how to keep zoa colonies small

[Jstn]

So I am trying to grow a nice diverse zoa garden and it seems certain frags grow faster than others, is there a trick to keeping them in line? I feel a few heads of each zoa look nice, when they grow to huge coloines it kinda of drowns out my tank. I know you can frag them off, but once they take to the rock it is much harder to remove IMO, do you guys keep them on disc or just let them take over?

[1.0reef]

kalk paste?

[Cincotta82]

I'd like to know the answer to this also, any salty aquarists have any further advice?

[Criley7]

You could Keep the zoas on frag disc until they start to grow off, once they start to grow off you can remove the disc and leave a few behind. Then they have to start growing in again. Atleast this process would take twice as long for them to form colonies than normal.

[Wilson@]

If you know that your zoas don't contain palytoxins, you can slice them off from the bottom. If you do it well, you should be able to peel them off from the base and not only keep them alive, but have them take to a new rock. You'll definitely have some casualties though...

[GaminKWB]

I'm running a 2g Fluval Spec. I am running into the same issue. 3 separate Zoa colonies are starting to grow together but that means competition for space and light. I've tried fragging out a couple here and there, but its a messy process in a small tank.

[MikeTR]

Just buy the one's that are $50 per polyp. They are that expensive because they don't grow fast. Ugly ones grow fast.

[Islandoftiki]

Just put them in my tank. I don't have much luck getting zoas to grow very fast.

[Seamonkey84]

Ive controlled other corals by glueing small rocks and shells around them, then when they grow into those, I just break them off and slice what ever is encrusted. Though, like mentioned above, be careful with zoa and paly since they do release toxins. I recomend fraggig outside of the tank, in a Tupperware or tub of tank water and do the cuts underwater to prevent getting sprayed or squirted with toxins, gloves help too. Otherwise for already encrusted colonies, a small flat tip screwdriver/chisel can be used to scrape under the colony, preferably chipping the rock instead of scraping the polyps off.

[Mr. Microscope]

Violently stab at the colony with an exacto blade from time to time. Make sure you have a crazed, angry look in your eyes when you do it. That aught to keep those buggers in line.

 

But in all seriousness, in large colonies usually one species will eventually overtake another, especially if located on one rock. I suggest composing your zoa garden with a pile of LR rubble. That way it's easy to remove a rock or two if the zoas get too dense. Then, just replace with more rubble.

[chrssprngs]

I have taken hemostats and pulled them off by the base and then super glue them to a disc or piece of rubble with no problem. I find that when you slice them off it is hard to grab them because they shrivel up to nothing and are super slimey. IME