Zoo growth?

[Konadog]

I was just wondering, how do you get your zoos to spread? I have 3 different kinds and they all look very healthy. I just don't ever see them spreading, they are the same as the day I put them in the tank.
My first ones have been in for 8 months, second ones for 6 months, and third ones for just 2 months. I squirt some brine shrimp on them once in a while, other than that, there happy campers.

[Project Reef]

I feel you brother. My zoo's never grow. Well one frag that I got from Ken (Salt Creep) is starting to spread. But every other zooanthid I own hasn't grown, some for over a year now.

Well perhaps they grow, but extremely slowly.

[bookfish]

I have a group of grn/brn. zoos that came in 3 years ago as a hitchhiker on some rock. Since I've separated them from the rock I've been able to see them "sprout" new polyps from between the older polyps. These zoos are colonial so I assume asexual repro for noncolonial forms would be by budding but I don't know for sure. Dr. Ron may know.
-Jim A.
ps. the zoos really started growing fast when I moved them to a tank with a rainfordi goby who spits silt all over the zoos. I think they like lots of particulate feeding.

[Eric Boerner]

Could be several reasons. A colony will get to a certain size and stop growing. Usually about 1' to 2' in size. I have a couple dozen colonies and I have terrific growth from most of them. There's certain types that are really slow, like mostly stemmed versions. Most matting types will spread pretty fast.

The type of rock they sit on also plays a part. If it's really smooth, they'll have a difficult time. Porous seems to work well, but not too holey. The 'verticalness' of the surface they're on also plays a part. They tend to spread faster on a horizontal surface, rather than vertical.

There’s also a fine line between the amounts of light that hits them that generates growth. To really get good growth you need to have them in some pretty decent light. But, bombing them with 1200 gigawatts of halides seems to stunt their growth for some reason.

I have a 24"x15"x18" tank with 220 watts of PC (2 actinic, 2 10K) and a 150-watt Halide at 6500. Most of my colonies are on the base rock.

Although many will deny that 'feeding' them will do anything, I completely refute it. I feed my colonies three times a week and I get some pretty good growth. If I stop feeding, they grow slower. Whatever works for you is what I say. Mashed mysis, zooplankton, saltwater and a touch of Microvert is my Zoo recipe.

Just a couple things to think about.

[barebottoms]

Hi Eric,

What do you think of surrounding the colonies with rubble to encourage growth. I've notice, like you stated that prefer horizontal types of surfaces, that most frags I get tend to stop growing at the edge of the base rock. From my observations from mischievous snails, when the get knocked over, either landing in a different position, or near some rubble, they start to forms small colonies on the new surface.

Where is Logical, he grows new frags like clockwork.

[Phillips]

I used to have the same problem with my zooanthids. They were fine till I upgraded from 4 96 watt PC's to 2 AB 250 watt DE's in an Aquastarlight.

Then they started dying back. My yellow polyps were especially disdainful of the new MH set up.

After reading Steve Tyree's talk on light, coral pigments, zooanthellae and bulbs, I added 2 96 watt blue PC bulbs to supplement the blue part of the light spectrum, and most but not all my zoos started spreading over the rocks like wildfire.

Then my Aquastarlight nearly caught fire, and I replaced it with Sunlight Supply's dual Blue Wave VII ballast and 2 250 watt HQI-DE pendants. My zoos are doing much better, and I haven't even added the blue PC's back yet. The blue wave ballast burns the AB 250 DE's much bluer than the the Aquastarlight, but I don't know for sure if any of this has to do with why my zoos are doing better than they have before.

I have also found that weekly charcoal filtration to eliminate the build up of chemicals my different organisms throw at each other helps my zoos too.

[Diesel Man]

I have found that 2polyps cut from a large group then glued to a rock tend to sprout more polyps in less than a month. But the big chunk of zoos right next to them wont grow in the sand. Wont go up the glass and didnt even move onto a rock next to it touching them. If you want more of them you have to cut them into lots of little colonies then they will grow fast.
Also as a collector of wild zoos I find them on rocks exposed to sun for short times, rocks in the sun all day have less and smaller zoos. Rocks under a tree in shade most of the day are larger and allmost covering the shaded area under the tree also a clue to the like of less light. when I say tree that means a tree hanging over the water:)lol Just a thought. I myself have a 400wt 20k over a 20long so they get lots of light all day. They dont really grow unless I frag them into just a couple polyps. Then poof they go nuts.

[Konadog]

Thanks guys, now I don't feel so bad. I was wondering after hearing about some of the zoos at frag swaps. I just couldn't imagin fraging them, I wouldn't have anything left.

[TS]

Cool! I just found this forum... a dream come true!

I have 12 different colonies right now in my 7G nano tank, and can tell you for a fact that some types just spread faster than others. These orange pinstripe-rimmed ones I got from Logical are growing like mad... meanwhile, some colonies right next to them are hardly spreading at all.

The ones I'm talking about are on the bottom right.

http://www.reefaquariumguide.com/photos/data/545/1734nano1-03mixedzossm-med.jpg

Travis

[Eric Boerner]

Rubble placement next to a colony does work, but IMO takes far longer than cutting 2 to 3 heads and mounting it on a rock. The mat has a harder time making the jump from surface to surface, rather than just spreading on a new rock. Unlike Xenia, where you can actually watch it walk from rock to rock. ;)

[Phillips]

Travis,
What kind of lighting do you have over your 7 gal. nano?