Zoas, bunch of different ones together?

[Jon Fishman]

Long story short, thinking about doing my tank with predominantly zoas and I haven't found an example of what I have in mind, so it got me thinking there may be a reason for that.

So would I be able to grab 25+ various frags/colonies of zoas and just put them near each other and they will grow and fill in until they meet, or will certain varieties of zoas "Sting" or kill off each other? I'm thinking the end goal will be 1,000 (???) plus zoas just covering basically all rocks and some of the bottom.

Also, the tank will be bare-bottom and high flow...... is that an issue for a large zoa garden, or should I go another direction?

I want a vast zoa-landscape with branching things (Like green slimer etc) growing upwards. So, that's the vision, I just don't know if it's achievable.

Do zoas "play nice" with each other, regardless the variety?

 

[Ron Reefman]

Long story short, thinking about doing my tank with predominantly zoas and I haven't found an example of what I have in mind, so it got me thinking there may be a reason for that.

So would I be able to grab 25+ various frags/colonies of zoas and just put them near each other and they will grow and fill in until they meet, or will certain varieties of zoas "Sting" or kill off each other? I'm thinking the end goal will be 1,000 (???) plus zoas just covering basically all rocks and some of the bottom.

Also, the tank will be bare-bottom and high flow...... is that an issue for a large zoa garden, or should I go another direction?

I want a vast zoa-landscape with branching things (Like green slimer etc) growing upwards. So, that's the vision, I just don't know if it's achievable.

Do zoas "play nice" with each other, regardless the variety?

I kind of have what you are considering. My main goal was to find zoas (and a couple of lps & sps) as well as rock flower anemones that fluoresce well under blue leds.

Zoas can go after each other. They're a lot like people. Some neighbors I get along with and we live together in harmony. Other neighbors I have to call the police on because they party too loud at 3am. You asked, "Do zoas "play nice" with each other, regardless the variety?" the answer is yes and no. Some will grow into each other and both do OK. Others will just over run their neighbor and wipe them out. I did my rockscape with lots and lots of smaller rocks so I can pull one out and 'work' on it and put it back in. Or even just replace it with a new rock and a new zoa frag. I also drilled holes in my rock so frag plug stems fit in and in short order they get over grown and disappear. But then I can pull frags out and move then too.

Bare bottom is OK, you may get zoas growing on the glass bottom? I chose to have sand for other critters and then raised the rockscape above the sand on a slope with an egg crate 'platform' on pvc legs. There is a link to my build in the signature below.

High flow shouldn't be an issue for zoas. I think random flow is better than high, but what is random or high is in the eye of the beholder. I have 4 nozzles on my return and 2 small and 1 big wavemaker in my 40g cube.

My tank at 12 months (back in January 2019):