Moorish Idol - My American Idol

[rayray]

a few shots of my American Idol (Moorish Idol - "MI")

Ive kept a few, but none have lasted more than 2 years. coming up on 1 year for this guy. Im keeping him solo in a 30 gallon section of my sump.

a tip to those who are thinking of trying: IME these are wimpy fishy, they dont stand a chance against tangs or other aggressive fish. many reefers loose them during the introduction to the DT's inmate population. also, they need a lot of variety in diet, and lots of small frequent feedings. IME, I wouldnt even try it unless the fish is voraciously eating at the LFS.

hes been eating everything from frozen (sponge, bood worms, shrimp, squid, clam), pellets, flakes, fingers.

hes gotten pretty fat

 

[pgr11]

Nice. Always wanted one but know it would no survive in my tank with all the tangs. Awesome fish

 

[SPEARGUNHUNTER]

Eating fingers??

 

[evad1]

i just got one from bali on sunday.
hence why im selling a yellow tang

 

[cthetoy]

Nice MI! My all time favorite fish. If you introduce the MI first they can be kept with other fish. Fish that are with my MI and larger is a Powder Blue tang, 5 yellow tangs, and a clown tang. Had I introduced it last then it would of been a different story.

 

[bshow24]

that fish looks pretty sweet!

 

[Assyrian fish guy]

great looking fish. might put one in my frag tank, as the only fish in there.

 

[lowbudget]

I love the look of the mi but they are coral eating machine. Very nice

 

[rayray]

thanks fellas. I just love the way MIs look & the challenge of keeping them. when Ive gone swimming in hawaii, seeing thousands of these elegant fish, I just keep thinking "why cant we keep those in our tanks forever?" answer: nothing good comes easy.

heres some shots of my previous MIs who have made me so happy

Gill

Gill Jr.

 

[lowbudget]

Wow. You got a lot of polyps pretty lucky.

 

[rayray]

Eating fingers??

yessir! you arent a old reefer till youve (almost) lost a finger or 2

 

[Assyrian fish guy]

those are some bad a** pic you got there. great job on keeping that beauty alive.:thumb:

 

[BluRocket3]

is there a minimum size tank they need to live in?

 

[moorishidol]

Great shots, I would love to have one of these once my tank matures, i wouldn't mind having a tank just for these fish XD

 

[rayray]

is there a minimum size tank they need to live in?

the smallest Ive gone was 25-30g. most recommendation ive seen are similar to tangs: 100g +.

ive tried 3 small hawaiian MIs in a 30g QT at the same time. I started feeding them sponge and clam. as soon as the felt comfortable eating they started fighting. with my luck they were all dudes, so I had to give 2 of them away. ive seen youtube vids of a guy that had a pair in a large fuge for 4 years?



HTH