morish idol

[ambystoma82]

anyone have experience keeping morish idol in 3 ft tank?

hear from LFS tht 3ft tank too small to contain them...

[darkstar]

yes, they need lots of swimming space.

Read in the net that minimum 120 gallons of water required.

Find one that is already feeding on pellets. I got mine a few days back. It is still not eating.

[Jameshong]

yes, they need lots of swimming space.

Read in the net that minimum 120 gallons of water required.

Find one that is already feeding on pellets. I got mine a few days back. It is still not eating.

Hi darkstar,

You can try mysis soaped with Seachem Entice. My Moorish started to eat mysis after the day 2 , now start to take some pellet soaped with Entice . It has with me for 3 week liao, whenever my hand go near to the tank , the moorish will swim over and they eat like a pig.

BTW, i've my 2 moorish in the 3 ft tanks, they swim alot and never stop unless the lighting is off.

My new house is coming soon, so I plan to setup a new tank just to keep 4 ~6 Moorish after i've swifted in(Estimated 5 month later). Hopefully, by then i can manage to cope it.

[ambystoma82]

10s 10s for all e advice

[limbssg]

Quote from a RC guy:

What is known:

1. they are beautiful

2. they aren't rare

3. poor survival in captivity

4. they will eat and/or nip some corals

IMO, what you MUST have to be successful

1. A large mature tank that is at least 180 gallons

2. good circulation, high oxygenated system

What not to do

1 Put in a tank smaller than 180 gallons

2. Don't put in with too aggresive tank mates (but that is true with any fish)

3. Buy one that is not eating. Some people say the smaller 3-4 inch fish adapt best. That is the size mine was.

What mine eats

1. He eats everything I put in the tank. Staples, though, include nori and mysis shrimp.

2. Mine has learned to love Formula 2 pellets. This has let him get fat. My fish loves nori, but my powder blue tang will not let him eat nori without harassment. Thus, I wish I could feed nori everyday, but I don't.

3. Mysis, brine shrimp, green nori, brown nori, purple nori, formula 2 pellets, frozen formula 2, frozen blood worms, all types of flake foods, scallops (I found out he loves scallop chunks. This is a sure way to get them fat when they start eating a lot), spiraluna flakes,

4. He will eat food off the bottom and rocks if it was not eaten in the water column.

What I did when I bought this one.

1. I made sure it was eating at the pet store and that it was not too thin. As a result, it was not at the pet store vry long when I bought it (maybe a couple days). I have seen others, since, eating at the pet store. Green nori attached to a rock seems to get their interest the best. Mine was eating frozen brine shrimp and mysis when I bought it. I brought him home and put him in a 29 gallon with my little spotted boxfish. I quarentined him here and used copper for 8 days. I had to put him in the reef sooner than I wanted because he was picking on the boxfish. He did not like the small tank at all and would dart about very fast. Thus, one of the many reasons I recommend a large tank. In the Q-tank, I got him to start eating more aggressively and fattened him up some. I put him in the reef with my fingers crossed. Sure enough, my big female PBT went into rage mode and chased the MI around for aggressively for several days. However, my MI is a fighter and ate well. He also can swim like you wouldn't believe. As a result, he survived this PBT abuse and now, on rare occasions, he will actually chase my PBT. They can become aggressive themselves.

I recommend a sandbed. They will eat any food that has fallen onto the sandbed (at least mine will). They also will stream water out there mouth to move the sand, looking for worms. They will eat your feather dusters and surface worms.

Mine will literally EAT some LPS corals and bother clams. They seem to like anything red or green (that is why I would try red and green colored foods to get these guys eating--blood worms, nori, red and green flakes. Also, try brine and mysis shrimp). Be prepared to remove some corals and clams. Mine mostly left a black and white clam alone, but has gone after any other clam in the tank. My clams are now in my refugium. Mine has also nipped at SPS corals, eaten green "candycane corals", eaten brain corals, and eaten a yellow leather coral. As a result, all these corals and clams are in my refugium except the SPS corals. He has stopped nipping at the sps corals.

Tangs will likely harass a MI if the MI is added after the tang. Add the MI first.

They need a large tank. They just seem claustrophobic and will dart about very fast in smaller tanks, bumping into the corners.

They are pretty disease resistant.

They have a super high metabolism. They seem to breathe more rapid (gill activity), swim very fast, and are always moving.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.p...threadid=512489

[ambystoma82]

wow thts quite a lot of info for me to digest lolx..

10s anyway...