I have to say it really appears to be a captain America. I understand these zoas have been in there a year or so but given how ‘deep in there’ it is (and the nature of purple monsters and bam bams) it’s wholly possible it came in as a hitch hiker booger on one of your frags. I guess we’ll just need to give it more time and see what happens.
Let me see if I can poke enough holes in your theory to make it less probable. Not impossible but so unlikely that it verges on the impossible.
I’m not a Zoa expert by any means, so I don’t know the nature of any of them other than they can be poisonous if mishandled. I’m more of a .. Hey, that’s cool I’ll add that to my tank, kinda guy.
All the zoas that I have added to my tank in the past (6 different zoas and 4 pallys) came in as just a couple heads. They all have grown over a year into what I have and don’t have now. By saying don’t have, I sold off two islands and got rid of the third. I have/had the following: Hally Berry, Gatorade, Rasta, Bam Bam, Purple monster, clementine. Pally: Hawaiian Ding Dang, Rainbow infusions, Armor of God and Devils armor
My tank is nearly all acros, I cut the plugs off all incoming frags when I could. Pallys are much larger than these zoas. I did have pallys but they just where to big. Also the Pallys I had where all very different. Pictures below of what I had.
These zoas are actually on the edge of the growth of the other two where they joined and started to grow together. Just where the BB & PMs joined up. I had the rastas on another island that was just rastas and gatorades. I took the rastas off it to put on this island. I got rid of all my other Zoa and Pallys.
If these came in as a small piece from some place else and then found their way to the exact spot where the two other zoas converge in the only Zoa island in my 625L tank, well that would be a huge achievement.
The colors of the new zoa resemble a combo of the two in question. If it where a piece of something else that found it’s way to this exact spot the odds of it being something that was the same colors would be highly unlikely too. Why not a different zoa or pally all together? Why specifically the one that looks like a combo of the two already on the rock?
So many things would have to happen just right for a Captain America to grow randomly in that exact spot the odds are astronomical.
What I had, and to the very left you can see the island that has these new or captain America zoas. Below that is the Halli Berry island I had.
Lastly you sorta quoted my comment about the zoas being buried deep. Since you tried to quote what I said let me clarify what I ment.
The zoas have all grown together in the spot they are in. I’m not a zoa frag guy so as far as I know they are rooted to the rock or stuck there pretty good. At least to the point where if I tried to salvage them out I would need to dig into that spot. Using the term “dig“ as a figure of speech and not the literal sense. Hence why I said they are buried in there... again using a figure of speech and not literal. I really wouldn’t know the first thing about cutting them out and salvaging them.
You can see after all that why I believe they are a hybrid. This would take a lot closer scientific investigation... For me, I just thought it was pretty cool.
