Zoa Growth

[worm5406]

I read through the first few pages of this section. I am a relatively new owner.

I am courious what is the average time it takes for zoa's to spawn new heads and grow-out?

I spot feed zoaplankton/reef chili once a week and they get about 10 hrs/day light.

The pictures below are a little bit off.

 

[worm5406]

Here is something I found somewhere else. But it is old, and I was just curious on your experience.

It honestly depends on the system they are in. Its pretty much hit or miss if you get a fast grower. You have to find their "sweet spot" but even if you do sometimes they still wont grow. I have had colonies that grew 5 or so polyps every week and I have had other colonies grow 5 polyps in 2 months. Right now Im averaging a polyp or two every week and a half it seems like. All my frags are new and the small colonies are pushing out way more than the frags are. No you do not have to feed zoas. I am running a test right now with my people eater and nuclear greens to see if spot feeding really helps them grow. I feed a polyp or two on each frag a piece of mysis every couple days, been doing it since friday and havent seen a noticeable difference yet. I will make a thread about it soon though. Hope this helps.

 

[eg8r210]

My experience is that some grow faster than others. Some grow in a real tight group and some seem to spread out a little bit more. Some want more light than others and others want more flow. Again, ones that might grow well in your tank melt away in my tank and vice versa. There are so many parameters for successful growth that you just need to try them out in different areas and see how they respond.

My personal preference is to start them out low and see what happens. Start moving them around from there.

 

[worm5406]

Yeah I have a two foot front glass. I started this set about 7 inches from the bottom and brought them up. Last night I was cleaning the outside of the glass and moved them about 6 inches from the top. When I got home they were ALL wide open and enjoying the sun "LED's".

I should have counted all the polyps when I got them because some of the sizes I have are about the side of a pencil led, and I dont remember any being that small. That is in addition to the ones that are normal size.

In the second picture (above) the second and third (from the left) have new polyps (I think)

The second one in the bottom left has that tiny one. The third one has a lot that have gone over the edge of the frag plug, that I do not remember any going over the plug ledge.

You can see here the same two, just moved slightly: (Front is #2 and back second one is #3 from the other picture.)

 

[moatdaddy]

If you don't want to journal count and recount every week or month, Do time lapse photos. A lesson I Learned. Take a bunch of photos and then do it again every month and compare.

 

[givinggoodwill]

for small frags i generally get 1-2 polyp per week.

 

[worm5406]

If you don't want to journal count and recount every week or month, Do time lapse photos. A lesson I Learned. Take a bunch of photos and then do it again every month and compare.

Good idea... It is not as if I do not take a lot of pictures as it is.

Duhhh.... HAHAHA Thanks!

 

[SushiGirl]

If you don't want to journal count and recount every week or month, Do time lapse photos. A lesson I Learned. Take a bunch of photos and then do it again every month and compare.

That's what I do. The "cheap" ones seem to grow the fastest LOL. Also, it seems with mine that the older my tank gets the faster they grow. A couple weeks ago some of mine had started growing up the back of a coral skeleton. Yesterday I noticed they're already coming over the top of it & today I noticed the blue zoa frag next to them was all retracted because the others were trying to grow over them. I read on here where one person said theirs seemed to grow faster when they were near other zoas, and I've been watching that happen in my tank. Back when I placed these frags on the top of my largest rock I hoped but didn't really expect them to eventually cover the entire top of the rock. I think in 6 more months they will have!

 

[worm5406]

Shew... I am glad you did not see my other post SushiGirl:

The Cinnamon Clowns are mated. The female stays in a anemone and the male stays about 6 inches from her most of the time. She does venture out and he gets scolded when he gets away from where they are supposed to be. A week ago he was cleaning out a section on the rock, I assume to make a brood area, but I did not see anything appear there. She was prob showing her muscle and told him to do it (don't yell at me SushiGirl hahaha).