thinking about buying a moorish idol

The moorish idol is VERY VERY difficult to keep. Less than 10% survive in captivity more than 2 years. They are very fickle eaters and usually starve to death within the first couple months. Before acquiring one you should obtain a large amount of dandelion greens, blanche them, and freeze them. Then stuff the greens (now white) with thawed frozen food (paste) and trick them into eating what looks like a spounge (their natural diet).


Behaviorally they are a bit shy, so can be difficult to get them to come out at all to eat if they're in a tank with boysterous and well established fish like tangs and/or larger (than them) angels. They are a bit like copperband butterflies, sometimes they will eat, but just not get enough calories to make up for what they use, and other times they just stop eating all together for unknown reasons.


Generally I would recommend against keeping them. They will no longer be exported from Hawaii soon (I think end of Feb) they are of course endemic to Hawaii.... Most keepers recommend tanks 200+ to keep them, while others suggest even larger (400+). They're no joke, lots of time, space and dedication.


Sorry to crush your hopes and dreams, but it's been one of mine for more than 10 years and after much reading and researching I came to the conclusion that it just wasn't worth the risk of killing a majestic and gorgeous animal that I so adore.

 

Way to preach, brotha! I always have admired moorish idols, but I agree with you Andy. I'd rather look at them in public aquariums. A nice alternative is the heniochus bannerfish. They have roughly the same body shape and coloration. But they still need a bigger tank and if you don't get the right species, they are likely to nip at corals and clams.

 

I'm not trying to be too preachy here (although I always seem to be). I just want to offer the soundest advice I can give based on my research in the topic. Yet still there are dedicated keepers who say that they are very hardy specimens once established. Many of these said keepers don't keep a high density of fish in their tanks, and almost all have tanks that are 300+ gallons. Some of these (and other) articles can be found in CORAL Magazine, and Adavanced Aquarist online. All will attest that the endeavor is not for the faint of heart. I fear my constantly waxing and waning interest in my tank would cause me to fail personally.

 

Lol I didn't think you were preachy man! You were informative! Plus they are definitely a species not for the faint of heart...

 

It has been my Dream also.

 

Nice job Andy. Well put.

 

They will eat any soft corals or polyps in a tank too.

 

Had some friends with a 540 try a pair, they were very skilled fish keepers ad could not get theirs to eat even with a tank full of sponges.