What do you feed zoas?

dib · Nov 17, 2013

I got my first ZOA frags. Kinda doing OK so far. I was wondering what I should feed them since they are filter feeders, right? I was given these items and I'm not sure if I need all or any of them. And how to use them with each other.
Strontium & molybdenum
Essential elements
Iodide
Coral vite
Micro Vert
All Kent brand
I only have mushrooms and 2 zoa frags but plan on getting more.
any info would be great! Thanks

Surfside74 · Nov 17, 2013

If you are doing regular water changes, then they should be ok without any of that stuff. They get a lot of their nutrients from light, water, and fish poop. You can add stuff to the tank such as phycopure, coral vibrance, etc...but you need to watch your parameters. These things do raise nutrient levels and then you will have algae problems. I would stick with water changes and feeding your Fish and see how that goes.

Ward9320 · Nov 17, 2013

I feed mine Reef Chilli from BulkReffSupply. Actually I feed all my corals that stuff and I seem to get great growth with it. Lately I have been getting a few polyps new a month from my zoas.

Aqua fire/medic · Nov 17, 2013

Fauna Marin ....... They love the stuff

revhtree · Nov 18, 2013

Bump!

glb · Nov 18, 2013

Oyster feast. I mix some up with a little tank water to thin in out then squirt it on the zoas with the circulation off.

Luckysfrags · Nov 18, 2013

My tanks over filled with zoas and palys. Last count I had 72 different morphs in my 29 biocube. Oyster feast seems to be ok for me, like stated before, add some tank water to the mix in a cup and turn off pumps. I use a syringe to target feed every colony. It's a lot of work but helps in my opinion.
I've tried reef chili and my frog spawn and hammer loved it but not my zoas/palys so much. I used it for about a month with no real change.
Reef roids on the other hand work pretty **** well. My polyps reach for the food as it passes by and I can see them react to the food. Growth rate has been decent too.
The best food I've used I sadly can't remember the name, it's made by Kent though. Something like zooplex or something.
That's just my 2 cents. Like others had said, you don't need to feed them as they will feed off light, water, and fish waste but if you want to feed them make sure you feed as little as possible. It's very easy to get too much nutrients in the water and have algae blooms and poor water quality.

tuna_bullet · Nov 18, 2013

mine eat everything my bigger palys eat mysis shrimp, squid anything that lands on them...i have lots of fish so they feed the zoas there waste....if you only have a few you can spot feed oyster feast...if you are running a smaller tank be careful not to over feed it will throw your tank perameters off quickly...good luck

prdubois · Nov 18, 2013

Fish poop

Akwarius · Nov 18, 2013

Dont think of feeding zoanthids specifically, rather, try to make sure the entire ecosystem is well-fed. That means small micron food and phyto for the micro-crustaceans and pods, carnivore and herbivore food for the fish, something for the detrivores, etc. I've also witnessed greater tissue recovery and growth with fatty acid food enhancers such as selco or aminomega.

Flyride95 · Nov 18, 2013

My zoas are growing great and I do not target feed them. They get there food from the lights and the fish poo.

blue.flyzz · Nov 18, 2013

hopping on for the informative ride

A. grandis · Nov 19, 2013

Wow!! You guys are great!! :target:
I didn't come to this forum for a while and it is full of people talking about zoas!!:grouphug:

I found out that in the long run my zoas needed to be fed. Tried to believe the opposite, but it's just impossible to accept.
I've been keeping zoas for 18+ years and tried many types of systems and equipments I could afford.
I've spend money with lots of different foods too!! And I'm not rich!!!

Today I target feed all my zoanthids once every 2 weeks or so. Nothing crazy about it, but sure it is fun!!
First I make sure pumps are off and target feed the colonies with dry coral food. Watch for those smart fishes, 'cause if you feed the polyps when lights are on they will try to still food from them!!
When possible, I feed the zoas at night.
I like to offer Coral Frenzy and Reef Roids, most of the time.
Zoanthids don't need lots of particle food and when you target feed them the food doesn't get wasted, therefore it doesn't polute the system.
I'm not a fan of broadcast feeding. It's just a waste of time and money IME/O. The need for maintenance is much higher.
I'm not a fan of mixing those crazy soups with lots of different sea foods and chemicals together. I don't recommend those things.

Many people still think that zoanthids "like dirty water", meaning high known nutrients, but that isn't what I see in my systems.
I keep the system clean and have a skimmer running. Water changes are performed every 2 weeks and I feed my fishes well, not in excess!! All parameters are great, including undetectable PO4 and NO3. The use of activated carbon is very good, when well managed.

Dry particle coral foods are the best! I've tried many times all kinds of liquid foods, like phytoplanktons, zooplanctons, etcâ€¦ for years.
Nothing better than dry coral foods!! Amino acids and vitamins in small portions are something to think about. They do play a good part on the zoanthids' absorption abilities. You can mix them with the dry foods too.
Another rumor is that "Zoanthus spp. don't grab food, only Palythoa spp.". IME that's not what happens. All my zoanthids will grab food particles.
They feed on what is suitable for them. Hope that makes sense. The food particles need to be on the right size and right "taste". All my zoanthids eat the dry coral foods I offer. The grab, ingest, digest and poop them out.
:ranger:
Light makes a big difference, of course!!! If the system has a good reef light the zoas will do very well and the feeding will be a complementary diet. That's what you're looking for! If the light isn't good enough there is no food that will substitute and the zoas will come to an end sooner or later. They normally drink and melt. The primary "food" is light and water quality/stability in the long run. Light and feeding come together to keep zoas healthy for years and years.
Light and quality food particles will help most polyps to keep color too.

Sometimes excess food will allow some dormant diseases to act in the system!!! It doesn't happen all the time, but I've had a hard time in the past while feeding the zoas too much and not performing enough water changes. So, there is a balance there for some of the systems.

My US$.02.

Grandis.

Reefguard · May 29, 2015

I use reef pearls to feed them

that Reef Guy · May 29, 2015

This is such a tough question to answer.

First off, if you only have a few corals I would not even bother as you will just pollute the aquarium.

For me personally I have stopped feeding altogether.

I started to Dose Reef Roids and BRS Reef Chili at Half Doseage.

At first I noticed growth but then the growth stopped.

I noticed that all this was doing was raising my Nitrates and Phosphates.

I think the Corals liked the Dirty Water at first but eventually it became too much.

Another thing is I have over 100 Different Types of Zoanthids but Only the ProtoPaly's ate (Captain Americas, Mindblowing Paly's, Nuclear Greens, Purple Death's), the Other 100 Some Zoanthids Never even Closed Up.

In regards to Carbon I (As well as a few others) stopped using it completely due to the all the negative things we were told about it and we got increased growth and color.

Remember Carbon takes out unwanted stuff but it takes out good stuff as well.

So in a Nutshell I would say

No Carbon
No GFO
Keep things very very stable (Temperature, Salinity, PH, and Alkalinity especially).
If you do feed do very very little and keep an eye on Nitrates and Phosphates.
I still Dose Seachem AquaVitro Fuel Twice a Week.
I would rely more on Light and Fish Poop for Zoanthids.
Do reseach on all Zoanthids as they are all Different in terms of Light and Flow (Some are found getting blasted by the sun in 2 inch puddles while others are collected hundreds of feet down).

that Reef Guy · May 29, 2015

that Reef Guy said:
This is such a tough question to answer.

First off, if you only have a few corals I would not even bother as you will just pollute the aquarium.

For me personally I have stopped feeding altogether.

I started to Dose Reef Roids and BRS Reef Chili at Half Doseage.

At first I noticed growth but then the growth stopped.

I noticed that all this was doing was raising my Nitrates and Phosphates.

I think the Corals liked the Dirty Water at first but eventually it became too much.

Another thing is I have over 100 Different Types of Zoanthids but Only the ProtoPaly's ate (Captain Americas, Mindblowing Paly's, Nuclear Greens, Purple Death's), the Other 100 Some Zoanthids Never even Closed Up.

In regards to Carbon I (As well as a few others) stopped using it completely due to the all the negative things we were told about it and we got increased growth and color.

Remember Carbon takes out unwanted stuff but it takes out good stuff as well.

So in a Nutshell I would say

No Carbon
No GFO
Keep things very very stable (Temperature, Salinity, PH, and Alkalinity especially).
If you do feed do very very little and keep an eye on Nitrates and Phosphates.
I still Dose Seachem AquaVitro Fuel Twice a Week.
I would rely more on Light and Fish Poop for Zoanthids than Feeding Coral Foods.
Do reseach on all Zoanthids as they are all Different in terms of Light and Flow (Some are found getting blasted by the sun in 2 inch puddles while others are collected hundreds of feet down).