Reality of varried Zoanthid gradens

[Mr. Microscope]

Hello All,

 

I've been giving some thought to zoanthids in regards to keeping things looking like they do in a reef. Every time I see images of zoas in the wild, it's just one variety spread out all over the place. I'm no diver. So, I've never seen them personally in the wild.

 

My question is this: In nature, do you see 5, 10, 20 different types of zoanthids all in one spot blending together in a rainbow of color like we do in many of our aquariums, or is this just a hobbyist's dream?

 

If anyone has any pictures or personal experience please share!

[MikeTR]

Zoas come from all over... no pretty little zoa gardens in the wild.. you'd have seen pics by now. wholesalers buy big rocks with 100s of polyps for cheap, then retailers cut them up and charge ridiculous prices. They probably sell a whole frag for what they bought the rock for.

[Mr. Microscope]

Hmm. Good answer. I may have to rethink my little piece of ocean.

[weeber]

At a nearby inlet there are lots of zoas all over and there are multiple colors mixed in with each other. Now if your wondering i dont think you will ever see colonies with different species of zoanthids mixed with each other just the same species but in different color variations.

[organism]

Zoas come from all over... no pretty little zoa gardens in the wild.. you'd have seen pics by now.

 

Different varieties grow together all the time, you can go to you LFS right now and see that at least half have more than one kind of polyps on there. It's common to see 4 or more different kinds on a rock, like on just about any polyp rocks from Fiji. Actually, it's more uncommon to see zoanthids come in with only one color on the rock.

 

Finding zoanthids on colonies of protopalythoas and palythoas happens quite a bit too

[egos4life]

it may not be exactly like the "wild" ut hey its my piece of the ocean and dang they are awesome. i love my zoa garden and it gets a ton of attention from viewers

[Mr. Microscope]

Awesome discussion guys! Anyone else?

[el fabuloso]

When I was snorkeling in Hawaii I would see one variety of zoanthids stretch on forever. I don't recall seeing any multi-colored zoa gardens though I'm sure they exist somewhere in the world. It was disappointing for the most part and I felt the need to rescape the place. Nature sucks at aquascaping IMO.

[organism]

Yeah I should clear up, I was referring to the indo-pacific, Hawaii and Florida I've got no idea on...

[Mr. Microscope]

I felt the need to rescape the place. Nature sucks at aquascaping IMO.

 

:lol:

[Dizzle21]

I felt the need to rescape the place. Nature sucks at aquascaping IMO.

 

 

hahaha may i SIg this?

[el fabuloso]

Go for it.

[Akwarius]

Just go over to Divers Den and look at the wild colonies. Many of them have several zoa morphs as well as paly/protopalys mixed on the same 5" rock.

[johnmaloney]

At a nearby inlet there are lots of zoas all over and there are multiple colors mixed in with each other. Now if your wondering i dont think you will ever see colonies with different species of zoanthids mixed with each other just the same species but in different color variations.

 

+1 ish... if you get out to less turbulent water you will see a mix of zoanthus pulchellis or however it is correctly spelled along with button polyps and white encrusting zoanthids. (not to mention sponge zoanthids, especially out of ft lauderdale), you just don't get as many of the matting zoanthids like you said -

 

the rocks and colonies can be HUGE boulder size, you will see different color patterns on the same rock, and even mixed in, but they tend to take up a lot of area. (One morph can be 1 foot by 3 feet, next to a morph of the same size etc...)

 

I would imagine there must be some areas in the Pacific like that. Ask yardboy, he has gone diving there.