Do glued zoas just....not grow?

[obct537]

Sorry if this has been discussed already, I suspect it has....I searched, but couldn't find any relevant info.

Anyway,

So, I have several different frag plugs of different zoas/palys. Some are growing amazingly, some aren't growing at all. The deciding factor *seems* to be the method used to attach them to the plug.

If the polyps are attached to a chunk of rock/shell/etc, which is glued to the frag plug, everything seems to grow great.

If the polyps themselves are glued directly to the plug, they never seem to grow? To me, this makes sense, since their "foot" is more or less encapsulated in glue, so they can't expand.

Am I just seeing things here, or is this normal? Should I avoid buying zoas that are glued directly?
If so, is there any way to encourage one of these glued polyps to start growing?

Any feedback is appreciated

 

[Opus]

The ones that I glue directly to plugs grow, though it takes longer to get started.

 

[NeuroticAquatics]

My experience is that it’s more the zoa/paly deciding to grow or not. I’ve got about a third of my zoas that grow like crazy and have others that have not multiplied and then others that multiply very slow. They are on plugs and were glued, so for me, glue is not the deciding factor.

 

[karo25]

That's interesting because I bought several zoas awhile back and have noticed that it took them ages to grow off the plug, but now that a few have the new heads that are growing directly on the rock are much larger and more open than those on the plug.

 

[obct537]

The ones that I glue directly to plugs grow, though it takes longer to get started.

Roughly speaking, how long is "longer"?

I've had a glued plug of "fruit loops" for about 8 months now....when I first got it, it grew a couple more heads off of the original stalk, but it hasn't made any progress since the first month =\

 

[trevormass7]

Idk, I remove all of mine from the plugs after they've been in the tank for a week

 

[obct537]

That's interesting because I bought several zoas awhile back and have noticed that it took them ages to grow off the plug, but now that a few have the new heads that are growing directly on the rock are much larger and more open than those on the plug.

That's interesting. I haven't noticed any size difference in any of the polyps in my tank. However, I've noticed that the colony at my LFS that some of my plugs were taken from have some polyps that are nearly 2x the size of mine......coral are weird.

 

[obct537]

Idk, I remove all of mine from the plugs after they've been in the tank for a week

Really? What do you do with them afterwards? Also, how do you remove them? I tried once, and it ended poorly

 

[Crabs McJones]

I had a rock that I glued 6 zoas directly to the rock, LFS gave them to me as they were just randomly floating around the tank. Took them home, glued them to a rock, and now the rock is covered in zoas. I don't have any original pictures of the rock with just the 6 zoas on it, but I do have a couple progress pictures.
1 month after gluing on

3 months after gluing on

Just a couple weeks ago

(They're upset in this picture because I just got done feeding the tank and the shrimp walked all over them

 

[trevormass7]

Really? What do you do with them afterwards? Also, how do you remove them? I tried once, and it ended poorly

I use a brand new razor and slide it under the glue, I'll chip into the plug if I need to. Then I find a crevice in my rock that I place the zoas base in. They grow to the rock in a handful of days and now I get 2 or 3 baby polyps every week to week and a half. Best Do a growth I've ever gotten

 

[obct537]

I had a rock that I glued 6 zoas directly to the rock, LFS gave them to me as they were just randomly floating around the tank. Took them home, glued them to a rock, and now the rock is covered in zoas. I don't have any original pictures of the rock with just the 6 zoas on it, but I do have a couple progress pictures.
1 month after gluing on

Holy crap, that's after 1 month? I'm apparently doing something wrong =\

 

[obct537]

I use a brand new razor and slide it under the glue, I'll chip into the plug if I need to. Then I find a crevice in my rock that I place the zoas base in. They grow to the rock in a handful of days and now I get 2 or 3 baby polyps every week to week and a half. Best Do a growth I've ever gotten

Hmmm, the razor idea makes a lot of sense.....I may have to give that a try sometime, thanks!

 

[trevormass7]

No problem

 

[sh4ne88]

Its not the glueing.. its indeed the zoa/paly it self. In my experience the small zoas need less light intensity then bigger ones so in put the small ones lower other wise they melt and die and def. Not grow. But every type of zoa grows in its own speed. Some love heavy flow some dont. And some just die of for no reason. Grow from three to 30 and went back to 4 [emoji23] no idea why but its already growing on. There animals like al the coral. Like people some eat and get fat and some can eat what they want and stay skinny [emoji23]

 

[DSC reef]

I agree with the others, unless your getting glue accidentally on the top of the zoa it's not the glue. I remove from plugs and let them grow to the bottom tank glass and I glue frags all the time. Never any issues. All of these have been glued when bought as single to three polyps.

 

[obct537]

I guess after hearing all this, I get the suspicion that my problems may just be related to other issues I've had with water chemistry/growth in general (but that's a subject for another forum category ).

EDIT: And coral just being weird sometimes

 

[zeeGGee]

I agree with the others, unless your getting glue accidentally on the top of the zoa it's not the glue. I remove from plugs and let them grow to the bottom tank glass and I glue frags all the time. Never any issues. All of these have been glued when bought as single to three polyps.

Nice zoa.what lights are you using? Intensity? Do you dose?

 

[DSC reef]

Thank you @zeeGGee. I'm running halide and T5 with 150watt Hamilton 20k bulbs and 4 blue+. The only dosing I do is alkalinity and calcium (aquavitro) and acropower. I feed a lot and run biopellets. Pretty simple setup, nothing fancy.

 

[zeeGGee]

Thank you @zeeGGee. I'm running halide and T5 with 150watt Hamilton 20k bulbs and 4 blue+. The only dosing I do is alkalinity and calcium (aquavitro) and acropower. I feed a lot and run biopellets. Pretty simple setup, nothing fancy.

Nice! Thank you. I appreciate it.[emoji1360]

 

[McArcher]

Mine are glued straight to the rock also.
While this is not epic growth by any means, this is 3 months growth.