Reef regulars: Do you think zoas are THE bread-and-butter coral?

[Peace River]

Reef regulars: Do you think zoas are THE bread-and-butter coral?

When you think of the most common coral in a home aquarium, zoanthids (often referred to as “zoas”) are what comes to mind for many people. When we say “bread-and-butter”, we mean reliable, dependable, or your “go-to”. Zoas are soft corals that continue to be popular because of the wide range of colors and, while there are some that can be challenging to keep, most zoas are hardy and tend to thrive in a wide range of conditions. Please share your thoughts about zoas and let us know if you consider them to be THE bread-and-butter coral available.

PRO TIP: Zoanthids often respond well to supplemental feedings with small, meaty foods a couple of times a week. Additionally, commercial coral foods and zooplankton can be fed with positive results. Use target feedings, feed sparingly, and watch the zoas' response to the feeding. Their polyp response can help you understand their health and your feeding strategy.

Photo by @Diesel


This QOTD is sponsored by Nutramar

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[Geebs19]

Honestly when I first got back into the hobby I thought I would have a full lower level of zoas/palys. However I have not added one to my tank. They are pretty and really cool, but like xenia they can take over a tank so fast and I am not willing to push my luck with that. Ive already had aptasia once, and never want anything that can spread like that again.

 

[EricR]

My daughters like 'em, plus they can be relatively cheap and easy but, just anecdotally, seems like established colonies are more likely to have random, inexplicable meltdowns than most other "hardy" soft corals.

 

[BraindeadBiologist]

I thought they were awesome, and they have some cool colors, but there are better looking corals for beginners with nice colors that add movement and won't take over your tank.

 

[GatorGreg]

They’ve gotten too expensive. Vendors are selling 1 and 2 polyps at a time. Ridiculous.
Even the affordable ones are only 1 or 2 maybe 4 polyps at the most. I have some “rastas” bought locally but I’m not interested in packing my tank with zoa. I have my eye on the main prize……..fuzzy sticks

 

[Kellie in CA]

I have quite a few in my tank, but they really are just placeholders until other corals grow and take over the space. I definitely have certain ones that I have to "prune" back often.
Even with how stable my tank is, no colony ever lasts forever. Random meltdowns happen. Sometimes they come back, sometimes they don't. I recently had a Sunny D pop up out of nowhere.... I haven't seen one of those in my tank in 2 years!

Will I be buying more zoas? Probably not.

 

[PhishMonger84]

LPS and softies are far and away more appealing to me than any of the sticks other than Bird nest.
Zoas have so many color options and look like Venus flytraps (to a degree). I'd certainly put them on my list of ones i want in the future. (working on a 40b mini reef and 125 pred tank ATM)

i like these:
Zoas
blastos
GSP
Euphylia
open brain
bubbles

 

[MoshJosh]

Meh I like them, and they look stunning under the right lighting (not my lighting), but there are other corals that interest me more ATM. At one point I was building up a small collection, however, I wanted to get more into SPS and the Zoas weren't liking the ULN style system I was running. Ended up trading them to the LFS.

 

[Reefer Matt]

Zoas are awesome. But there are a few caveats. Some spread very quickly, while others (usually the expensive ones) wither and melt. I have a lot of zoas in a frag tank. They randomly do well and not so well. I treat them all the same when selling regardless of color. The per polyp selling needs to stop, imo. Buying one polyp of a zoa is a 50/50 chance of it melting, in my experience. Great beginner coral, and should be a lot cheaper, as they are very common.

 

[kevgib67]

I wouldn’t have a tank without a zoa garden. It was so much fun researching and hunting down the ones I wanted.

 

[vlangel]

I love the way they look and have tried them multiple times in the past. They would flourish for a while and then unexplainably just quit opening fully and languish until they just melted away. I think I have just accepted that I don't have a green thumb when it comes to zoas.

 

[Haggisman14]

Love Zoa's and all their wild color combinations! They've been one of my favorites from back when I got in to the hobby in the early 2000's!

 

[ReefGeezer]

I like Zoas. I have a lot in my mixed reef. Some spread slowly. Others spread way too aggressively but still look pretty cool under my T5 lighting. A good pair on bone cutters and a big frag rack is required to keep them where you want them. I do get frustrated when whole colonies close up for days at a time for no apparent reason.

 

[rtparty]

Nope. Never again will they go in a tank of mine unless it is a 100% zoa tank

 

[Alfie]

Great in a softy/lps tank. Worth setting up a cheap nano if you really like them in my opinion as they really dont need a mass of equipment to keep things stable enough for them.

 

[vetteguy53081]

They make up and color up a landscape in may cases

 

[ReefGeezer]

Just have to cut em' up every once in a while to show them who's the boss.

 

[flashsmith]

At $10 a polyp nope. They add color but that's about it. I kinda went overboard with them when I started years ago and I'd love to find a fish that can eradicate those suckers.

 

[Sump Crab]

Mushrooms

 

[SchrutesReefs]

I will gladly take a random zoa melt over the SPS doom zone that is my tank. I have some that have perfectly wrapped around toadstool bases. They are great filler corals. I won’t complain about prices because if you take the time to find local reefers or browse these forums some still sell with a true passion for the hobby and their prices reflect that.