I understand it’s messed up to try that many of one species of fish and continuing to fail. I would not do that. But that is exactly what built this hobby in the 70’/80’s with fish we don’t consider challenging now. Is it worse than catching and eating a herring every day? No one would criticise that. Once the fish has left the ocean its no longer contributing to the reef whether it gets flushed or eaten. At least the OP has tried to relay his experiences.
I lost a bunch of my fish 6 months ago due to velvet. This was entirely my fault as I did not QT. That horrible experience has completely changed the way I do this hobby and made me far more responsible in the way I take proactive care for my animals. If I wrote an article about how many fish I killed and what I learned should I be criticised for re stocking my tank? Perhaps. But it would be very hypocritical for reefers to criticise the very reason we have come to the level of knowledge we now have: our losses, and continual commitment to learning how to succeed.
Also when we say that Moorish Idols eat sponges and tunicates that is like saying angelfish eat corals. Ok? Which corals? It’s such a broad net. Are they fussy about the species of sponges and tunicates? There are hundreds of species. So as far as I know we don’t know which ones they actually eat. And what algae are they eating in the wild? And just because they eat these in the wild does that make it a necessity? My Majestic Angel I’ve had for 4 years has not touched a single sponge on my LR and eats all the food I give it. It does like to eat some LPS but does not require these in its diet. I wander if the key to the Moorish Idol mite be some aminos or something that is higher concentration in tunicates than in the foods we feed. I don’t believe we have the answer to this fish yet.
I lost a bunch of my fish 6 months ago due to velvet. This was entirely my fault as I did not QT. That horrible experience has completely changed the way I do this hobby and made me far more responsible in the way I take proactive care for my animals. If I wrote an article about how many fish I killed and what I learned should I be criticised for re stocking my tank? Perhaps. But it would be very hypocritical for reefers to criticise the very reason we have come to the level of knowledge we now have: our losses, and continual commitment to learning how to succeed.
Also when we say that Moorish Idols eat sponges and tunicates that is like saying angelfish eat corals. Ok? Which corals? It’s such a broad net. Are they fussy about the species of sponges and tunicates? There are hundreds of species. So as far as I know we don’t know which ones they actually eat. And what algae are they eating in the wild? And just because they eat these in the wild does that make it a necessity? My Majestic Angel I’ve had for 4 years has not touched a single sponge on my LR and eats all the food I give it. It does like to eat some LPS but does not require these in its diet. I wander if the key to the Moorish Idol mite be some aminos or something that is higher concentration in tunicates than in the foods we feed. I don’t believe we have the answer to this fish yet.