Moorish Idol question..

[JeepTj]

and yea I know.. goodluck right? just got today its still a juvi…

its eating no problems but seems about hour or so later it spits it all up, then eats some of what it spit up.. I feed it a bit more it eats.. spits.. eats it spits back up.. should I be worried yet? its in a 33 long quarantine for now.. otherwise it seems happy and healthy , it did eat as was shown before i left the fish store and the time it took to acclimate I didn't see it spit anything up so it was contained for a while that way.. maybe eating to much?

 

[norfolkgarden]

What is it eating?

Clam strips, live blackworms, angelfish food with sponge, LRS, Rods reef?

Do you have live sponge in the future display tank it can graze on?

These will be my first efforts in hopes of doing one justice in the distant future. :- )
I need a bigger tank to even think about it. :- )

 

[JeepTj]

.. it is eating frozen mysis as it was at the LFS. and took mini pellets that I feed my clowns.. (lfs stuff) right now aswell as he tried nori ..

main tank has a couple sponges..

.. got a 135 gallon.. all I want is bigger but I know floor wont support it..living in apartment building sucks haha

anyway it is just the spitting out and re-eating that's got me confused as he only eats part of it.. and wants fresh food to spit up again LOL

 

[67chevellemalibu2]

.. it is eating frozen mysis as it was at the LFS. and took mini pellets that I feed my clowns.. (lfs stuff) right now aswell as he tried nori ..

main tank has a couple sponges..

.. got a 135 gallon.. all I want is bigger but I know floor wont support it..living in apartment building sucks haha

anyway it is just the spitting out and re-eating that's got me confused as he only eats part of it.. and wants fresh food to spit up again LOL

Good luck. I had no business putting a Moorish in my DT. Had velvet and wiped out everything but a very lucky Christmas wrasse. Has swayed me from this hobby and I am done after little over a year. For me, really no enjoyment from this hobby.

 

[JeepTj]

I read about that happening to a few people, LFS (ma and pa) has had this for a good while now, he makes sure they eat and are healthy before selling .. usually gets 1-2 a month so not many and most parish or refuse to eat.. finally he felt confident to sell it to me, although I still quarantine , not take a chance of wiping out my tank.. but don't want to medicate if its still on the caution side of eating...

even had my water tested against what he runs his..

did enough reading and couldn't find much about it re-eating what it spit out..

about a year ago I almost gave up on this hobby , but stuck to it.. local store has been great and helped me get my tank back on track at that time..

 

[norfolkgarden]

"anyway it is just the spitting out and re-eating that's got me confused as he only eats part of it.. and wants fresh food to spit up again LOL"

Have you tried masstic? or anything else besides mysis and pellets?

@4FordFamily, @PaulB, @HotRocks

Thanks!

 

[JeepTj]

haven't tried anything else yet.. just don't have anything at the moment but willing to pick it up tomorrow and giver a try..

 

[4FordFamily]

Lots of fish do this to break food down to smaller and softer bites. Nori is one of the best things you can offer an idol — they keep it down easily even as juveniles and fatten up quickly

 

[HotRocks]

Lots of fish do this to break food down to smaller and softer bites. Nori is one of the best things you can offer an idol — they keep it down easily even as juveniles and fatten up quickly

This^^^ is critical IMO to the health of a MI

 

[JeepTj]

yea that nori.. from two little fishies its just attacking it like my sailfin does in my DT ... lol so when the MI makes it into the tank might have to add another clip hahaha ...

based on above, im going to assuming him eating nori like its his last meal is a good thing

 

[JeepTj]

since I haven't tried to add any precaution meds yet I tried a few things..

went to LFS (ma and pa shop) great owner needless to say got a live rock with some algae on it and he actually gave me 14 grams(one bag) of masstick no charge , this **** isn't cheap around here... but between the algae, the masstick and the nori the Idol is grazing like a cow in the pasture and still on the mysis .. hopefully all is good now

I think I just jumped the gun on being worried as I know how these are to keep even the LFS explained it to me to make sure is till wanted the Idol..
thanks for the info on other stuff to try seems to be working out great..

 

[norfolkgarden]

Glad to hear it is eating and doing well.

You are right. Using multiple clips in different parts of the tank is one of the easiest ways to reduce aggression over the nori. We run 2 daily. A green square and a purple square of 2 little fishes. And a 3rd clip when adding a new fish. Surprising what other fish love nori.

Lol, maastic isn't cheap anywhere. Don't mix it too watery.
:- )
Glad you LFS wants you to succeed.

The frozen tiny clams on the half shell and live blackworms have our copperband tight as a tick.
Highly recommend both for long term nutrition.
California black worms sells live and cubes of freeze dried blackworms. The cubes work almost as well as the live worms. At least with a fish (copperband) that was conditioned on the smell of the live blackworms.
Slight squeeze and stick the cube or portion to the glass. Copperband didn't mind the freeze dried blackworms while we were out of access for several months last summer to the live blackworms.

Good luck with your idol. :- )
Definitely a fantasy fish for me for a long time.