purple hornets?

[nolen502]

i have a mini colony of zoas i got a while back that were just no names. when i got them they were solid purple, over the past two months they have went from solid to purple to purple with brownish colored skirt to purple, brown skirt and a pail yellowish white ring around the center. I have been googling all day about them re gaining their color which is very similar to the way mine have done. I was just curious if anybody has had them before and witnessed them gaining color back or have any intelligence on my situation? i wish i could post pics but dont have a good enough camera to capture the detail.

 

[reid429]

purple hornets have alternating skirts that are goldish in color with a gold ring center.

 

[nolen502]

yeah, i knew that.

 

[swannyson7]

I had something similar happen with african blue steels (somewhat similar coloration to PH and I've seen a few LFS try to sell them as hornets). Whenever they were moved to a place with higher or lower light, they would lose their ring and then once they settled in, they would regain their original coloration....right up until the day that they melted, lol

 

[nolen502]

well these have been changing over the past two months so hopefully they will gather all their color soon so i can see what they really are

 

[caudill187]

I've seen "ugly" brownish blue wild zoas turn into purple hornet identical morphs over the course of about six months......really crazy to see this. I'm not sure if they looked that way before and the stress of collection browned them or they morphed under captive conditions. Yours could be hornets or a very similar morph.