HOW (not WHAT) do zoas eat?

[loneboat]

I'm a couple of weeks into my first ever saltwater tank, and I have read about people recommending "Reef Roids" to target-feed their zoas. So I ordered some, watched a couple of videos on target-feeding, and just did my first feeding today. I noticed that immediately after feeding them, my zoa polyps all closed up, and had little "tufts" of what looked like mucous coming out of the closed-up hole in the center. About 15 minutes later they all opened up again.

I was curious about how this worked, so I've been googling/wikipdeia-ing this morning. I find TONS of articles/posts that talk about the fact that (1) zoas have microscopic algae which help them get some (but not nearly enough) nutrients via photosynthesis, and (2) that they also eat little bits of plankton/etc, but regarding (2), I can't seem to find anything describing HOW this works (mechanically). Do the polyps literally just wait for something (like my Reef Roids) to land on top of them, and then close up and "munch" it for a while? The polyps do have little tentacles, but they seem way too short/stubby to actually catch anything or do much. Do they have some sort of "mat" of mucous which particulate food lands on and gets stuck? (This could explain the "goo tufts" I saw when they were closed up).

Thanks!

 

[sfin52]

They will eat small items. Brine and fish eggs. But I feed mine reef roids. They will close up around the food inguest it. One they are finished they open back up.

 

[ludnix]

I think you hit the nail on the head with your theory! like the rest of of the cnidarians they have a tiny mouth/anus in the face of the polyp with a ring of tentacles around it. They will use their mucuous to help slough off waste or excess food.

 

[Alvaro_Spain]

Some people feed zoas and some people don´t. In my previous tank I fed them and my impression was that I was just polluting the tank. In my current tank I don´t feed them and they reproduce well. I only feed LPS.

I think that they may be eating whatever is in the water and I don´t see and bacteria too.