Affordable way to start your Zoa garden?

[Junglejim]

So the title says it all. A while back (2008-ish) I purchased a Zoa/poly frag pack from Atlantic sea farms for cheap, all the frags were good sized and I had an instant garden, it was great. Now fast forward 10 years I am restarting my aquarium after a move to the sunshine state and want to recreate my zoa garden I had before. Was curious what y'alls experience has been?
Jim

 

[JBKReef]

I would say look for a frag pack from online coral dealer, just get 4-5 frags of nice zoanthids and let them grow out. Make sure you scape to prepare for the garden look you want then let time do the rest.

If this is all you want, no SPS or anything crazy taht would require lots of filtration the Innovative Marine Fusion, Nuvo, and Lagoon all in one tanks are great options for these.

 

[Neo Jeo]

https://aquariumdepot.com/9-99-coral-bin/?sort=priceasc&page=2

Great deals and nice stuff

 

[Capitol Reef Corals]

If you are looking for affordable large zoa frags I would try Tidal Gardens. They have a 10 zoa frag mystery box. I ordered one a few months back and got a nice variety, most grow super fast and were large frags. It's on sale now too!

https://www.tidalgardens.com/coral/zoanthids/stock-feeling-lucky-zoanthids.html

 

[Junglejim]

I would say look for a frag pack from online coral dealer, just get 4-5 frags of nice zoanthids and let them grow out. Make sure you scape to prepare for the garden look you want then let time do the rest.

If this is all you want, no SPS or anything crazy taht would require lots of filtration the Innovative Marine Fusion, Nuvo, and Lagoon all in one tanks are great options for these.

That is what I want to know, what have been your experience with frag packs?

 

[Junglejim]

https://aquariumdepot.com/9-99-coral-bin/?sort=priceasc&page=2

Great deals and nice stuff

That stuff looks great, but is $10 a frag the going price now?

 

[Junglejim]

If you are looking for affordable large zoa frags I would try Tidal Gardens. They have a 10 zoa frag mystery box. I ordered one a few months back and got a nice variety, most grow super fast and were large frags. It's on sale now too!

https://www.tidalgardens.com/coral/zoanthids/stock-feeling-lucky-zoanthids.html

Stephan, Can you post a pic of the frags you got? That is closer to what I am looking for.

 

[JBKReef]

If you have the budget for it WWC has two nice frag packs for Zoa's. You would get 10 zoa frags for about $200 shipped

That is what I want to know, what have been your experience with frag packs?

I have not been in the hobby long enough to purchase a frag pack. I've only grabbed mine from LFS's and Frag swaps to this point.

I'll say i'm looking to start an IM 25 lagoon and will be purchasing frag packs from world wide corals... They are more expense for sure but they have the best corals around right now and will all be healthy frags. I do not have any experience with the other vendors.

$10 a frag is pretty standard for the swaps ive been to, for some of these frag packs getting big name zoas its a great deal.

 

[shred5]

Best way is buy a few nice ones, grow them out and trade.

 

[Junglejim]

If you have the budget for it WWC has two nice frag packs for Zoa's. You would get 10 zoa frags for about $200 shipped



I have not been in the hobby long enough to purchase a frag pack. I've only grabbed mine from LFS's and Frag swaps to this point.

I'll say i'm looking to start an IM 25 lagoon and will be purchasing frag packs from world wide corals... They are more expense for sure but they have the best corals around right now and will all be healthy frags. I do not have any experience with the other vendors.

$10 a frag is pretty standard for the swaps ive been to, for some of these frag packs getting big name zoas its a great deal.

So long story short, I have had a reef tank for 12+ years, just took a hot minute to get reestablished in Florida, I sold all my livestock for the move and am now starting over. I went to WWC a few months back and it was intense, but I'm looking for affordable packs?

 

[EMeyer]

https://aquariumdepot.com/9-99-coral-bin/?sort=priceasc&page=2

Great deals and nice stuff

I second this, great source for affordable frags. Never had any problems with zoas from this vendor. Sucks that they increased their threshold for free shipping, and got rid of the affordable free shipping packs. But if you are ordering enough to hit the free shipping mark I dont think you will find a better deal.

 

[Bdrake]

Ebay auctions from reputable vendors. Nothing but compliments for WWC and AquaSD

 

[Capitol Reef Corals]

Here are a couple of pics that I got from the frag pack from Tidal Gardens. Since then I have kind of gone zoa crazy, so I lost track of some of them. Most of them are pretty basic but all are healthy and grow fast. Hopefully the pics came out well, they look better in person. You definitely get a decent variety. Pic 348 is mainly a solid blue color and 346 has a bright green rim and yellowish center.

 

[NeuroticAquatics]

If there are other Reefers in your area, see if they have anything to sell. I’ve found that getting local stuff works great (no shipping involved) and prices are often better too.

 

[Junglejim]

If there are other Reefers in your area, see if they have anything to sell. I’ve found that getting local stuff works great (no shipping involved) and prices are often better too.

That is a great idea, I will have to look into that.

 

[dede]

Florida has a ton of people and shops in reefing. I would check out craigslist as there is always someone selling their used equipment and livestock.

Maybe inquire at a couple shops and see if there are any local reefing groups/clubs in your area. This is a great way to meet people with like interest and a good place to swap corals or get better deals.

 

[OriginalUserName]

I second this, great source for affordable frags. Never had any problems with zoas from this vendor. Sucks that they increased their threshold for free shipping, and got rid of the affordable free shipping packs. But if you are ordering enough to hit the free shipping mark I dont think you will find a better deal.

I recently bought a bunch of $10 zoas from them. I was a little worried about two day shipping but out of 10 frags I only lost 1. The rest came in great.

 

[Kremis]

I personally would see if there are any local reefers selling zoas in your area. start out with a few, grow them out and trade/sell to get more. thats how I worked my way up. I only put in about $50 in zoas at the start of my tank converting to mostly zoas and I have ~30 types now. (if you are fine with growing out some for months before getting more). if you want you could put in more money to start out with high end ones so you can get more money in return. for example, if you buy 10 rastas for 30$ and they grow into 50 in a few months, now you in theory have 150$ in rastas (~3 per polyp)
or you could buy 1 polyp hallucinations for 70$, wait a few months, and maybe it will be 3-5 polyps (200-350$)

 

[wowkingjames]

Thanks for the info.