People love aquariums. People love putting fish and things in aquariums. But sometimes those choices are kind of poor. A salt water tank tends to be one of those things that many view as a blank canvas, and owners can't wait to start dumping swimming things into them. However, a lot like carefully considering who you want to go to senior prom with, picking and choosing the right salt water fish may save you time, energy, money, sanity, and happiness.
Few fish in the animal kingdom are as beautiful as the Moorish Idol. With its unique body structure and seductive name, there aren't many moor (ha ha...puns) fish that top this choice. Their bodies are compact and angular. When viewed from the side they look wonderfully-shaped, ridiculously long dorsal fins decorate the top of the body while its face tapers quickly down to an adorable "snout". When viewed from the front they virtually disappear given their disc-like shaping.
A common dweller of warm tropical waters, the Idols enjoy spending their time in shallow reefs, eating, swimming, and avoiding recapture for the colder, less enjoyable North American markets. Idols have been observed as life-maters, but generally speaking, are not strong schoolers (that is, they don't like socializing all that much).
Idols love their space. They love to eat. And when you take away both, well, they're likely to take up famine protests, creating that other problem: death. Despite its incredible popularity in tanks, Idols do not survive well in captivity. Not only do they need a lot of room, but they become aggressive if needs are not met. As if salt water tanks aren't hard enough to take care of, its inhabitants generally require far more care than fresh water. The pH balance has to be just right and the available diet has to be just so in order for the fish to be happy and healthy.
This was really just a long-winded way of saying maybe we could admire these beautiful fish without all that death and stuff. You know, by letting it live in its native habitat. Just an idea.
Posts
