Zoa question

[Pio7]

i have a question about zoas. since i am trying to budget my money i am going to stick with a zoa garden and have my rocks covered in them.

The one thing that i would like to know is, are different types of zoas ok to overlap or touch each other? i know some corals can sting each other but im not sure if thats the cause.

A goal would be to have like every square inch of rock be covered in all sorts of bright and beautiful zoas

 

[whodah]

Hello,

Typically speaking, it is OK for them to touch one another. However, nearly every time, the dominant Zoa will overgrow the weaker Zoa and you'll be left with just the dominant Zoa.

This can happen 'quickly' with a strong matting type of Zoa like this:

Or take years to happen with less dominating Zoas.

HTH!

 

[whodah]

Here's an example in the wild. The blue ones are a goner. Probably within a month to 6 weeks.

 

[A. Grandis]

That can happen in a tank, of course.
Best way to make sure you'll get those weaker species going is just placing 2 or 3 of them in different areas of the tank. Doesn't hurt to have same species in 2 different places.
Most of the time when we do that, all the zoa colonies survive and fight back for space.
Some zoas, like the blue ones, are slow growers. That need to be in your mind when you "plant" them on the rocks.
Try to have species that will appreciate the same parameters in that particular system (temperature, light, etc...), or try to place them in strategic areas for those individual needs (light, water movement).

Those pictures are nice!
First one shows simply an area without zoa competition. Those polyps in the picture tend to grow large areas too.
Second picture shows competition between Palythoa sp. and Zoanths sp. That competition in particular is common because of the advantage of the Palythoa body wall that is much more strong and around a weaker and slow grower blue Zoanthus sp.
Any time that happens in any situation (aquarium or nature) the consequences are the same.
When that happens between Zoanthus spp. colonies, normally both colonies survive.

Good thread!!

Have fun!

Grandis.

 

[StillerNat]

frag those blue ones for me they look cool! before they die.

 

[velvetelvis]

frag those blue ones for me they look cool! before they die.

LOL. I had the same thought!

 

[A. Grandis]

LOL. I had the same thought!

They were just an example in the wild.

Grandis.

 

[Pio7]

frag those blue ones for me they look cool! before they die.

:thumbdown

 

[whodah]

Heh, I wanted to do the same - frag them before they get choked out. But, they were in the wild in a protected area. Like the discovery channel, gotta film the cruelty, not interfere with it.

But don't worry, there were other areas where the nice looking ones were winning.


I'm not sure that I got a photo of that exact morph where it was thriving - or at least a CLEAR photo... But there were things like this all over:

And the police that guarded them.

 

[650-IS350]

Jeremey was that a 4-5 cuba ?

 

[whodah]

Hi!

Hrm... I'm going off memory here, I think that guy was closer to 3' long. There were some out there that were pushing 5' or 5'+ though. Unless they caught me off guard, the ones in the reef ranging from 1' to 3' typically didn't scare me or make me nervous. The one that scared me was this one guy that was in the 5' range that was hanging out underneath the boat in the shade. The pic doesn't really demonstrate how large he is, but this guy was in that 5' range and gnarly looking... Plus, he wasn't moving around the reef like the others. He was just hanging out there. Right next to where your ladder is to get out of the water. Right next to those shiny objects on your ring finger or side of your body... I kept my eye on him, and he appeared to be doing the same to me. Heh!

There were less-threatening (to me, not to small critters in the water though, heh!) predator guardians too:

And check this out, I'll bring this thread back on topic. Ha! I only saw one of these... There might be enough space in between the 'black' zoas (probably dark purple) and that lonesome extremely colorful paly. Especially since the Zoas appeared to be spaced apart and not matting. Plus, the 'black' ones are interesting... AOI morph? Black hole sun morph? Some sort of hornet? They weren't exhibiting an alternating skirt in the wild under the sun's 5000K lighting and ~25' deep underwater. (Wish I could remember more, but I flooded my camera that year, heh!) But in captivity? Hrm...:

That photo is kind of small, here's a larger version of it if you want to see the colorful one in more detail:
http://www.scubawhodah.com/gallery2/v/2008-Florida/IMG_6411.jpg.html?g2_imageViewsIndex=1

 

[Scopus Tang]

Nice pictures - thanks for sharing.

 

[650-IS350]

Nice jeremey, I was about to say about the shinny objects in regards that Cuda too. LOL

Man those black with yellow ring zoa would look cool in the tank.