If you have a heart you'll save these Zoo's

[mng777777]

Now that I have your attention, I just set up a new reef tank and I used 50lbs of live rock that was the base rock in a fellow reefer's coral display, to seed my base rock. Now that the rocks are getting light for the first time, there are all sorts of things popping up. I have what I believe to be a Zoanthid colony. Specifically, it looks like a Palythoa sp. colony from the pics I found here. http://www.wetwebmedia.com/zoanthid.htm all along I just thought it was a dead sponge or something but in the last few days it's starting to change a bit and looks like a grouping of closed Zoo's.

My questions are: 1) Am I correct with my identification on these? 2) Do I need to do something more than take care of my water and feed these to keep them alive? 3) What and how should I feed them? 4) Is there anything I can do to encourage them to open? 5) Does feeding begin only after they open or does feeding encourage them to open?

The entire colony

Close up shots



Please disregard the microbubbles in the shots. I have a new seal ordered for my filter to fix that problem!

Also, check out this green sponge and tell me what you think?

 

[Alexander]

thats a cool looknig sponge. shouldnt have to do anything special with zoanthids. Mine all flourish without effort.

 

[yote]

Looks like you got a pretty good score with your live rock.
Just give em good light and water,and they'll do great for you.
Those sponges are cool.You'll find even more as your tank matures.

 

[JAG107]

You dont need to feed zoos anything. Nice looking sponge!

 

[reeffreak]

1-3)They are palythoas or proto-palythoas.Zoanthids won't react to being fed,palys do.There is no need to feed either but if they are palys,they will accept very small meaty foods.Very small mysis and cyclopeeze,maybe even small seafood base pellets.

4-5)A new cycle tank is pretty stressful.Give them time,hopefully they will all open.I do see some open polyps.Remember they don't need to be fed.If you do feed them,do it sparingly(once a week) and only do when the polyps are open.

 

[sen5241b]

How much light do Zoas need?

 

[mng777777]

I use T5's and have a substantial amount of light to accommodate my plans for corals down the road and I notice that they react to the lights coming on each day so I would guess that they require higher lighting but some of the pro's here are probably better suited to answer definitively...

 

[yote]

I'd say at least moderate lighting.
Heres kinda my rule of thumb,it might be right or it could be totally way out in left field.But I figure that the brighter the colors of the coral,the more light it needs.

 

[Bifferwine]

That's totally correct, Yote. The different species of symbiotic algae that live in the corals have different colors. And the different colored algaes have different light requirements. Which is why SPS corals tend to brown out sometimes too -- the brown algae symbionts take over and the other colors die off.