Too many zoa's?

[mbattles22]

What happens whens you have several different zoa's/paly's on one large rock and they start to grow into each other? Will they stop growing when they hit another colony or will they attack the others? Any advice will be appreciated!

 

[skinz78]

I am pretty sure the strongest colony will over take the others.

 

[mathew26]

I have several different colonies that are that way and they just intertwine with each other and sometimes you can get some really good looking morphs out of the combinations.

 

[KLR]

Let them grow together, but if you notice that 1 colony stings the others or something, then you have a problem,but usually that doesnt happen

And like said above it can end up looking really really cool

 

[ficklefins]

I have several different colonies that are that way and they just intertwine with each other and sometimes you can get some really good looking morphs out of the combinations.

Mathew,

Sounds pretty cool. Got any pictures of the new combinations?

 

[Myteemouse]

hers three different types growing together very happily

 

[KLR]

I actually glued a bunch of my nice zoas on a rock today, so they will grow together

Im uploading pics right now!

 

[mbattles22]

It's funny because I have some zoas that multiply like crazy and others that only grow another polyp or two in forever. I'm scared the fast multipliers will overtake the slow ones. I am trying to get my husband to take and upload a picture, as that is totally his department, but so far no luck. I will keep trying. Thanks for the advice/knowledge.

 

[burn]

looks good

 

[Wy Renegade]

Its the aggresivenss of the individual colonies which will determine the outcome. If all the colonies reproduce and the same rate and are about the same size, they will intertwine and grow into each other as described above. Here's an example (Mint Chocholate chip intertwined with Pink Panther);

That said, I've heard a lot of talk about color hybrids occurring, but never seen any evidence (with the possible exception of Nuke Greens and Purple Death - although in that case I believe the polyps were purposefully damaged to allow the exchange of zooxanthel). If anyone has any picture evidence to the contrary, I would love to see it. Since polyp coloration is determined by the zooxanthel (micro dinoflagellate algae that live inside the zoa polyp) an exchange of zoozanthelle would be required in order for a color hybrid to occur. Since polyp reproduction in the aquarium is via the asexuall budding process rather than sexual reproduction, this IMO is extremely unlikely. The only likely exchange of zooxanthel likely to occur would be in the case of injured or damaged polyps. If zoas in proximity exchanged zooxanthel in any other way, you could get hybrids simply by placing two different micro colonies (or frags) in contact with each other on the sandbed.

In the event that one of the colonies or polyps is more aggresive and reproduces faster, it will begin taking over and eliminating the less aggressive colony. This can be seen here where the palythoa are eliminating the Kryptonite zoas;

HTH

 

[KLR]

I agree with what you said^, but protopalys(which are the ones in that picture doing the stinging), cause way more damge than palys or zoas....protopalys are like captain americas,nuke greens, purple deaths,button polyps, etc..........a small colony killed one of my chalices quickly

Protopalys will take over basically any zoa or paly colony

 

[Wy Renegade]

Agreed - if we agree those are protopalys (which BTW, I do ), they are definitely the most aggressive members of the zoanthidae family. However with the current disarray of the classification of family zoanthidae their proper placement into either protopalythoa or palythoa is still somewhat up in the air.

Mbattles22 if you want to see some nice shots of colonies growing together, check out the colony thread;
https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/zo...-post-up-pictures-your-favorite-colony-2.html

 

[mbattles22]

Now I'm scared! I don't know which are "protopalys" and which are regular zoas/palys.....I have a rock with several different "zoas" on one rock, and I don't want to lose any. It will be really difficult to keep things apart. How can I tell which are protopalys?

 

[skinz78]

Can you post a pic of the rock?

 

[mbattles22]

Agreed - if we agree those are protopalys (which BTW, I do ), they are definitely the most aggressive members of the zoanthidae family. However with the current disarray of the classification of family zoanthidae their proper placement into either protopalythoa or palythoa is still somewhat up in the air.

Mbattles22 if you want to see some nice shots of colonies growing together, check out the colony thread;
https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/zo...-post-up-pictures-your-favorite-colony-2.html

Now those are amazing pictures! It looks like everyone is getting along. Is that so much to ask for?

 

[mbattles22]

Can you post a pic of the rock?

I will try to do that tonight or tomorrow. I have never posted a picture on this site. How do you do it?

 

[mbattles22]

Sorry, I have never posted a picture before and am having a hard time! Any advice on how to upload pictures would be much appreciated. We don't use photoshop. We have I-photo..........

 

[stoneroller]

These blue protopalys are some that will take over zoas AND other protopalys -- even the green protos -- atleast in my tank. Very fast and aggressive growers. IME, zoas that are similar will form borders and grow in other directions -- if there is a bigger difference the faster growing ones will eventually smother out the weak....

 

[Wy Renegade]

Sorry, I have never posted a picture before and am having a hard time! Any advice on how to upload pictures would be much appreciated. We don't use photoshop. We have I-photo..........

Upload your pictures to photobucket, then use the image code to upload to the thread.

 

[mbattles22]

Just trying to see if this photo comes through!