Zoa garden start up???

[mraysberg]

What’s the best way to start up a zoa garden? Should I grow the frags out a bit before doing so? Maybe there’s a started thread to look at for starting a garden like this

 

[tupes]

Depends if you want instant gratification...

I personally would start with 2-3 polyp frags and glue the to a rock and let the fun begin.

Try searching zoanthid garden on R2R and Google.

 

[eraser2001]

My wifes likes to grow zoas gardens and she put frags of one Polyp in a rack separate from each others. Looks likes this technique works for her.
Good luck with yours

 

[C-Reefer]

I have a little zoa garden that I really enjoy. Some frags were started full, some had 1-2 polyps, on average probably 3-4 polyps. I just set aside an area and glued them all over that area where I thought they would look good. Now they're finally all growing together and it looks pretty good if I say so myself *ahem*

I really enjoy growing frags out though so thats me. If you want instant gratification start with full frag plugs, but imo it looks best when you find a way to take the zoas off the plug and glue them straight onto the rock with no plug. Looks really cool when they all grow together. Another peice of advice would be don't put any lowend or super fast growing zoas on there. Its hard to prune them. So I like to stay to higher end zoas in my zoa garden and keep the lower end in their own section where they can grow huge and I don't care.

I'll get a picture when I get home.

 

[tupes]

Here's an example from my LFS

 

[mraysberg]

Here's an example from my LFS

Now that’s some garden

 

[mraysberg]

I have more but can’t take good photos or the polyps are just too small to really get a good look at what the variation is. Now on getting a rock and attaching them

 

[C-Reefer]

I have more but can’t take good photos or the polyps are just too small to really get a good look at what the variation is. Now on getting a rock and attaching them

All you gotta do is start sticking them to rocks. As you collect more keep gluing them on. Make sure to leave as much space as you want them to grow out in between. If your not pretty good with a scalpel+superglue to get the polyps off the plug and onto the rock, just glue the plug on. They'll quickly overgow it and you'll never know. I have a lot of exerience with zoas and gluing them as I work at a LFS and do a ton of fragging lol.

 

[mraysberg]

All you gotta do is start sticking them to rocks. As you collect more keep gluing them on. Make sure to leave as much space as you want them to grow out in between. If your not pretty good with a scalpel+superglue to get the polyps off the plug and onto the rock, just glue the plug on. They'll quickly overgow it and you'll never know. I have a lot of exerience with zoas and gluing them as I work at a LFS and do a ton of fragging lol.

What’s the best way to get the polyps of the frag? Should I cut into the flesh? Never fragged up anything before

 

[C-Reefer]

What’s the best way to get the polyps of the frag? Should I cut into the flesh? Never fragged up anything before

I use an xacto or any kind of razor blade, and just try and pry/slice under the polyps. If its a smooth frag plug its really easy they'll slice right off, try and get in between the frag plug and the polyps, you shouldn't be slicing the flesh.

 

[Reeftroubles]

What’s the best way to start up a zoa garden? Should I grow the frags out a bit before doing so? Maybe there’s a started thread to look at for starting a garden like this

I love my Zoa's and I'm no expert in this but I will say this I have tried small frags and large colonies. most that I have tried to start with as frags end up getting killed off for various reasons. i would personally suggest larger colonies and go with one or two at a time before adding more and work to keep them in one spot they seem to like. Remember to use your turkey baster and blow out the crud often because pulling tufts of algae off can actually take polyps with it.