many experts argue that the perception of Moorish Idols being difficult to keep is because they all die in the hands of aquarists, and not in the hands of shippers.

Adam

i would strongly disagree with the statement above. this is faulty reasoning. do those 5% of clown fish go on to live the 20 years a clown fish lives in the wild or captivity?

95% of clownfish do not die in shipping or in the aquarium.

if the Morrish idols survive transport in a higher percentage that means they are healthier when they arrive. so it is not just dying in the hands of aquarists that matters but rather the long term survival. being able to provide them conditions that will enable them to live a normal lifespan in captivity.

using your first argument about clown fish applied to Moorish Idols the high % that made it alive should do well in captivity. but they do not!

if a dog or cat or bird has a normal lifespan of 15 years let's say, would you call it a success if most of them died within the first days or weeks you had it and none made it to their normal lifespan?

can you point us to references and name the many experts who argue it is only perception that they are difficult to keep? it is not just perception, it is reality.

i would also like to have the references to captive breeding. if they could spawn and raise juveniles which are much more difficult than adult fish to feed and take care of why can't anyone keep the adults.

using clown fish for example, people have figured out how to spawn and feed the juveniles and raise them to maturity. the adults don't all just die once they become adults. in other words it is much easier to take care of an adult clown fish than a fry.

i was recently at the Goergia Aquarium. they have several Swimming in their 265,000 gallon reef display. Kim Hall told me they have lots of sponges and other inverts growing on the live rock in this system. who knows if they will have long term success with them, after all the aquarium has only been open a short time. but if anywhere can have success i would expect it there. it was wonderful to see them swimming together on the reef.


they are beautiful fish, no denying that.

please leave Idols to the public aquariums and other scientists to study for now.

even if 5% make it that means 95% don't. by not buying the one fish you are saving twenty using Adams figures. but it may be saving 1,000 or more.

save a fish, don't buy it!

Carl

I agree these are stunning fish and I was looking at getting one for myself but I started to read up on them and find out their survival rate let advanced people try and figure out what their are lacking then we can all get them with a higher survival rate