pics of zoas eating

[organism]

I remember a thread recently where some people were arguing about whether or not zoanthids eat, so I figured I'd post some pics. I dose vodka and recently had to start feeding my corals since I was getting zero growth on some zoanthids for a month or two. The thing is that when the water gets too clean the symbiotic zooxanthellae algae dies off a bit and your corals just don't get the food they're used to. What I can say about feeding is the following. If you don't have a ULN system your corals don't need to be fed. If you do have great filtration or better (and cheaper) yet just dose a carbon source then if you're feeding you'll need to dose more of it because your water quality is going to go right down the tubes.

From what I've seen I'm getting better colors and growth with feeding my corals every few days because the colors were really washed out, not because they're getting brighter than usual. They look pretty much the same as when I wasn't dosing vodka and also wasn't feeding. A lot of the smaller polyp zoanthids do not eat though, anything "paly" sized eats, and real palys like Captain Americas and Palythoa grandis eat like crazy. Lots of new growth on the ones that are eating, but again if you don't dose a carbon source you're going to get pretty much the opposite results if you try doing so like browned out corals, slower growth and algae blooms. Just my 2 cents...

 

[A. Grandis]

Most systems have the same picture you're noticing.

Please tell us more...
Any changes before when you've noticed the zoas getting weak and losing colors (with the vodka? with the maintenance? with test results?)?
What food are you offering?
Is that Fauna Marin LPS pellets on the picture?
How do you feed them and how often?
Skimmer?

You'll be very happy after a while with the colors and growth/reproduction rates!!
Thanks for the pictures!!

Try feed your small ones too. Coral Frenzy or Reef Roids!! :thumbsup:

Grandis.

 

[organism]

I feed most of my corals crushed up spectrum pellet food every 2 days, got a black sun coral recently that keeps me pretty motivated to feed. I prefer hikari marin s and will buy some when I run out though. I feed it whole to my bigger mushrooms and anemones, and crushed up pretty fine for gonioporas. Either way imo crushed up pellet food is the cheapest, best coral food money can buy and it has a higher protein content than any frozen food by far

I have yet to see the small ones eat, and I've fed them all kinds of tiny foods including coral frenzy. The ones in the bottom left of the picture for instance never eat. Skimmer is a Tunze 8020, tank is a solana 34 gallons and the water's so clean that when I get frags that have algae on them it melts in a few days lol. If I didn't use vodka I'd have some crazy algae issues though, just started on vitamin C due to some paly issues I've been having so we'll see how that one goes too...

 

[ncalireef]

Maybe the more feeding is making the water nutrient rich. Typically, zoas like dirty water.

 

[organism]

Zoas don't like dirty water, it just happens that they're one of the only corals that can survive in dirty water so there's areas in the wild where only those are around and it's caused some confusion. Humans can survive on just bananas all day every day, but it's a pretty big stretch to say that typically, humans like to survive on only bananas.

 

[Pallobi]

Maybe the more feeding is making the water nutrient rich. Typically, zoas like dirty water.

Absolutely not true...

 

[A. Grandis]

I feed most of my corals crushed up spectrum pellet food every 2 days, got a black sun coral recently that keeps me pretty motivated to feed. I prefer hikari marin s and will buy some when I run out though. I feed it whole to my bigger mushrooms and anemones, and crushed up pretty fine for gonioporas. Either way imo crushed up pellet food is the cheapest, best coral food money can buy and it has a higher protein content than any frozen food by far

I have yet to see the small ones eat, and I've fed them all kinds of tiny foods including coral frenzy. The ones in the bottom left of the picture for instance never eat. Skimmer is a Tunze 8020, tank is a solana 34 gallons and the water's so clean that when I get frags that have algae on them it melts in a few days lol. If I didn't use vodka I'd have some crazy algae issues though, just started on vitamin C due to some paly issues I've been having so we'll see how that one goes too...

Hey, thanks for the reply!

I give spectrum pellets to my fishes.
Yeah, try some amino acids too, but small quantities. I add tiny amounts of Coral Amino (Brightwell's).
I like the Fauna Marin LPS pellets because they're soft and easier for the polyps to swallow. Coral Frenzy and Reef Roids are great!! Just got my first Reef Chili on last Wed, but I'm working very much and didn't have time to try that yet.

Nice thread!

Grandis.

 

[A. Grandis]

Maybe the more feeding is making the water nutrient rich. Typically, zoas like dirty water.

What makes people think that?
I would think it's more of a saying then what they actually believe.

Grandis.

 

[A. Grandis]

Zoas don't like dirty water, it just happens that they're one of the only corals that can survive in dirty water so there's areas in the wild where only those are around and it's caused some confusion. Humans can survive on just bananas all day every day, but it's a pretty big stretch to say that typically, humans like to survive on only bananas.

:ape:

Grandis.

 

[organism]

I give spectrum pellets to my fishes.
Yeah, try some amino acids too, but small quantities. I add tiny amounts of Coral Amino (Brightwell's).
I like the Fauna Marin LPS pellets because they're soft and easier for the polyps to swallow. Coral Frenzy and Reef Roids are great!! Just got my first Reef Chili on last Wed, but I'm working very much and didn't have time to try that yet.

Forgot to mention that I also soak the pellets in a tiny bowl of brightwell's and tank water to let them soften up a bit, then use a pipette from there. Do the LPS pellets start off much softer?

 

[A. Grandis]

Forgot to mention that I also soak the pellets in a tiny bowl of brightwell's and tank water to let them soften up a bit, then use a pipette from there. Do the LPS pellets start off much softer?

Ok, that's nice!
What product from Brightwell's?

Yep. Fauna Marin LPS Pellets are great and are soft from the bottle.
They sink and the polyps grab them really good. They love 'em!!
It's a wonderful way to feed them and have all the nutrition in them.
Be careful 'cause the fishes love those pellets as well and my fishes sometimes attack the zoas, stealing from them.

I also target feed my zoas their zoa/acan food. Great!!

Grandis.

 

[buddythelion]

I like those red, yellow, and black zoas on the bottom a lot, should post some more pics of them.

My palys love to eat mysis shrimp. I might have to try crushed spectrum though!

 

[organism]

Ok, that's nice!
What product from Brightwell's?

Yep. Fauna Marin LPS Pellets are great and are soft from the bottle.
They sink and the polyps grab them really good. They love 'em!!

Brightwell's amino acids, although when this bottle runs out I'm switching back to zeovit's AAHC since the cost ratio is better on that one imo. Will pick up some LPS pellets next time I come by them, thanks for the info

 

[organism]

I like those red, yellow, and black zoas on the bottom a lot, should post some more pics of them.

My palys love to eat mysis shrimp. I might have to try crushed spectrum though!

I'm not too big on mysid since they have so much water in them that's full of nutrients and can mess up your parameters, plus there's water taking up space instead of protein. What I love about spectrum pellets is they take water from your tank, not the other way around...

As far as other pics

 

[A. Grandis]

Brightwell's amino acids, although when this bottle runs out I'm switching back to zeovit's AAHC since the cost ratio is better on that one imo. Will pick up some LPS pellets next time I come by them, thanks for the info

You're very welcome!
That's Coral amino, from Brightwells right? That's the one I use too.
I might try the zeovit's next time.

Another great coral food is Reef Roids. You rehydrate it and let the drop on the polyps with pump off. Great for colors!!

Grandis.

 

[A. Grandis]

I'm not too big on mysid since they have so much water in them that's full of nutrients and can mess up your parameters, plus there's water taking up space instead of protein. What I love about spectrum pellets is they take water from your tank, not the other way around...
...

:thumbsup:
Mysis are actually one of the worse foods to add to any system because they contain high phosphates. The quality coral foods are great concentrated nutrition that normally won't disperse in the water before ingested. Target feeding with pumps off helps a lot!

I've been feeding at night and seen much improvement that way too. My fishes are less active and therefore they won't try to still the food particles.

Grandis.

 

[modernREEF]

As far as I remember, smaller zoas have a gastric cavity and should therefore obtain at least a portion of their diet from digested foods. The difference is that they will not have an active feeding response like the larger palys (looking at the length of the skirt is a quick and easy, if not entirely accurate, indicator of feeding propensity IME).

 

[buddythelion]

I'm not too big on mysid since they have so much water in them that's full of nutrients and can mess up your parameters, plus there's water taking up space instead of protein. What I love about spectrum pellets is they take water from your tank, not the other way around...

As far as other pics

:thumbsup:
Mysis are actually one of the worse foods to add to any system because they contain high phosphates. The quality coral foods are great concentrated nutrition that normally won't disperse in the water before ingested. Target feeding with pumps off helps a lot!

I've been feeding at night and seen much improvement that way too. My fishes are less active and therefore they won't try to still the food particles.

Grandis.

Definitely hear you on the dirty mysis. But my poor baby GDM, that's all she can eat! I'll have to invest in some pellets such us fauna marine and the powdered Reef Roids from both of your recommendations. I'll experiment with Spectrum though since I already have that for my fish.

And Miguel, lovely zoas! Thanks for posting pics.

As far as I remember, smaller zoas have a gastric cavity and should therefore obtain at least a portion of their diet from digested foods. The difference is that they will not have an active feeding response like the larger palys (looking at the length of the skirt is a quick and easy, if not entirely accurate, indicator of feeding propensity IME).

+1 on the length of the skirt! I have these red ones that have very long skirts and they love to chow down on food!

 

[organism]

As far as I remember, smaller zoas have a gastric cavity and should therefore obtain at least a portion of their diet from digested foods. The difference is that they will not have an active feeding response like the larger palys (looking at the length of the skirt is a quick and easy, if not entirely accurate, indicator of feeding propensity IME).

Skirt length is almost entirely due to how much water movement the zoanthids are getting and doesn't have much to do with whether the zoanthids will or won't eat. Also, a gastric cavity is needed to digest the zooxanthellae algae that symbiotically grows in the coral and does not imply that a coral feeds, that would be implied by an actual feeding response.

 

[A. Grandis]

Skirt length is almost entirely due to how much water movement the zoanthids are getting and doesn't have much to do with whether the zoanthids will or won't eat. Also, a gastric cavity is needed to digest the zooxanthellae algae that symbiotically grows in the coral and does not imply that a coral feeds, that would be implied by an actual feeding response.

I kinda agree with the statement, but...

I do understand and agree with the relationship between the size of skirts and water movement.
Normally the zoanthids that have longer skirts tend to present a stronger/faster feeding response. But for sure it doesn't have anything to do with eating or not eating in terms of looking at that as a definitive indication.

I've never heard of zooxanthellae being digested by the coral, or zoa.
I've heard of them (zooxanthellae) being captured through the cavity (Gastrovascular cavity) and placed in their cells, not digested.
The cavity also expels the zooxanthellae to the water (e.g. bleaching event).
Perhaps you didn't mean the zooxanthellae are digested? Please explain. I think I need to learn something here.

About the feeding responses, IMEs I know all my zoanthids do ingest, digest and excrete feces. So they do eat. All of the Hawaiian ones that I have. Some eat very fast closing their skirts around the food particles and some others will take a while. Normally the small zoanthids are the most slow eaters IME.
Some of them are so slow that we just can't see a response at all. Hard to judge 'em by their abilities, visually speaking.

I'm sorry, but that's what I see here.

Grandis.