Question about Alien Eyes or zoas in general

[Testhead1313]

I picked up a few polyps of blue alien eye zoas in early April. They settled in great and went from 4 polyps to 15 in a little over a month's time. There continually seems to be baby polyps sprouting around the edges, but since this massive growth spurt, only 4 polyps are ever open (2 new and 2 old). I know two of the polyps are originals because they're more grey with yellow centers and the new polyps are bright blue with yellow centers. All of my other zoas are doing great and reproducing steadily in similar conditions. No predators are visible and my parameters seem right on - I'll do further testing this weekend when I have more time, but pH runs 8.0-8.2 (monitored via and aquacontroller), temp at 79-80 (via a controller), Alk was 9.6 dKH, Ca was 390 ppm (I know this is a bit low), and Mg at 1390 all tested last night. I've included a poor pic that I just took (flash with light off), but you can see all of the new polyps. When can I expect the polyps to begin opening up, or is there something I need to change? Thanks for the advice .
Chris

 

[cowcio]

I have the same problem with my alien eyes. It is one of the few zoas that I have ever had a problem with. They just don't all seem to want to stay open for me...

On one sellers site (an overcharger IMO), he says that these zoas "Aren't very hardy". So, take it for what you will, but you're not the first to have this problem.

 

[yoshiod9]

perhaps it's all that cyano growing around it? on a more serious note, are you giving the colony a good amount of flow? i've found that my colony is happiest with a decent bit of flow (i'm too lazy to calculate the flow right now but the tank they're in was supposed to be a sps only nano--26g long with a tunze 6000 among other flow producers).

here is the most recent picture of my colony (with a flash, obviously)--

 

[mbunaman]

These are Carribean zoos they need high flow and high lighting. They are found usually by an inlet from the ocean and they get lots of flow in the wild.

 

[apayne]

Just a quick queasion, why would lack of flow make them stay closed? I might have the same problem w/ mine.

 

[yoshiod9]

pretty sure mine aren't caribbean-- wholesalers/lfs here in the bay/sacramento area don't really get much stuff from the caribbean (not to mention the fact that mine were aquacultured/maricultured since they came in on a plug).

 

[mbunaman]

The true Alien Eye comes from the Carribean. If yours came on a plug that is much better most likely it is aquacultured. Most zoos NOT ALL!!! come from areas with high surges or undercurrents. Some zoos I notice especially the larger polyp sized ones like more flow. The small pencial eraser sized ones dont care to much about flow from what I observed in my tank.

 

[Testhead1313]

Thankfully, that isn't cyano... It's the wiry red algae that covers rocks in many people tanks - mine just happens to have a heavy infestation. It's not problematic, just makes the rocks dark and catches sand. The frag isn't getting a tremendous amount of flow, so maybe I'll try redirecting some towards it. I'll keep you posted as to how they respond. Thanks!
Chris