Tell me about Zoas

[crew]

so I got some Zoa's from Marine Fish, and put them in my tank.. well they weren't attached to any rock so the next morning I couldn't find them.. anyways, like 5 or 6 nights later I saw two closed up polyps attached to a rock at the bottom of the tank, maybe 3 inches above the sand.. I bought 9 or 10 polyps, so that kinda sucked, but whatever...

the zoa's I bought were all ring of fire, but when these two polyps opened, I noticed one was ring of fire and one was eagle eye (weird, but im glad cause I like the diversity)... anyways.. everywhere I have read says Zoa's need lots of light and should be high in the tank... mine are 3 inches off the sandbed (prolly 24 inches below the waters surface) yet in less then a month I have gone from 2 polyps to about 12... is this normal growth? should I move them higher?

 

[derek_s]

Depeding on the flow conditions of your tank, Barb is right. I know in my tank anything on a small rock or loose is gone in a matter of minutes, off to where ever the detritus pools up.

If you are ever hesitant about gluing a soft coral down, you can also use thread or a rubber band to secure it somewhere, and within 2 weeks or so it usually attaches itself.

 

[skriz]

Not all of them need lots of light.

I've found that they all can do well with lower light conditions with some having more intense colouration with higher light and others needing less light just to live.

 

[derek_s]

True. I have 5 different types that all thrive on the bottom of my tank at 150-250 par. The protopalys like nuclear greens and purple deaths even seem to like the lower light better, and for me have better color and great growth.

 

[crew]

ok cool. well the weird thing is I have pretty decent flow where they settled.. oh well, they are attached now and seem to be doing very well.. then again, in this hobby I guess you never know.. peaches one day, peach cobbler the next