Morish Idol (Zanclus cornutus) - care

[scubabr53]

I recently purchased Moorish Idol, I know, I know most of you will say I made a mistake and should not buy a fish that can't be kept in captivity due to the specific feeding requirements.
Still, i felt for the fish seeing it in the store and thought it will have a better chance in my fish tank.
I have a 130 gallon custom made bow-front tank with some soft corals and gorgonians. Orange- red sponge also grew in the tank since the last summer I got sponge in Miami of the dock.
Anyway, in two days my sponge was gone I had a fish life and death question what to feed my Idol.
In the store I remember it took frozen shrimp, and this why I picked this fish over the other three they had. For some reason in my tank it did not want to have anything with frozen brine shrimp, table shrimp, krill or any other food I offered.
So I had nothing else left like to join the Polar Bear club and take a dive of Coney Island?s jetties to scrub some sponge that grows on the rocks. Let me tell you, it was not the best swim of my life and I scuba for more than 25 years.
Anyway, to make a long story short I got a jar full of sponge that I hope will last for a month, I also freeze some for the future use.
Here is my story, now I have a few questions, hope someone responds.
Does anyone have experience with Moorish Idols? What did/do you feed them with? How long you have kept them and any other tips on Idol?s care you can provide?

 

[xxxAngeloxxx]

Have you tried garlic juice? To feed your idol fish?

 

[scubabr53]

As far as I know Garlic Juice is noty a food.
Did you or do you still keep Idols, and do you have a success storry to share?

 

[xxxAngeloxxx]

Its a liquid you can order online or purchase at LFS. It makes all fish want to eat. If you feed your fish flakes then get the juice of garlic let it soak down for a few and wait till your fish starts to eat. Google if you want you will get more information of what I'm telling you.

 

[skene]

you mean garlic extract... rofl @ juice.

 

[xxxAngeloxxx]

you mean garlic extract... rofl @ juice.

Yea what skene said lol

 

[Mike389]

also try entice by seachem... makes fish want to eat

 

[Paul B]

I have kept many Idols and dove with them in Tahiti and feeding is not the problem, I don't know where that rumor started. They are large eaters and will eat almost anything. I also collect sponge but I found a source on floating docks on City Island so I don't have to dive for it as it only grows at the surface. There are no sponges in deep New York water that Idols will eat. I have also been diving here for 40 years and tried all sorts of things. The sponge I collect freezes well and can be used all year.
I kept my last Idol for five years which stinks for any fish but it is practically a record with Idols. It died in an acident when I was away.
I fed him three times, once with the sponge and once with live blackworms and once with sinking pellets that I soak in fish oil. I built a feeder for the pellets that dispensed a few pellets every hour or so into a dish. The Idol would check out the dish on each trip around the tank.
Moorish Idols die for no apparent reason and it is not food. I have followed them and they live in mated pairs and the male leads the female to food which is sponge. In Tahiti they practically live on a lime green sticky sponge.
Almost none of the thousands of Moorish Idols collected live longer then three years, must under 3 months.
Good luck
I took this in Bora Bora. These fish are not particularly rare.

And you can see one Moorish Idol at the bottom center of this picture on the same reef.

 

[prattreef]

http://www.reefsmagazine.com/forum/...-cornutus-moorish-idol-spongivore-fishes.html

 

[thirty6]

Great article. Paul getting some love in it as well! These are great looking Gish, good luck with it

 

[Master Shake]

never really found a benefit with the garlic thing, try pe mysis, defanitely the best frozen food ive ever fed any fish. my fish were brie shrimp eating fish until i tried this and when i did they went insane over it and their color has improved drastically and actually started to heal the lateral line on my hippo tang. as far as the sponge goes nothing better than the real thing but if you find your self short on it and dont wanna buy one just to get eaten, i know angel formula has sponge in it and try some dried seaweed

 

[mqur1963]

i have on now from 2 years he was 2 inch now 5 inch eat every thing firs i bought 3 2 inch one died 2nd day 2nd one died 1 year latter just went crazy in the tank and died do not know what happen now my 3rd one is very agressive and will kill any new idol in my 240 gal tank with all kind off large amd medium angel and tang.

i also had 2 years ago a very large moris idol 7inch he eate every thing i ahve to get rid of him he got to nasty

 

[mqur1963]

i always put most of my fish in qt tank 45 gal for 3 to 5 weeks before they were put in show tank

 

[scubabr53]

Prattreef, great article. I will definitely try to make my own sponge cakes, until then I feed my idol with life sponge collected of Coney Island.
Thanks for respond and hope my fish will last for 3 or even more years.
Thank s again and looking for more success stories.

 

[xblueonex1977]

ok i had 2 idols for about one year, after one year one idol get aggressive and killed the second one i lost a lot corals he was picking on the brains and acans. One thing my was not eating i think over one week from the date of purchase after that was eating like crazy everything he eat so many corals so i find him different house

 

[vangoghfish]

You have to simply get the right fish, like many other tough to keep fishes, I attempted it with 3, from an excellent online vendor, said they were eating, but never ate for me, then I got one from another hobbiest, because it was eating his zoas, he got it from somone that had a pair, and they began to fight. Anyway, he said he would begin eating, while drip acclimating him, and he was correct, I had him for about 2-3 years a total pig, and munched heavily on some green hydro, a large piece the size of softball. He was in my 155 bow, with tons of fish, including some very large 10-12" tangs, I sold him to a guy from the Hamptons, and if that guy reads this, please do chime in with advice, his new home was a 450g, the guy had one for 7 years, and it died, so when he saw mine, he drove from The Hamptons to Atlantic City to get him, along with an achilles tang, I had since a baby. So simply put you have to get the right fish, I did always use kent garlic extreme imo the best liquid garlic suppliment, I did try entice with some of the others and did not work, don't waste you money there, my tank was 6' long, I think tank size has something to do with any stress to cause noneating, along with tankmates, please keep us posted, mine loved New Life Spectrum pellets, they can survive on that food alone, if you get him to eat it, also mine was huge the new owner said much larger thant the one he had for 7 years, good luck.

 

[vangoghfish]

He also loved OSI Spirulina flakes, they have garlic in them, frozen mysis, and loved sheets of seaweed(Nori) too, would tear into them.

 

[scubabr53]

Everyone, thanks for advises and sharing experiences. I will definitely keep you all posted and might ask Idol experts additional questions.
If anyone will think or remember of anything that might help me and my idol please do not hesitate to post.
Thanks again.
Ben.

 

[Meadowlane]

Try mixing pe mysis and rods original food blend. My idol goes crazy over it. Had a hard time feeding at first. Took 5 days before he started eating. They are really hard to keep. I started saltwater 2 yrs ago and bought 1 on impulse. I bought him because he was eating frozen mysis at the lfs. and i said this is my chance. The idol lasted only for a yr. Now bought another 1 last week. Hope this one last alot longer.

 

[Paul B]

You can see just from this short thread that they do not live long in captivity. The longest one on this thread is 7 years old. A fish such as a moorish Idol should live at least 15 years so no one has had success yet. The longest I got one to live was 5 years and as far as I know, no one has gotten one to live for 10 years in a home tank.