Zoo vs. Palythoa

[Mrseptember15]

Alrighty so last week and this week I was thinking I was getting a zooanthoid in the mail but I opened the box and asked a few reefer friends and they said it was actually a palythoa. Anyways, its been in my tank for about 6hours and 30minutes. Heres the pictures:

How long does it take to open up?

 

[gflat65]

Those are Zoanthus sp. You really don't see many actually Palythoa species. The vast majority of what people call Paly's are Zoanthus sp. Palythoa sp. have a grainy look, as they 'absorb' gritty materials into their coenenchyme (stalk and mat). Zoanthus are smooth bodied. Most think that because something looks bigger than what they think are zoas, that it must be a paly, but size is not a determining factor between the two. I've seen tank with zoas that were larger than any PE I've ever seen, but smaller than eraser heads in my tank.

 

[Mrseptember15]

So...Zoanthus=Zoanthoid? Or are they a whole different thing?

 

[PONCHDOG2000]

i would guess that zoanthus is the plural of zoanthid or the partial latin classification

 

[Mrseptember15]

NOICE Thank You =)

 

[gflat65]

Zoa(anthid) is a general term meaning all types of zoas (if that makes any sense-using zoa to define zoa). Zoanthus is a specific genus (as is Palythoa, Parazoanthus, Acrozoanthus, Protopalythoa, etc.).

 

[Mrseptember15]

Oh well stupid hermit decided to knock it off. I SWEAR every time I get a new coral he HAS to knock it off. It's his little ritual that he does when I place coral. I'm thinking of putting it in the sand since the only rock where the two fit is on the one they're on. Thanks for information gflat65 =)

 

[gflat65]

Put a nice glob of super glue gel on the bottom of the rock and stick it to the LR. Then the hermit will have to get a workout before it can knock anything over. Hermits and snails are the primary culprits when something goes missing...

 

[NanoReefWanabe]

it is too close to that frag of GSP anyway...

poor zoa would be over run in a couple months, if your GSP is growing like mine is..or heaven forbid like that tank posted two weeks ago..

LOL...j/k

BTW those are pretty looking....my one frag of zoas took about 2 days to open up...the other couple frags i have opened almost immediately, after shipping i am sure they are a little stressed and will take a day or two to open up..

 

[Mrseptember15]

Yeah my calcium/dKH levels are too low for it to grow rapidly anyways. I'll be keeping an eye for any growth on the zoo's rock.