Zoa garden pictures? Plus pics of my collection so far...

[The Escaped Ape]

I'm starting to build up a small collection of zoas, thanks to the generosity of a good friend and a few purchases. The purchases are for the most part colonies already with 40/50 polyps, the freebies ranging from 2-10+ polyps. I want to get some ideas of the best ways to display them, so that when everything grows out it looks good. Could people post pics of how they've arranged/planned a zoa garden to provide inspiration?

Things on my mind include how far apart to space them when placing them on the rock, whether to mix them with other corals in the same area (up until now I've been intending to mix and match them with some Rics, but I'm not sure now - will they get stung?) and how to avoid faster growing frags overgrowing others.

I've already placed a few of the frags on one fragment of branching live rock, hoping that they will cover it (and the frag plugs they're on) reasonably soon.

Here are some pics of what I have so far to get things rolling. The only shots I'm missing here are some pinks and some duplicates of ones my friend gave me, which I'm saving for him once he gets his tank up and running (he's just moved and between tanks at the moment). Apologies for the poor quality of the photos compared to some of the people on here - I need a new camera and more skill.

BTW, I don't know any of the popular names for zoas over in the US and I'm not sure whether the ones available here are the same anyway, so I haven't provided them. But if anyone thinks they look like named zoas in the US, I wouldn't mind if you let me know, as it would be helpful to know them for future care questions.

My friend's passed about four of these frags to me, at least two of which will go back to him when he's set up.

One of my most recent purchases. This shot is a little washed out - the centers are bluer in person, dark blue.

Another frag from the same generous friend. These are tiny and a lovely delicate shade of purple, which unfortunately doesn't show up well in this shot.

From the same friend. I love these - they look great under actinics. I'm hoping they take off soon.

From the same guy. Really love the translucence of these Palys and their white markings - kind of like Venus Flytraps. They've got paler since I got them, but seem to be thriving.

A colony I got recently. A bit of a washed out shot after I brought it near the glass to take the shot.

From the same friend as before (I'm going to need to frag the colonies I purchase when I can to start repaying the favor!). Lovely orange color that looks bright, metallic peach pink from below.

These ones are a little less brightly colored in terms of their centers, but very striking IMO. Another freebie from my generous friend (actually a bit of a mentor when it comes to reefkeeping - he's the one that introduced me to the hobby).

Bright orange skirts make these delicate zoas really striking in my book. Another friend freebie that I hope starts to grow soon, as I'd like to have enough to share between us.

Another colony I bought (it came as a set with the green and purple zoas with orange centers above).

 

[The Escaped Ape]

And finally, some shots that didn't fit into that post...

Finally, the latest shot of the first zoas my friend gave me. Couldn't get a great shot this time, but after having lost a few polyps initially, the three remaining polyps have done very well and there are about 3 new small polyps emerging behind them.

The shot I took when I first got the frag. The white closed polyps dropped off, but now it's looking a lot better.

 

[Glove]

Looks like you are doing a fine job.
Show the full tank shot.

 

[Gamepro_inc]

looks great your friend is very generous i wish i had friends like that. As for ways to place and grow i just place them with a little room for growth and let them grow together, some dont like zoes mixing and try to keep them seperated. I think it looks more natural to let them grow together. As far as how to avoid some overgrowing others it up to you I just leave them alone but I did have some palys overgrowing and I injected them with boiling water to reduce them some. Good luck

 

[The Escaped Ape]

Paul,

I know. He's been incredibly kind. Plus what he's shared with me are really lovely frags.

Thanks for the advice on placement as well. I like the idea of mixing and matching as well to an extent, as long as it doesn't mean I don't end up one particular favorite losing out!

Glove,

Thanks as well. Not much to show at this stage, but FWIW, here's the FTS today.

 

[Borchers]

Looks like quite a selection ;good job lots of zoas with great growth. Are you going all zoas?

 

[The Escaped Ape]

Thank you! No, I want to go mixed, though I hope to have a good selection of zoas on the island on the right. Hard to see in that FTS maybe, but there are a couple of chalices on the left (red and white, plus green) plus some other LPS. Plan to get a few more of those as well.

 

[RR37]

nice star, looks like a nice scape.

 

[The Escaped Ape]

Thank you! I wanted to go with rather less LR than I had with my last tank 5 years ago.

 

[The Escaped Ape]

Latest purchase. Not as shocking red as they were on the online vendor's website, but still pretty nice I think. Are these what are called People Eaters in the US?

 

[Gamepro_inc]

Yes I would say you have some red people eaters there. And they will probably color up over time. BTW nice find.

 

[The Escaped Ape]

Thanks! Palys like that are not that commonly sold over here, so I was stoked to not only see them on a website, but order them before they sold out. I think getting bluer bulbs with probably help with the coloring as well, they look quite a bit more striking under actinics (but I've not managed to get a good shot under actinics yet).

Fed them some mysis tonight. Here's hoping they multiply well.

Any problem with the lump of basalt they seem to be on? It's the first time I've been sent coral with it being on anything but live rock.

 

[zoahead]

very nice.

 

[The Escaped Ape]

Thank you!

In other news, I've just discovered what I think is a polyp of the fluorescent green paly under some rocks, looking very faded out, but fixed to the rock and appearing to be doing OK (in the second picture of my second post to this thread, you can see where I glued a loose polyp to the rock after it fell off. Well, it fell off again and I suspect this is it, having assumed I'd lost it). Now I have to find a way to get it out without damaging it or taking apart my rock work...

 

[The Escaped Ape]

Latest purchases

Latest purchases

Latest purchases. I'm getting a bit tired of the fact that the shots on the vendor's websites in Japan are always so far from true color. The first colony looked like it was blue and yellow on the website, as far as it was possible to tell under a heavy actinic glow. It's green and purple, kind of. I like it anyway, but it's a little frustrating. The second is just as dramatic a difference. What was bright, bright orange under the shop's actinics is actually a bizarre shade of salmon pink in person. I'm looking forward to seeing what they look like under my actinics to see if they look anything like the shop's pictures! :lol:

On top of that, the first colony came in without any base and with one piece hanging on by only a small thread of tissue. The polyps on this piece were half to two-thirds brown and mushy and smelling bad (so were a few on the larger piece). I don't whether it was sent like that or, as I suspect, the heat packs in the box were not wrapped well enough and it started to cook the zoas. Well, I did a quick piece of repair work, separating the smaller piece from the main colony and saving two frags of about 3 and 9 polyps respectively. I also removed the few brown, mushy polyps from the larger colony before mounting it on a large piece of the rock I took apart last week and the two small frags to two smaller pieces of rock. All are now looking more or less OK now and opening well, so I hope there aren't any lasting effects.

With no further ado, here are the purchases. First the green/purple.

Then the salmon pink. Actually quite pretty, though kind of bizarre that it's in no way orange. :lol:

There is a very faint green tinge to the band around the mouth. Not sure how easy it is to see in these photos.

 

[Gamepro_inc]

Very nice, and yes I have noticed certain company's edit their photos for better color and to the markets liking, kinda shady practice but not everyone doeas this.

it fell off again and I suspect this is it, having assumed I'd lost it

This is frustrating but yes they fall off some times the trick for me is to set the loose polyp in a container until the slime comes off have a piece of ruble dry and ready then place a dab of gel superglue on the rock then grab the zoe quickly and tack it down. the trick is the more you handle the zoe the more slime it produces which gets in the way of adhering so be quick and limit your handling time.

Any problem with the lump of basalt they seem to be on?

They all seem to be on live rock to me, maybe im missing something. For the most part zoes will adhere to anything thats hard and porous and the later isnt always neccessary as i have seen zoes grow on sand, glass, and plastic. My favorite zoes were growing on a glass beer bottle from a guys tank.

 

[The Escaped Ape]

Thanks Paul. I still haven't come up with a way of rescuing the lost polyp. It's deep between a few rocks and apparently attached to the rock right at the bottom of the pile. If at some point I have to take things apart I'll rescue it. For now it seems to be doing OK, if not exactly thriving (it must have been there for months I think) and I have plenty more of the same type still in plain view. Thanks for the tips though, they'll be useful no matter what.

The reference to the basalt was specifically about the Red People Eaters. Not sure if you can see, but the rock they're on is black and heavy and sharp edged. Tempted to remove them, but will probably leave them be on the basis it's probably not going to do any harm (as you say coral grows on all sorts of things given half a chance.

 

[The Escaped Ape]

Here are a few shots of a colony of pink zoas that were until recently at the back of the tank so not easy to get a shot of. I had to clear some Dictyota that had started to overgrow them so removed them from the tank and when I returned them, put them in a more prominent place, both to keep an eye on them so the the Dictyota doesn't take off again and because I wasn't sure they were doing that well in their previous spot anyway (right under the 150w MH).

 

[Mitchell]

Tom, these are lovely. Thanks for sharing.

 

[The Escaped Ape]

Thanks Mitch.