Zoa ID Method

[zdstrong]

I see a lot of identification posts and am curious how y’all differentiate between varieties. I have noticed and own several types of zoos that differ only slightly.

For instance the rasta Zoas… some with brown lashes and some with orange. Is that the same type? I know corals can change color slightly from lighting and tank conditions.

 

[Timfish]

I haven't seen much rhyme or reason to naming of corals. Certain types have fairly set colors under a variety of conditions and get to be well known with a given name. For others it's pretty subjective.

 

[littlebigreef]

Generally you’re going to use ‘distinguishing characteristics’ that are not subject to morphing to properly ID a zoa. Folks most proficient at IDing have generally seen the same strain across a number of different lighting conditions and water parameters so they have a ‘feel’ for how a zoa might morph. People that just Google aren’t getting the full picture.

As for zoas with minor differences people need to be comfortable putting strains in ‘buckets’ of similar zoas. There’s multiple variations of blue berry pies, fire and ice, laser lemons, greenbay packets, watermelons etc. We don’t need a name for each specific thing when a general one will do.

Finally, there’s no ‘authority control’ so stuff gets rebranded, misidentified, re named etc. Again, just having a solid familiarity with stuff goes a long way.