Doc
I don't work for anybody
So, since I made, yet another daring venture into the world of Stupid, I figure I would trace my progress on a thread. I want to give others experience with this amazing fish that they may learn what does and doesn't work with this fish.
First, I picked poor tankmates. The angels are pretty aggressive, but after two days are leaving him alone. It would have been better to place him in a tank FIRST (durh) and after it is established and eating, to add more passive tankmates. He is eating tho, and that is a good thing. They are slow eaters and don't seem to devour food in the water column.
Second, they are sponge eaters in the wild, that means they pick at the rocks. I have found a frozen food that does not thaw well and ends up being almost a paste. It is the angel formula from ocean nutrition. My goal is to soak it for a while and then mush it into the rocks, since he seems to pick at the rocks all day. To keep the other fish from devouring it, I will throw in other food at the opposite end of the tank to distract them while I smear the other food in the rock crevices. I am looking for find a hole that is only accessable to the Moorish Idol and his unique snout.
third, corals - only soft corals
fourth, I will try a variety of other foods and keep posting how he seems to eat.
My goal is to gather as much info as possible on this guy in the hopes of finding a way to keep them in a home aquarium. Gathering practices seem to bring them sick into LFS as well as not eating. Luckily my guy is very healthy, with his pennent banner in full extension. I read that they like to eat mussels as well and that by putting a food mixture into an open shell, it may influence them to eat. That is not an option in my tank as the other fish would devour it instantly. They are great eaters
So here I am, starting a diary of my Moorish Idol, probably in the top 10 favorite fish for me. Please add any useful information you can about my quest. I would love to keep this baby long term
-Doc
First, I picked poor tankmates. The angels are pretty aggressive, but after two days are leaving him alone. It would have been better to place him in a tank FIRST (durh) and after it is established and eating, to add more passive tankmates. He is eating tho, and that is a good thing. They are slow eaters and don't seem to devour food in the water column.
Second, they are sponge eaters in the wild, that means they pick at the rocks. I have found a frozen food that does not thaw well and ends up being almost a paste. It is the angel formula from ocean nutrition. My goal is to soak it for a while and then mush it into the rocks, since he seems to pick at the rocks all day. To keep the other fish from devouring it, I will throw in other food at the opposite end of the tank to distract them while I smear the other food in the rock crevices. I am looking for find a hole that is only accessable to the Moorish Idol and his unique snout.
third, corals - only soft corals
fourth, I will try a variety of other foods and keep posting how he seems to eat.
My goal is to gather as much info as possible on this guy in the hopes of finding a way to keep them in a home aquarium. Gathering practices seem to bring them sick into LFS as well as not eating. Luckily my guy is very healthy, with his pennent banner in full extension. I read that they like to eat mussels as well and that by putting a food mixture into an open shell, it may influence them to eat. That is not an option in my tank as the other fish would devour it instantly. They are great eaters
So here I am, starting a diary of my Moorish Idol, probably in the top 10 favorite fish for me. Please add any useful information you can about my quest. I would love to keep this baby long term
-Doc