Purple Hornets

[Gdevine]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15043028#post15043028 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dalston
^ probably the sheer amount of threads on these the past few weeks, a few LFS here in Phoenix have a TON of them...pretty cheap too.

I would also say that these are a very common polyp right now.

I must be out of it; "very common polyp right now" man where have I been...and most of my long time hobby friends as well.

I can see a rapid influx of new species coming to market that would cause a flair up in threads and posts but I am still amazed that these are "very common" Zoa's...honestly.

 

[IridescentLily]

Re: Purple Hornets

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15035751#post15035751 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Gdevine
Posted this in Reef Discussions...probably belongs here.

We had a decent frag swap here in Fort Lauderdale over the past weekend and I did good picking up two gorgeous quad-colored rics for 16 bucks! I got there late and my LFS EcoReef Aquarium in Pompano Beach FL sold a rock the size of a softball covered with Purple Hornet Zoas!!! I thought he was going to frag the rock and I'd get a few polyps for sure in the afternoon...but no luck...someone knew what they saw and bought them all up.

Turns out the guy had buyers remorse and returned the rock the same day...he paid hundreds of dollars and I think his wife freaked out to tell you the truth.

At any rate, I stop by the store tonight and low and behold, there were the Purple Hornets! Well I didn't wait, I picked up about 10 polyps from a frag and promptly went home and mounted them in the tank totally fired up!

If you don't know; Purple Hornets are a morph of zoanthids that comes from Indonesia. They are a stunning with a purple backdrop with a yellow/green ring and faint white mouth. The Purple Hornet's unique alternating skirt color matches it's base and ring stops every Zoanthid collector in their tracks and you got to see it to believe it.

Below is a crappy photo I just took after mounting them in the tank. They are a bit ornery as you can see but it didn't take all but 5 minutes for them to start to open. They will need some time to color up and take hold but this is a real treat and something you don't get a chance at very often as they are very rare Zoa's indeed.

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p151/gdevine_photo/BlueHornets.jpg

If you're interested in these animals here a link to a good article:

http://www.coralpedia.com/articles005.php

I'm just curious, where did you get the description of the purple horents in your post above. The writing style is different than your writing in the rest of the post so i assume that description is from coralpedia or a vendor site?

Edited to add:
Also, you have the description of the purple hornet in your post above which i already mentioned,
but then you have the photo titled as blue hornets.
But the pic isn't of a hornet.

 

[dalston]

Considering I could go to 2 of my LFS and pickup multiple colony's each 200+ polyps, i would say for sure "very common" for me.

Finding them for sale is not an issue...keeping them alive is.

 

[Gdevine]

Re: Re: Purple Hornets

Re: Re: Purple Hornets

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15043098#post15043098 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by IridescentLily
I'm just curious, where did you get the description of the purple horents in your post above. The writing style is different than your writing in the rest of the post so i assume that description is from coralpedia or a vendor site?

Edited to add:
Also, you have the description of the purple hornet in your post above which i already mentioned,
but then you have the photo titled as blue hornets.
But the pic isn't of a hornet.

Yea, at first I was sure these were Purple Hornets; even when I looked on Coralpedia the description as noted matched these corals...but on further research (and I probably jumped the gun) I found these are more likely African Blues then Purple Hornets; the description on Coralpedia didn't help me with that, this thread did however.

BTW, "Blue" was just a mental error while typing and research between the Purple Hornet and African Blue's; I meant Purple. Sorry for the error.

 

[SIR PATRICK]

From the sounds of it, there has been a huge influx of these said polyps to local fish stores everywhere. Dont think it had anything to do with the flair up with thread on them.

Think its the opposite. They have been shipped all over all of the sudden, and there was a national responce to them.

Their resemblence to the PH's could have somthing to do with it though....

What I do see though is this-

Some LFS recognize the resemblance to the PH's, and charge higher prices for them, others dont, and sell at a very reasonable price, hence the very different prices we are seeing on a nation wide informative site like this.

I doubt many LFS have a clue on there longevity on these though. Might want to share this info with your LFS's. for their sake.

 

[Gdevine]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15043343#post15043343 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SIR PATRICK
From the sounds of it, there has been a huge influx of these said polyps to local fish stores everywhere. Dont think it had anything to do with the flair up with thread on them.

Think its the opposite. They have been shipped all over all of the sudden, and there was a national responce to them.

Their resemblence to the PH's could have somthing to do with it though....

What I do see though is this-

Some LFS recognize the resemblance to the PH's, and charge higher prices for them, others dont, and sell at a very reasonable price, hence the very different prices we are seeing on a nation wide informative site like this.

I doubt many LFS have a clue on there longevity on these though. Might want to share this info with your LFS's. for their sake.

Patrick, I think you hit the nail on the head.

 

[IridescentLily]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15043055#post15043055 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Gdevine
I must be out of it; "very common polyp right now" man where have I been...and most of my long time hobby friends as well.

Then you should read our long time hobbiest friend "Mucho Reef" 's posts regarding those zoas.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15043055#post15043055 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Gdevine

I can see a rapid influx of new species coming to market that would cause a flair up in threads and posts but I am still amazed that these are "very common" Zoa's...honestly.

Ditto the above.

I'm sorry, no offense meant but i can't agree here.
I'm just saying that (in my opinion only) you have no basis for argument here. Regarding these two statements in particular i mean ss i've seen the threads which describe these zoanthids and how and when some folks here have had them, for how long, under what conditions they've kept them, etc.

Your zoas are very pretty.

 

[sufunk]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15042451#post15042451 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Gdevine
I am certain now that what I have are either African Blues or Florida Blues with the former being more likely. I paid $60 for 10 polyps fragged directly from the mother colony so I am satisfied with the deal...just wasn't aware so much of the mortality rate. Day two and all polyps are open and bending towards the light which is a good sign. Zoa's thrive in my tank (run EcoSystem method) so only time will tell...but they do look good...so far.

Ouch!!! $60 for 10?!?

I live in Davie and was at CRF yesterday. They had 4 different colonies of these, each between 50-100 polyps for $70-80

 

[Gdevine]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15046028#post15046028 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sufunk
Ouch!!! $60 for 10?!?

I live in Davie and was at CRF yesterday. They had 4 different colonies of these, each between 50-100 polyps for $70-80

You're killing me!

 

[Gdevine]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15043370#post15043370 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by IridescentLily
Then you should read our long time hobbiest friend "Mucho Reef" 's posts regarding those zoas.


Ditto the above.

I'm sorry, no offense meant but i can't agree here.
I'm just saying that (in my opinion only) you have no basis for argument here. Regarding these two statements in particular i mean ss i've seen the threads which describe these zoanthids and how and when some folks here have had them, for how long, under what conditions they've kept them, etc.

Your zoas are very pretty.

Thanks for nice compliment. Honestly, I was not being facetious, I meant it when I said I must have been out of it and the Zoa forums for a while...I was out of it...but you're pulling me back in

 

[chromiumlux]

I could be wrong but those look more like the African blue hornets that have hit the scene. I've got a good size colony of these. You may want to check out Reefkeeping Magazine on this.

 

[Pacific Reefs]

The 2 large rocks at 2 stores in orlando melted away already after about 3 weeks. Hope they do well for you.

 

[madean]

the african blues are hitting the scene and if the lighting is bad kind of resemble PH. But if you know what PH look like you can tell the difference. People need to watch for the snake oil salsemen. I think i remeber a guy advertising a few weeks back from FL about some japanese zoas that looked like PH but did not have the alternating skirts. He claimed that they looked lie PH but CHEEP! You could buy his whole colony for $80- 100 polyps, and claim you had the rare PH. if it sounds to good to be true... it probably is

 

[IridescentLily]

These could be put in one reference guide for purple hornets. We should make one