New shots with the underwater camera:
http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/5594/p1200810.jpg

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/8268/p1200792.jpg

http://img580.imageshack.us/img580/9017/p1200781.jpg

http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/6194/p1200778.jpg

http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/6255/p1200835.jpg

http://img860.imageshack.us/img860/8820/p1200827.jpg

http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/1610/p1200826.jpg

http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/8993/p1200822.jpg

http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/567/p1200821.jpg

http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/5809/p1200820.jpg

Turned the flow off today for some nice actinic shots:
http://img849.imageshack.us/img849/1736/img2044f.jpg

http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/9519/img2041c.jpg

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/9765/img2018yg.jpg

http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/9215/img2014x.jpg

http://img854.imageshack.us/img854/1862/img2007b.jpg

Tiny Captain America Paly :razz:
http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/4897/img2003t.jpg

http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/5283/img2108sf.jpg

http://img37.imageshack.us/img37/5449/img2106c.jpg

http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/7320/img2102j.jpg

http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/6651/img2099p.jpg

http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/6486/img2096r.jpg

http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/3729/img2095a.jpg

http://img535.imageshack.us/img535/8607/img2071ee.jpg

http://img560.imageshack.us/img560/8811/img2067s.jpg

FTS:
http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/8853/img2229u.jpg

More Zoas:
http://img830.imageshack.us/img830/1141/img2121l.jpg

http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/2213/img2116in.jpg

http://img607.imageshack.us/img607/6379/img2061j.jpg

http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/4598/img2057ka.jpg

http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/3114/img2055g.jpg

http://img853.imageshack.us/img853/3853/img2050v.jpg

http://img839.imageshack.us/img839/9427/img2045f.jpg

sweet pics Levi!:biggrin:

Thanks buddy, the actinic spectrum really gives them a nice pop!

Levi... Dude... Those are freakin' insane! Christ, I love your tank and hate it at the same time because I look at my tank and and it looks like crap compared to yours.

What's your secret man?

Hard to say I have had tones of colonies melt on me, Zoantharia as an order tends to be pretty diverse so you need to find the correct light/ flow for each colony.

Couple tips:
-Many zoanthids have horrible track records in captivity, these are usually the sought after ones adding to the frustration. Aquacultured corals just like SPS tend to be a little more resilient so buying cultured is the best way to go.

-Healthy fish food high in HUFA's is key to healthy fish and more importantly healthy fish poop. Studies on Zoantharia nutrition tend to be few and far between but generally identify dissolved organics and bacteria as a large contributors of Nitrogen and Carbon not acquired through photosynthesis. Having a healthy system which can easily turn nutrients into bacteriobiomass works wonders for zoanthids. In addition to the bacteria, fish waste and detritus is routinely captured by species from the families Parazoanthidae and Sphenopidae while Zoanthidae tend to rely more on photosynthetic processes. Identifying the family helps identify what care is required, this unfortunately is not an easy task for beginners.

-Actinics make the florescent pigments in zoas POP, the bluer the spectrum the more "Pop" you get. Of course there is a trade off with growth and color so finding the sweet spot is a tricky ordeal.

-Flow is pivotal, although branded as beginner coral high variable flow mixed with strong lighting is highly beneficial for pretty much all species of Zoantharia.

The biggest tip I can give though is once you put the colony in and find a good spot for it DONT MOVE IT. Everytime a colony moves it has to photoacclimate which can be an easy stressor, in a reef full of infectious microbes stress is the enemy.

Hope that helps buddy!

WOW, those pictures were very inspiring and motivating to cater more to my beloved zoas in my tank at home. I am triing to figure out why one of my colonies at home are not as happy as they once were, while the neighbour zoas are just fine?? Good to hear that others sometimes bang their head on the wall too at times. Thanks to all that posted, i will be following this thread for sure. I will post pics later.
Cheers Ronnie:biggrin:

perhaps being picked on or nipped at...nudis,fish,bristleworms,crabs etc. try moving them to a different spot if its none of the above and see if it helps, unless they are completely grown in in which case youll just have to observe them day and night to see when they open and why they open or close:):)

well mine look pretty bad after posting behind zoaElite lol but heres a few of mine
anyone have a name for these purple ones?
http://www.freewebs.com/eriksnanoreef/DSC_1630.JPG

http://www.freewebs.com/eriksnanoreef/DSC_1625.JPG

http://www.freewebs.com/eriksnanoreef/DSC_1624.JPG

http://www.freewebs.com/eriksnanoreef/DSC_1649.JPG

http://www.freewebs.com/eriksnanoreef/DSC_1658.JPG

Ive got a name for them.......freakin sweet!:wink:....... dont quote me, but try looking for pics of "jokers".......I think that might be what you got.....

well I said it wouldn't happen but i relapsed after seeing these... always wanted them

so now I am setting up a few small islands for zoa's/paly's... i give in too easily

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e6...0/IMG_0262.jpg

once a junkie, always a junkie huh?:lol:

what can i say, im addicted to sps and zoa's. Leathers, mushrooms and lps were just a phase trying to cover up my true problems lol

Ran a quick google search on "jokers" and yes! That Is exactly them! Thank you! I bought a colony of greens just because I saw this tiny purple one with a green skirt on the back of it. So I got it home, fragged the single polyp, and now I have what you see in the pic! One of my favorite zoas that I own for sure.
Now I NEED to get some tubbs blues, but can't find em around me. Ugh

You mean I got one right!?...... Yay!......sometimes you find the sweetest little surprises hitched on to another coral colony..... Nice score!

Man! I'm envious of all these pictures! I wish I could keep zoa's alive, I've had better luck keeping SPS alive. They always seems to melt away after about a month.

I tell people this all the time, I think zoas are every bit as tricky as SPS ......they are collected from a wide range of zones making figuring out light and flow requirements very difficult ..... I wish websites and such wouldn't classify them as an easy beginners coral

I agree 100%. Every colony is different, a lot of success with zoas comes from a lot of trial and error. If they don't seem happy, give them more light, or less light, more flow, or less flow... They can be very picky sometimes but once try are happy, they are awesome to look at!

I thought I was a zoaaholic but I see I have a lot more zoaing to do!
Where do you get all the zoas?

I know this isnt the sale thread or anything, but does anyone have a frag of tubbs blues they wanna sell or trade? I have wanted some for a long time but after seeing them in all these pictures, now I NEED them! haha

Gonna take that as a no! Lol anyway, the girlfriend and I started a 6 gallon nano for just zoas now so bring on the frags! Here are a couple I took last night. Sorry they are just iPhone pics for now
Some pinks (don't know the name)
http://emob1187.photobucket.com/albu...g?t=1314379300
Anyone know the name of these? Green with purple
http://emob1187.photobucket.com/albu...g?t=1314379343
http://emob1187.photobucket.com/albu...g?t=1314379336
One of my favs!
http://emob1187.photobucket.com/albu...g?t=1314379327
http://emob1187.photobucket.com/albu...g?t=1314379319
And lastly. Name?
http://emob1187.photobucket.com/albu...g?t=1314379312

Am I the only person that doesn't like zoas? They remind men of dandelions.

very niiiiiiiiiice Dawn:wink:........palys of this family/strain/morph have givin me fits.......I cant seem to keep a lunar/ darth maul/ RPE for the life of me.........whats your track record like with them?

Same here, always bad luck so far but these were from a tank where they were thriving so I'm hoping for better luck. I've split it and placed it in a couple areas so we'll see how it goes.

The Nightmares are still going strong and thriving :surprise::biggrin: Love them!
http://i611.photobucket.com/albums/t...x/DSC_0009.jpg
Looky at these sweet ones:mrgreen:
Raspberry Limeades.
http://i611.photobucket.com/albums/t...x/DSC_0005.jpg
Feather Duster with El Grandes
http://i611.photobucket.com/albums/t...x/DSC_0029.jpg
http://i611.photobucket.com/albums/t...DSC_0018-1.jpg
http://i611.photobucket.com/albums/t...DSC_0024-3.jpg
http://i611.photobucket.com/albums/t...x/DSC_0013.jpg
http://i611.photobucket.com/albums/t...x/DSC_0030.jpg

sooooooo how long till you have frags of these available?! haha im jealous. LOVE them
http://i611.photobucket.com/albums/t...x/DSC_0005.jpg

Probably quite some time yet. I just got them and so long as I can keep them alive it's a matter of waiting and seeing how fast they grow.

Picked a few more here and there!! :mrgreen:

http://i944.photobucket.com/albums/a...s/IMG_0598.jpg
http://i944.photobucket.com/albums/a...s/IMG_0596.jpg
http://i944.photobucket.com/albums/a...s/IMG_0597.jpg
http://i944.photobucket.com/albums/a...s/e3cac521.jpg
http://i944.photobucket.com/albums/a...s/7824345d.jpg
http://i944.photobucket.com/albums/a...s/5e1b1ec5.jpg

KICKING THE HABIT!

I am tired of losing zoas. Time to stop spending money on them to see them wither over time, or be eaten by stars.

Booo.

:jaw:HOLY CRAP WES!!!!! I'm super jealous!!!! I bet those Space Monsters set you back a bit!

VERY nice collection! 2 questions for ya. Where do ou get the square frag discs, and how is the egg crate frag rack mounted? Magnets? Again, great collection. Keep it up

http://photoshare.shaw.ca/image/c/6/...01-0.jpg?rev=0

http://photoshare.shaw.ca/image/c/6/...13-0.jpg?rev=0

The square frag discs are tiles cut on a tile saw, I just picked the corals up from a vendor here in the summer so far they have been doing great. http://www.oceanswonders.com/catalog...91/7060211.htm Here is the frag racks they have really good magnets i find

Here I am looking through here like usual.. and wanting my old garden of zoas back... Think I can get away with it.. im thinking I can.. haha..

https://blufiles.storage.live.com/y1...925.JPG?psid=1