Why is the general consensus that Zoas are easy beginner corals?

[ZoWhat]

Why is the general consensus that Zoas are easy beginner corals?

I find zoas to be corals that need a lot of husbandry watching over:

* water parameters
* nutrients
* lighting
* flow
* bacterial balance

I find ACANS to be easy and ZOAS to be in the upper class of corals that are 'hard to grow '

I suspect that are tagged as 'easy' bc when all conditions are right, they take off. One parameter, though, is wrong, they shrivel up and melt away.

Thoughts?



.

 

[Hooz]

Some of the strains will grow in a toilet bowl, but when you start getting in to the higher end ones, they can be as picky as any other difficult coral. That's the fun of it, right?

 

[Gtinnel]

Because some of them are.

 

[Little c big D]

I threw 3 different frags of zoas in my tank at 2 weeks. They've survived, and multiplied through all the swings of a new tank. They even beat the dinos back on their rock lol. My acan is doing well also. I think it depends on the zoa.

 

[littlebigreef]

If you're doing a tank with bam bams, daisy cutters, blow pops you really can't miss provided the tank is cycled and on its way to maturity. I'd double down and say if you're keeping texas trash, capt Americas or Pandoras you can drop them in before the tank is even cycled lol. That's why they have the reputation for being easy.

Having had conversations around this recently I liken it to tangs. Achilles and Sail fins are both tangs, taxonomically related and share a number of similarities. However, their needs and care for their long term success are pretty different. It's easy to think of zoas as a monolith but they're far from it. Some are high par, some are low, some like nutrient rich systems and some nutrient poor. Unlike tangs (or shrooms for that matter) we don't have a readily identifiable visual cue to distinguish between them- other than size. And, even size can be misleading depending on water parameters unless its obviously a micro or paly-like zoa.

 

[thewedge]

In my experience, zoas have been fairly easy to maintain. Acans on the other hand... It's been a mixed bag but I feel they're definitely easier if fed regularly.

 

[MONTANTK]

Most zoas are very hardy and Palys generally are too. I’ve had zoas that were closed for a month come back and thrive like nothing ever happened.

I find Acans to be somewhat tricky. They’re very sensitive to swings in my experience

 

[LRT]

I've heard the same thing said about shrooms being easy. Really can't put general one size fits all blanket statement over entire species of coral. I do have some zoas and shrooms that I'd consider easy. I also have some that are super picky when it comes down to just about everything.

 

[Joe462]

Why is the general consensus that Zoas are easy beginner corals?

I find zoas to be corals that need a lot of husbandry watching over:

* water parameters
* nutrients
* lighting
* flow
* bacterial balance

I find ACANS to be easy and ZOAS to be in the upper class of corals that are 'hard to grow '

I suspect that are tagged as 'easy' bc when all conditions are right, they take off. One parameter, though, is wrong, they shrivel up and melt away.

Thoughts?



.

Because they are easy. The range of acceptable light is large, they are ok with "dirty" water but do well in "clean" water too, they grow fast. While they have pests that bother them and as you mentioned if something gets far enough out of wack they can just melt away. They tolerate a much larger range of conditions than many other corals, especially hard corals or acropora in particular.

 

[zoaprince]

They have the reputation of being easy because most reefers will only buy cheap zoas which are, usually, cheap because they grow fast, easy to care of, etc. Since they only buy easy zoas, they think ALL zoas are easy.

Zoa addicts know that the more expensive zoas, often, are expensive because they are harder to grow, slower, prone to melting etc.

 

[ZoWhat]

Because they are easy. The range of acceptable light is large, they are ok with "dirty" water but do well in "clean" water too, they grow fast. While they have pests that bother them and as you mentioned if something gets far enough out of wack they can just melt away. They tolerate a much larger range of conditions than many other corals, especially hard corals or acropora in particular.

Say it ain't so Joe

 

[NowGlazeIT]

Some of the strains will grow in a toilet bowl, but when you start getting in to the higher end ones, they can be as picky as any other difficult coral. That's the fun of it, right?

That’s been my experience, I’ve had over a dozen variants and some have died when my sps did and others are stronger then my gsp

 

[Joe462]

Say it ain't so Joe

LOL, i will say that like any other coral there are some zoa strains that are hard to keep, but you don't tell beginners to buy the 50+$ a polyp zoas, your average zoa (scrambled eggs, eagle eye, ..........) though is definitely a beginner level coral. One of the first corals i had a lot of success with. but i bought, i think they were called hallucinations (?) twice and both times they melted away. there are always exceptions to every rule

 

[ZoWhat]

LOL, i will say that like any other coral there are some zoa strains that are hard to keep, but you don't tell beginners to buy the 50+$ a polyp zoas, your average zoa (scrambled eggs, eagle eye, ..........) though is definitely a beginner level coral. One of the first corals i had a lot of success with. but i bought, i think they were called hallucinations (?) twice and both times they melted away. there are always exceptions to every rule

Well I've been thru the ringer keeping some zoas since 2007. Back when you thought "zoa" was "zoo" misspelled. Lololololololololol

 

[Hooz]

LOL, i will say that like any other coral there are some zoa strains that are hard to keep, but you don't tell beginners to buy the 50+$ a polyp zoas, your average zoa (scrambled eggs, eagle eye, ..........) though is definitely a beginner level coral. One of the first corals i had a lot of success with. but i bought, i think they were called hallucinations (?) twice and both times they melted away. there are always exceptions to every rule

So much truth to this. And you can't get cocky!

I bought a single polyp GMK in March of this year. In 8 months it's grown into a 16p colony. They look AMAZING! Then, just this week, the whole colony closed up on me. They are the only one of almost 40 different zoa colonies (high end and cheap alike) in my tank behaving badly at the moment. They've been closed for 4 days now, and I'm starting to get worried.

After great success with several high end zoas, I bought a Dayglo Volcano. It half opened every day for 4 weeks and then melted away to nothing. I almost cried (look up the cost on that one). But, hey, that's the way it goes with any coral, right?

In the same tank, I have several other zoas that I could probably frag back every week.

 

[Calm Blue Ocean]

I have some King Midas and Mango Coolers and they grow great so I mistakenly believed "zoas are easy". Then I bought two polyps of WWC Superstars. I keep the bare rock to honor their memory.

 

[Zoa_Fanatic]

Some of my zoas will grow in a mud hole. No matter what I toss my Rasta into they grow like weeds. Same with my CB white zombies for some reason. They’re higher end but they grow like a forest.

 

[Tamberav]

Idk as long as you have nutrients they seem easy. I don’t test or dose or even do much in way of water changes and have a mix of different kinds in a spare 25g and they could easily be pests.

I do buy live rock though so maybe they don’t like new tanks with dry rock idk

 

[ZoWhat]

My nitrates have been at 1ppm fir for weeks. I just doses potassium nitrate powder to where no3 jumped to 9.4 and my zoas have perked up noticeably. No3 10 is my limit though

 

[Just John]

My nitrates have been at 1ppm fir for weeks. I just doses potassium nitrate powder to where no3 jumped to 9.4 and my zoas have perked up noticeably. No3 10 is my limit though

Good to hear they are doing better! If you really want to make them happy, spot feed each polyp with reef roids. Many will grow rapidly if you do that 2-3 times a week.