Most Hard To Keep Zoa/Paly List

Reefinginpasadena · May 19, 2009

Great Thread i would agree with all the types of zoas/palys mentioned so far i cant think of any others to add from my experience and the from the types i have had those are hard to keep! i have had OPEs before and they lived for ever no growth and then melted away but i have new ones we will see how they do. As for as PEs i have had ok experiences with the types i have had.

roshi719 · May 19, 2009

PPE
PPRPE
Bleeding Hearts
Strawberry Shortcakes
Samhians
Nightmares
Armagedons

firsttime · May 19, 2009

Nice thread...for some reason I have problems with AOG's, tried two frags and lost them both:cry:

Reef Pets · May 19, 2009

I completely agree.

Pnoyreefer said:
All the expensive one's

cbort · May 19, 2009

Great thread!

so far i have not had any problems at all with any of my zoas all of mine seem to grow and open just fine. I would say i am nearing about 50 morphs with no problems with any. I do have about 5-6 different PE's and i do have a small colony of 60ish ATL Tripple Reds, and a few other unknown micro zoas, tubbs, kedds, rose nebulas, purple deaths, nuc greens. With no problems.

I do think that you need a seperate tank for zoas, softies, shrooms, for them to really thrive. Keeping them in a tank where you are trying to keep the water perfect for your SPS,LPS and delicates, your zoas usually (and i said usually) won't thrive.

my 2 cents.

Braves Fan · May 19, 2009

This ought to be good, I am curious as to what makes the list.

Sr5_Reef · May 20, 2009

okay well so far for me the hard ones to keep.
-Armageddons, didnt have the frag that long. 2 days max.
-Jokers - Asterinas ate about 3 polyps a week. I documented the recession on them.
-Nightmares- Asterinas also tended to like, documented some recession, the stars would be hanging out on them and have bite marks with zoa goo comin out.
as far as PE, i have had success with every PE i have kept. Maybe higher light intensity works best for them. I keep a 250 radium over a 16" tank and all PE do fine.
PPE, PPRPE, Milkway, Desert Fox, most of the named PE's in this thread that dont do well i have kept and have grown pretty good
Can people also list there water conditions and ligthing/flow so we can further research the problem?
250w radium, 16" tank,
calc- 425
alk- 8.8
mah- 1250.
I think levels and lighting/flow matter a lot in this type of thread.

NVTE · May 20, 2009

Darth Maul is the one melting on me.

Preston · May 20, 2009

Stixbaraca said:
Am I the only one who has had continued success with the Armageddon?

If you have success then what's your secret? I bought maybe 5 different frags from different people and everytime it would melt away. I love to know the secret. BTW willing to give it another try if you have a frag.

FX CharityCorals · May 20, 2009

I have had good luck with the Caribbean. They need lots of waterflow and really high light to thrive.

I had bad luck with the Deepwater Zoos. The only ones that lived were the ones that look like Watermelons. Whoopty Do

FaviaFreak · May 20, 2009

Rose Nebula's always seem to melt om me

Stray32 · May 20, 2009

Sr5_Reef said:
okay well so far for me the hard ones to keep.
-Armageddons, didnt have the frag that long. 2 days max.
-Jokers - Asterinas ate about 3 polyps a week. I documented the recession on them.
-Nightmares- Asterinas also tended to like, documented some recession, the stars would be hanging out on them and have bite marks with zoa goo comin out.
as far as PE, i have had success with every PE i have kept. Maybe higher light intensity works best for them. I keep a 250 radium over a 16" tank and all PE do fine.
PPE, PPRPE, Milkway, Desert Fox, most of the named PE's in this thread that dont do well i have kept and have grown pretty good
Can people also list there water conditions and ligthing/flow so we can further research the problem?
250w radium, 16" tank,
calc- 425
alk- 8.8
mah- 1250.
I think levels and lighting/flow matter a lot in this type of thread.

No offense, wouldn't it make more sense to get rid of the Asterinas rather than documenting them as they tear into your expensive polyps? Just curious...

Sr5_Reef · May 20, 2009

yeah i have a harlequin shrimp and i pull them out manually. I was just stating those ones were harder to keep BECAUSE of the asterinas. I didnt want to just say i had problems with them and not why.
So the ones i stated were dieing because of the asterinas i documented it because i want to show that asterinas are bad, and hopefully see some growth and not further recessiion. Maybe the asterinas arent bad and the zoas are just dieing. From what i have seen there are bite marks when i pull the zoas off.

flricordia · May 21, 2009

I have found the Armageddons to be tricky in the past. Now once I place them I leave them where they are. They don't seem to care much for fragging and being moved. I think that initial placement is the trick to keeping them. They seem to enjoy lots of flow and high lighting. I keep mine in a flow area that keeps the polyps moving back and forth and right under the lighting.

reefreef · May 21, 2009

Darth Mauls

FaviaFreak · Mar 4, 2011

let's add Campfires to hard list

butts182 · Mar 4, 2011

I have had very little success with my cosmic queens...they always eventually melt.

RadReef · Mar 4, 2011

I used to have over 100 different morphs but after moving twice I am now down to probably 20. Almost all of my high-end stuff melted and now I'm left with eagle eye type zoanthids among others. My tubbs are doing great though, I have about 50+ of those.

RadReef · Mar 4, 2011

I've read that some zoanthids and palythoas actually like "dirty" water with higher nitrates and detritus. I know that azooxanthellae uses nitrates in it's metabolic processes and that could be one reason that a zoa/paly could die if the water was too clean. Just something to ponder about.