Paly Peninsula: 2.5G Pico Contest - New Pics

[caas1496]

Does anyone have good advice for shipping zoas. I want to start putting some frag packs together, but I was looking into how to ship them and the insulated boxes and things seemed kinda expensive. Even before the overnight shipping. Looking for some advice from all you experienced frag shippers out there. 

[kimdawg]

I don't know about shipping, but my zoas have always come in with a tiny bag of water(like 1/2 oz.) with each frag.  Sometimes with a heat pack or cold pack but usually they came without it.  Work up a price pack and I will be your shipping tryout.  I am ok with tiny frags of 1-2 polyps of lots of different ones.

[seabass]

Specimen jars work pretty good.  Also USPS is hands down cheaper than FedEx or UPS.

[caas1496]

11 hours ago, kimdawg said:

I don't know about shipping, but my zoas have always come in with a tiny bag of water(like 1/2 oz.) with each frag.  Sometimes with a heat pack or cold pack but usually they came without it.  Work up a price pack and I will be your shipping tryout.  I am ok with tiny frags of 1-2 polyps of lots of different ones.

Cool. I will let you know when I have some frags ready. Just made a couple little pico sized frag racks and cut some polyps. We will see how they do. 

 

8 hours ago, seabass said:

Specimen jars work pretty good.  Also USPS is hands down cheaper than FedEx or UPS.

Thanks for the link! I had seen these before and was wondering where the best place to get them would be. Idk why I didnt think to check amazon.

[caas1496]

First set of zoa frags is healing up. At first they were higher up in the tank but i changed the rack a bit to sit lower cause I think they were shocked by the lighting.

[caas1496]

Two of the new editions from the frag pack I picked up today. More to come once the others open up more. 

Screwballs

Burning Embers

[Tired]

Your tank looks amazing!

 

These were in a post on the first page. Can I ask what they are? I bought some live rock that has ones just like these on it (someone shut their tank down and gave the rock to my LFS, and I couldn't pass it up, not being sold at base rock prices), but they came without a name. Do they have any specific preferences? 

[caas1496]

1 minute ago, Tired said:

Your tank looks amazing!

 

These were in a post on the first page. Can I ask what they are? I bought some live rock that had ones just like these on it, but they came without a name. Do they have any specific preferences? 

Thank you Tired. Those are Rastas. They are a pretty forgiving variety from my experience. To be honest mine arent as bright as some others I have seen so they probably dont have ideal conditions in my tank.

[Tired]

Thanks, that's good to know. There's so many different zoas, I've been drowning in pics trying to figure out what these are. 

 

I looked those up, and I got a steal on this rock! It was a 10-lb rock at $4/lb, and there's 15 or so polyps on it (though due to a transport mishap it's looking more like 12), so that's an amazing deal for me. 

[caas1496]

7 minutes ago, Tired said:

Thanks, that's good to know. There's so many different zoas, I've been drowning in pics trying to figure out what these are. 

 

I looked those up, and I got a steal on this rock! It was a 10-lb rock at $4/lb, and there's 15 or so polyps on it (though due to a transport mishap it's looking more like 12), so that's an amazing deal for me. 

Yep! Glad I could help. Theres hundreds of different names for all the varieties so it can he hard to find what you are looking for. Definitely an awesome hitchhiker to find on your live rock! Thats actually a pretty good price even just for the live rock. 

[Tired]

Most of the rock was fairly boring. Good bacteria, I'm sure, and plenty of little sponges, but I think the guy had probably sold all the coral-covered top rocks elsewhere. This piece was half spirobids, half pretty good coraline and green algae, and I saw those little zoa buds. At that price, and with me needing rock (and wanting the algae) anyway, I couldn't pass it up. They're in what is basically a quarantine tank for my rock at the moment, and have been throwing something of a fit over being transported home wrapped in wet newspaper (and me smushing a couple polyps by accident under the paper) but they're definitely all opening now. 

 

Do you know any good sites to look at for pictures, or do you mind if I pop back in here later? I have some other mystery zoas, and a cluster of palys, that I want a name on. I don't have any good pics of them for IDs at the moment, my quarantine tank doesn't have a proper reef light, but I'm curious to know what these are. 

 

And what do you do to keep these happy? I've read some people who theorize that zoas do best with the amino acids given off by carnivores feeding, but clearly you don't have fish or any LPS in there. 

[caas1496]

Id be happy to try and ID them if I can. This website is a pretty good one to check. 

 

https://shop.zoanthids.com/collections/identification-gallery

 

Feel free to post some photos when you have them. 

[caas1496]

Part 2 of the frag pack I picked up this weekend...

 

Yodas

 

Nightmares

 

Scrambled Eggs. The last frag I had didnt do too well. I really like this polyp so I want to give it one more shot.

[debbeach13]

Those are some fantastic additions. You stepping it up in style.

[caas1496]

So tonight I broke out the DSLR and installed the free version of Lightroom on my phone. Really have no idea what I am doing but I played with all the sliders for a while. Thought I would post the results of my experimentation... looking forward to messing with this some more. 

[caas1496]

Added a peppermint shrimp over the weekend. I am hoping he has an apetite for aiptasia. I really dont believe that Aiptasia-X is effective for controlling them. Just pisses them off and makes them spread in my experience. 

[lobster876]

be careful with peppermint shrimp. Ive had them eat zoas and palys 

[caas1496]

1 hour ago, lobster876 said:

be careful with peppermint shrimp. Ive had them eat zoas and palys 

I will keep a close eye on him. If he has a taste for zoas he will get evicted to my larger tank. 

[Tired]

They're a little hard to get ahold of sometimes, but a berghia nudibranch would definitely be safe, and about the most effective solution you'll find anywhere.

 

[caas1496]

So far so good with the peppermint shrimp. Some more photos of the zoas as this contest draws to a close. Can't believe the tank has been running for over 6 months. 

 

 

[caas1496]

On 10/14/2019 at 3:51 PM, Tired said:

They're a little hard to get ahold of sometimes, but a berghia nudibranch would definitely be safe, and about the most effective solution you'll find anywhere.

 

I had heard they were a good solution but wasnt sure how to get one.

[Tired]

Ask if your LFS can special-order, and/or check with local reefers and people on forums to find extras. If nobody has extras, buy 'em online.

 

Your zoas look amazing!

 

Do you ever find any species of zoas to be particularly timid? I have a couple of polyps that retract whenever I open the lid or do anything in the tank at all, even not remotely near them. Wimps.

[caas1496]

3 hours ago, Tired said:

 

Do you ever find any species of zoas to be particularly timid? I have a couple of polyps that retract whenever I open the lid or do anything in the tank at all, even not remotely near them. Wimps.

Haha yes! The tank is on my desk so if I shut a drawer too hard or bump it with my chair theres a couple types that get all upset. Its really annoying when it happens while Im trying to get a FTS...

[Tired]

Mine are currently in quarantine, sitting on the floor, and I have to walk over there really softly or this one little colony closes up. Open the lid? Hiding. Top off evap? Hiding. Changed the light color for pics? Hiding. It's a bit annoying, but kinda funny to watch something without a brain freak itself out like that. It's like if plants tried to hide from you.

[caas1496]

Less than a week to go!

 

This is Bethany's favorite place to hang out during the day