growth rates of zoas?

[tdam]

okay, i know each tank has different growth rates. and there are many variables involved. but IN YOUR EXPERIENCE, if you had like 2 zoa polyps, how long does it take to double to to 4? to 6? to 8? and so on?

i'm just wanting to know. cuz you see so many people selling 1 to 2 heads all the time.

 

[cr500_af]

It also depends on the particular zoanthid. Some of mine have grown 50+ in a year, some only 10.

 

[jeffmuse]

cr500_af;525701 wrote: It also depends on the particular zoanthid. Some of mine have grown 50+ in a year, some only 10.

Yeah, I think that it depends a lot on the individual kinds of Zoa's that you have in your system. I have three colonies of Zoa's

1) One colony started out as a 1 head frag, and it now has 4 heads after 6 months

2) I have another colony with approx 30 heads and it looks like it may have grown 10% over three months (maby 3-5 additional heads)

3) I have another set of zoa's with approx 20 heads, and it has just about doubled in size over 6 months

 

[jeffmuse]

dawgdude;525776 wrote: For me it has been all about finding the right intensity of light. My LOTR and eagle eyes are as much light as I can give them while my Tubbs and blood reds are exploding in the shaded area. I usually start a coral in the shade and keep moving it up until it looks worse and then move it down. Even my sunset monti prefers the sand bed!

That is a good call on the Tubs! How big is your tubs colony?

 

[weaglereefer]

Yeah, I have a colony of Tubbs that I saved from the starfish that has probably 50 polyps. In the light, they turn brown, in the shade, they turn bright blue!


Inevitably, the more a zoa costs and/or the more in demand it is, the slower it grows, which is often the reason for the high price.

 

[basscyn]

Here are a couple of examples of some of my recent zoa purchases.

I got these from Dragon Eyes from Rit in at the January meeting.

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This is what they look like now. 6 months later.

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I got 3 polyps of Tubbs Blues from Dawg in January too. Here they are now. Dawg is right...these guys like it a little shady. Took me a while to find the right spot but once they settled in they really began to multiply.

Bad pic... but you get the idea.

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Both of these guys have 15-20 polyps now. So I guess that works out to 2 or 3 polyps per month.

Hope that helps!