Will this Zoa Garden Work?

[Reefer37]

So I recently updated my zoa garden with some new additions, but after looking at it I'm kinda worried.

I have Ultra Gobstoppers and Sunny D (I believe) near the front and I realize they have a lot longer stalks than the others (Rastas, Purple Hearts, Hotshots, Seductions, and Rainbow Trolls). Maybe because they're palys and the others are zoas? I'm still newer so I'm not entirely sure to know which is which.

Am I asking for trouble with longer stalked ones taking over and overshading all the other zoas? I really just want to this garden to take off and succeed and love the color combos.

 

[Copingwithpods]

It will work as long as your smaller zoas astablish a little territory of their own before they all meet up in the middle. The biggest issue I've seen is just one zoa spreading so fast the others can't keep up but even that can be easily dealt with by fragging them out. Good choices BTW I have 3 of those.

 

[Reefer37]

It will work as long as your smaller zoas astablish a little territory of their own before they all meet up in the middle. The biggest issue I've seen is just one zoa spreading so fast the others can't keep up but even that can be easily dealt with by fragging them out. Good choices BTW I have 3 of those.

Thanks, I appreciate it!

Yeah so far the Ultra Gobstoppers are easily the fastest growing, but they sure look nice.
I got the Rastas probably 3 months ago and they popped about 4 heads shortly thereafter, but have yet to have any growth since. Really not sure what to get them going.

 

[mcshams]

I agree with @Copingwithpods ...but I always do

I am creating a zoa garden, and I have a fast growing purple haze (I think that's what it is called). I'll have to keep it at bay while my others catch up. There is some decent distance between the colonies, so it looks great thus far.

 

[senorsancho]

Those are looking great and I mean if you're worried about you an always just frag it back until the smaller palys grow out! You have plenty of time to fix something like that so I'd say just sit back and relax and watch them grow! I have a zoa garden that I've set up and waiting to grow also, colors look awesome!

 

[NS Mike D]

very nice

how do you frag zoas/palys off the rock. I assume the rock can be removed in tact from the tank, and of course proper protection when dealing with plays.

 

[Kremis]

yeah that will work just fine, they all have more than enough space to get settled in. Worst case you just have to prune a little.

 

[vanpire]

You will have to do work fragging. The Sunny Ds and Gobstoppers will overgrow the other zoas unless you prune them. I like to keep Sunny Ds and Gobstoppers on their own rock as they grow very fast. I do love those two palys as I thin they are beautiful, but I keep them separated. Their polyps are also get very large compared to the other zoas.

 

[reefhomie]

Why not? the tend to grow better and faster when all put together!

 

[Oscar47f]

An easy method i use is visualize where you imagine the boundaries between the zoanthids.(take a guess and allocate how much of an area you want dominated by a specific strain before they meet with other strains) put rubble rock in those areas as kind of like a border between the colonies, if one zoanthus is taking over too fast and starts to grow on the border simply remove it and replace with another piece of rubble rock.. easy way to frag and keep one colony at bay while the others catch up. and you won't have to take the rock structure out of the water or go in and snip your rock work with cutters.

 

[jdstank]

very nice

how do you frag zoas/palys off the rock. I assume the rock can be removed in tact from the tank, and of course proper protection when dealing with plays.

Just cut the stalks as low as possible to the rock and glue to rubble or a plug. Very easy corals to frag with low mortality rates from doing so.