zoa grow theory

Illhaveanother

Illhaveanother

In Memoriam
So over the few years I have kept saltwater aquariums I have always loved zoanthids. I especially love designer zoas. I have read Miguel tolosa's coral farming book ,and I have also observed some ways to grow zoas faster and thought I would share.
so here are my zoa theorys

My one theory is how to get rare zoas to grow more cost effectively. What you could do is order a small cheap colony of say 30$ green dragon eyes zoas. then you get some rarer zoas like rastas and put them inside of a U shape in the colony where the coral hasn't grown in ,or put them on the outskirts of the colony. if there glued down on the rock chances are that the two different corals will merge there tissue together on the rock. it is a known fact that the more tissue that's connected on the rock ,the bigger the zoa colony is and therefore it will grow faster. it grows faster because it can exchange nutrients more efficiently. so overall here what could be done is use this method to grow out rare zoas quicker and then cut away the old zoas and you have a complete colony of rare corals in half the time.

another theory would be to slide the rock or frag plug that your zoas are on slightly away and towards the light periodically causing the zoas to move to the light and leave behind tissue that could spread the zoas faster.

I have more theorys to share but only if interest is shown in this thread!
 
Illhaveanother said:
So over the few years I have kept saltwater aquariums I have always loved zoanthids. I especially love designer zoas. I have read Miguel tolosa's coral farming book ,and I have also observed some ways to grow zoas faster and thought I would share.
so here are my zoa theorys

My one theory is how to get rare zoas to grow more cost effectively. What you could do is order a small cheap colony of say 30$ green dragon eyes zoas. then you get some rarer zoas like rastas and put them inside of a U shape in the colony where the coral hasn't grown in ,or put them on the outskirts of the colony. if there glued down on the rock chances are that the two different corals will merge there tissue together on the rock. it is a known fact that the more tissue that's connected on the rock ,the bigger the zoa colony is and therefore it will grow faster. it grows faster because it can exchange nutrients more efficiently. so overall here what could be done is use this method to grow out rare zoas quicker and then cut away the old zoas and you have a complete colony of rare corals in half the time.

another theory would be to slide the rock or frag plug that your zoas are on slightly away and towards the light periodically causing the zoas to move to the light and leave behind tissue that could spread the zoas faster.

I have more theorys to share but only if interest is shown in this thread!
Click to expand...
You said that it's a known fact... Is there any scientific paper on that? I'm just curious.

Many people have told me they don't agree with that theory (bold). They think if that was true we wouldn't "need" to cut off frags ever. People actually cut colonies to have more polyp numbers! Some people cut frags!!!!:wildone:
There are a great number of hobbyists that will tell you the more they cut their colonies, the faster the mini colonies or frags will grow, including the mother colony. They say that if they stop fragging the colonies, they stop growing. They believe the action of cutting somehow stimulates growth. That's what they are doing and therefore that is their facts.

The truth is that different strains of zoanthids will have different growth/ reproduction rates. Every system is different and that will play a lot with the growth too. So what works for one may not work for others.
Also variables will play in the game big time!!

I particularly don't do much fragging unless I want to give some of my nicer polyps away to my friends. I don't think of making money out of my zoas because that's just not what I'm looking for as a hobbyist.
I don't see any difference of growth rates after fragging, maybe because I don't pay attention to that (?).

The only fact I notice related to faster growth rate is target feeding.

Nonetheless it is aways good to hear from other people what they think and do in that respect. Would be good to add some info about their systems too.

This could become a great and interesting thread...
Hope everyone here with a bit of experience could chime in and contribute with their info.

Grandis.
 
The large colonies only seem to grow at a faster rate. That is simply because you have more polyps splitting. The individuals aren't growing any faster within the large colony than they do within a small colony.
 
I got that info from the reputable book practical coral farming by Miguel tolosa. I find that zoas grow faster when bigger - to a point. Once they get to certain size they stop growing so quickly for some reason and that is why it is beneficial to frag them. What you could also do is that once a coral is big enough make a few frags but leave enough on the main colony to have it spur on growth faster. Then you take the others frags glue them close to each other on a rock and they will merge tissues and grow faster togther.
 
Illhaveanother said:
I got that info from the reputable book practical coral farming by Miguel tolosa. I find that zoas grow faster when bigger - to a point. Once they get to certain size they stop growing so quickly for some reason and that is why it is beneficial to frag them. What you could also do is that once a coral is big enough make a few frags but leave enough on the main colony to have it spur on growth faster. Then you take the others frags glue them close to each other on a rock and they will merge tissues and grow faster togther.
Click to expand...

Growth can be looked at like this and is the same for a lot of corals especially encrusting corals.

Groth is only allowed by available space , more so the 360 degrees around it, since they do not sting they have speed on their side for growth , the downside is you can't take over your exact neighbors space , so you can either grow over him or around him , since two identical polyps off the same colonie need not fight for each others space(pointless no when the goal is to reproduce) they grow outward in that 360 degree radius.
Couple things I noticed to help growth is the angle to which the polyp facing its source lighting , on a round rock only a certain percentage face the lights exact,y the others are forced to grow out longer stalks which takes up more energy than not having to do this or they make due to what's avaialable where they are and suffer from less available light.

Another is what to grow on. If your only way to grow is to spread then having to jump gaps, hills, dips and crevices also take time and more energy.


Also I should note that not all zoas grow from a connecting mat like you describe , a lot do But not all.
 
I can't comment since I don't have much experience on fragging things. All I have noticed is that once a frag grows into a colony it picks up its growth rate. At least in our tank. We don't frag stuff much unless it gets to big, but I noticed its more worthwhile to let our colonies grow bigger. Cutting into frags just slows our polyps down from what I see. I do not see the frags out growing the colonies no matter how I stack them.
I have not noticed anything dying when it gets to a certain size either, I think that would have to be related to tank issues.
I believe broadcast feedings is what helps our tanks. We over feed for sure but keep parameters in check at the same time. No need to target feed since we are doing this.
 
I have more of a farm type system almost . I depend on growing and fragging to keep my tank running and to keep my Freinds happy.
 
I just ordered a bunch of rare zoa frags from reefs2 go seince they have there half off sale now. I am planning to put 4 of the same frags togther to make a minin colony. I will glue them within close vicinity of each other on the liverock there plugs are going on. Hopefully this will speed up the process and I will have bigger rarer stuff for cheaper and I can make more $$$$$:)
 
there was a guy on here that did an experiment that proved basically the exact opposite of this, that fragging them yielded higher polyp counts. also different zoa colonies dont grow together to become one colony. they might grow around through or over each other, but they do not merge.

still lots of spelling errors, makes your post equally as hard to read as the last several you made
 
innate1 said:
A. Grandis I would like to be your friend.
Click to expand...

I hope one day others would do that too.
Perhaps would be great for you to start giving selected frags among some of your friends.
I'm sure they would give you some nice frags as well.

If the majority of the hobbyists were willing to give frags away to their friends the zoa/coral prices wouldn't be so high. That's for sure!
A good way to start is among the reef club friends.
:thumbsup:

Grandis.
 
accordsirh22 said:
there was a guy on here that did an experiment that proved basically the exact opposite of this, that fragging them yielded higher polyp counts. also different zoa colonies dont grow together to become one colony. they might grow around through or over each other, but they do not merge.

still lots of spelling errors, makes your post equally as hard to read as the last several you made
Click to expand...

Who is this directed to?
 
A. Grandis said:
...
The truth is that different strains of zoanthids will have different growth/ reproduction rates. Every system is different and that will play a lot with the growth too. So what works for one may not work for others.
Also variables will play in the game big time!!
...

...
The only fact I notice related to faster growth rate is target feeding.
...
Grandis.
Click to expand...

I just want to bring up the focal point on thread #2 in regards to growth rates.
IMHO, it comes down to variables, and basically the general difference on the species' needs, and also the type of system/maintenance the zoas are in.

That said, whatever I think is the best for a specific species in my tank won't be the exactly same others'.

The general boost for growth would go to extra nutrients offered through feeding that system (target or broadcast). The zoanthids can use the extra energy for the growth. The type of food will have a tremendous influence on that too and that is not only related to the nutritious aspects, but the particle size and the way the food is administrated.

That said, there is no prove to be wrong or right.

Simple as that. Remember the variables...
Just my point of view.

Grandis.
 
I have found the frag of a differnt species of coral is growing consiberibaly faster in my tank now that it has merged with a colony . Even though the colony is a differnt species
 
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