Zoanthids from LFS, all brown?

[Rekonn]

When I see the pictures in people's threads, or on some sites online, zoanthids look amazing. The bright colors really stand out, and it makes me want to get a couple in my (currently) FOWLR tank. But, when I go to my LFS, pretty much all of them look brown. Is it just the lighting? If it's not that, the places near me must just prefer to stock the most dull zoanthids they can get...

 

[cowcio]

It might be where they get their shipments from. Ask if they can get anything more colorful. Solomon Islands usually have a good selection of colorful zoanthids.

 

[surfnvb7]

its tough to say. you could ask them to get their zoas from a different supplier, but the people who run the LFS probably wont show much interest unless theres alot of people who want to get better looking zoas.

at my LFS...all the zoas go into a 55g tank, with 2 NO flourescent bulbs over the tank (which i'm sure are over a year old). all the zoas are completely brown. if you look very closely, sometimes with a magnifying glass, you can see some shades of color that are barely there.......i've come to know what to look for when looking at brown zoas......then all it takes is some TLC

 

[Rekonn]

Well, maybe it's the lighting, maybe it's lack of TLC, or maybe it's that anytime something colorful comes in people buy it leaving all the dull stuff. Mushrooms all look brown to me too. In any case, it's the LFS's loss, as I'm planning to get some frags online. These are the ones I'm looking at:

 

[Evyllchyld]

My LFS rarely gets zoa's in, and when they do they are just brown and no one buys them. So they don't order more. Another not so local LFS I goto once a week gets nice zoa's in. He puts the really nice zoa's in his display tank where nothing is for sale. So it takes a lot of me bugging him before he gives them up. But he will. But for the most part every LFS around me just gets brown zoa's.

 

[surfnvb7]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7363859#post7363859 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Evyllchyld
My LFS rarely gets zoa's in, and when they do they are just brown and no one buys them. So they don't order more. Another not so local LFS I goto once a week gets nice zoa's in. He puts the really nice zoa's in his display tank where nothing is for sale. So it takes a lot of me bugging him before he gives them up. But he will. But for the most part every LFS around me just gets brown zoa's.

divers dont pick completely brown zoas. i'm sure they have some color in them. they are just stressed, or arent under the correct lights to bring out their color.

as far as supercolored zoas, like the oranges/blues/reds/purples. those are harder to come by. out of each weekly shipment at my LFS, i may only see 1 colony i like in 3 months. you just gota make sure to check them out the day they arrive, or the day after. most stuff gets completely picked over 24hrs after arriving at any LFS if its any good.

 

[Mr. Ugly]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7363888#post7363888 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by surfnvb7
as far as supercolored zoas, like the oranges/blues/reds/purples. those are harder to come by. out of each weekly shipment at my LFS, i may only see 1 colony i like in 3 months. you just gota make sure to check them out the day they arrive, or the day after. most stuff gets completely picked over 24hrs after arriving at any LFS if its any good.

I'd have to agree with that. It's not like every colony at my lfs has the crazy colors either. I'm there just about every day to check for cool stuff

 

[Evyllchyld]

I go there every tues (when they get there shipment) and my closest LFS doesn't even order zoa's anymore because no one buys them. My other LFS I go every weds (when they get there shipment) and I rarely see any I like, and when he does get good ones, he takes them for his display

 

[pondfrog]

Rekonn,
Some places seem to be last in line to get good corals or the LFS simply doesn't care and tries to order the "cheap" zoas and only pay $5 for a colony.
There are a bunch of online places where shipping is easy and not all that expensive-- awesome zoas
My favorite:

sharkys reef

 

[surfnvb7]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7364558#post7364558 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Evyllchyld
I go there every tues (when they get there shipment) and my closest LFS doesn't even order zoa's anymore because no one buys them. My other LFS I go every weds (when they get there shipment) and I rarely see any I like, and when he does get good ones, he takes them for his display

my LFS has the problem that they wont order more zoas or LPS b/c no one buys them, b/c they look like crud in their tanks. if they put in some blue spectrum MH lighting they would sell like hot cakes.

my LFS rarely ever gets in an SPS frag/colony. maybe once every 3 months.

IMO, what a LFS orders depends on 2 things generally. 1) what corals the manager or whoever ordering stuff likes (whether they are a zoa person, LPS person, or addicted to SPS). 2) obviously the supplier they are ordering from. sometimes when a LFS thinks they are getting good deals from fish from a supplier, they may not be getting good deals on zoas, thus not have any interest in buying them.

 

[gflat65]

I picked a lot of zoas out of a now closed LFS because under the lighting he was running, they had no color. I bought one and put it under my MH and VHO's and they turned from brown to bright pink. I then returned and tried to imagine how the colors might change ubnder different lighting. I was only disappointed once with a purchase that didn't change after that. He had them under 175W SE 10K's... (Yes, 175W DE's do exist).

 

[Rhinecanthus]

I agree with the above comments. I have gotten some really cheap colonies at my LFS that were "damaged" or were a dull brown color and they just werent selling. After a few weeks, sometimes months, under proper lighting you would be suprised what you can end up with.

My first colony of blue zoos (which I got long ago, before the latest craze!) was a small rock with 5-6 brown polyps on it.

Now its about 50 bright blue zoas.

Im not saying spend a bunch of money on brown zoas, but keep an eye out for brown zoa colonies priced cheap.

 

[BigScott]

one of my favorite LFS has alot of zoas, one day my tank was crashing an he let me put my zoas in his till i got it fixed..then his customers saw the zoas an he saw thier intrest an started buying zoas..new colonies every week..b ut ive found its all about the lighting, i like the LFS that have MHs because i know when i get them home thier not gunna do a color flip on me...


BIG SCOTT