Polyp size variables

[danschoenherr]

I've been wondering lately if there is any rhyme or reason as to why some of my zoas have nice, big full polyps, while others are smaller, or even shrinking. I am mainly referring to the larger polyps, like Sunny D's, VW Bloodshots and Candy Apple Reds. Many of mine are nice and big, yet some, such as my Candy Apple Reds, are on the small side, like the size of Scrambled Eggs. Others, like CB Pink Ring of Death, are actually smaller than that. I have tried diferent areas of the tank with different par levels. I see a lot of pics of frag racks full of plugs just covered in huge polyps. My gut tells me that these are mainly in tanks lit by Halides and/or T5s........anyone have any input on this?

 

[Tahoe61]

Are you comparing Zoanthids to Palys? Sunny D, Utter Chaos I believe are palys or a type of a larger polyp zoo although I have never got a definite answer with regard to actual ID.
I have Candy Apple Reds and they are definitely smaller polyps than than the two previously mentioned. The same applies to my scrambled eggs.
If yours are growing and reproducing with good color I would not be concerned

 

[Oscar47f]

So yeah don’t confuse Palythoa with Zoanthids while they look similar the main difference is a palythoa is generally larger, the difference can be very significant... so Sunny D’s are palythoa where as pikachus are zoanthids and I’d say sunny D’s are probably 3-4x larger, now that being said there are variations in size that can come about due to environmental factors such as lighting, flow and nutrients... there’s actually a good video on inappropriate reefers channel where he goes to top shelf Aquatics and they discus zoanthid growth!

 

[danschoenherr]

Thats what I am inquiring about are the different variables that affect the polyp size. I have a hundred different varieties that grow just fine and have nice, full polyps, but also have another dozen or so that are definately undersized from what I got them as or have seen in others tanks. Ones that come to mind are Superstars, Citrus Coolers and Pink Rings of Death.
These have noticably small polyps and are not really generating any new ones. I've tried areas of higher/lower par and different flow. The frags were left for a month to fully acclimate.
just kind of curious if anyone can say that too high of par causes polyps to be smaller or vice versa, or is something else going on.

 

[Tundra Cuttle]

I can say that generally with zoas and palys higher par will cause polyps to be smaller but generally brighter. Though there are different tolerances of each strain, not every zoa or paly can take intense or low light. If possible when my zoas are getting long stalks I move them closer to the light.

 

[Oscar47f]

Thats what I am inquiring about are the different variables that affect the polyp size. I have a hundred different varieties that grow just fine and have nice, full polyps, but also have another dozen or so that are definately undersized from what I got them as or have seen in others tanks. Ones that come to mind are Superstars, Citrus Coolers and Pink Rings of Death.
These have noticably small polyps and are not really generating any new ones. I've tried areas of higher/lower par and different flow. The frags were left for a month to fully acclimate.
just kind of curious if anyone can say that too high of par causes polyps to be smaller or vice versa, or is something else going on.

Right so in my general experience (not that I’ve done too much experimenting...) I had a pikachus frag that I had in my 10 gallon and it was getting like 60 par roughly, I took a frag from it and put it in my 50 gallon under a hydra 26 as opposed to an AI prime, I put them high up center and 2 inches to the right of one of the Pucks and it did see an increase in growth and brightness and polyp size for that specific zoa.... my utter chaos colony was directly under my AI prime and near the bottom of the 10 gallon and I took a piece to my 50 and put them in a similar location but further back from the light source, in the 10 gallon it was 100 par and in the 50 it was under like 70-80 if I recall.. (both spectrums are the BRS AB+ conversion) and the ones in my 50 grew larger but were fuller and the ones in the nano grew a tad bit smaller but were very bright... sometimes I’ll just frag my zoas and experiment by trying to start a new colony...