Zoa and Paly polyp size

[John3]

So yesterday I bought a frag of zoas that has 12-14 polyps on nickel size plug. This got me thinking about the other zoas and Palys I have. In almost all cases when I buy them they are very small polyps but given a little time in my tank they get very large. I’ve also got ones with stubby skirts but I always end up with long lashes. I thought maybe this had something to do with them being frags of newer budding polyps.

Now this new frag has 12-14 tiny heads. I’m sure they didn’t just pop up all at once since zoas tend to spread from the outside of the colony. I’m betting again these will get a lot bigger than they currently are.

I did some reading on older posts and never found a good answer why in some tanks they are small and others they get larger. Seems like I’m on the good end of this spectrum and wanted to see if anyone knows why.

 

[DSC reef]

I've chalked it up to light and flow. Some zoas and palys are different in size naturally. We have rastas growing in different part of the tank and I've noticed the shaded areas have a larger diameter polyp while the polyps on the bottom of the tank under direct light and flow are a much tighter polyp and more colorful.

 

[John3]

Here’s a pic of the tiny zoas I picked up, not sure what they are yet. They appear to have some potential.

 

[DSC reef]

I like those, really nice colors.