Zoanthid Questions

[Sprockett]

I've got a little green Zoanthid in my Nano, he was the first thing I added after the cleaner crew. When I got him he was not attached to anything at all, so I found a little spot on the LR and put him there. But he's never attached to anything, from time to time one of the snails or fish will knock him loose and he'll end up in the sand, which would be fine except the pistol shrimp will then bury him

So I've had him about 5 weeks now, and I'm really tired of retrieveing him from the floor of the tank to save him from the Pistol, Is there a way to help them attach to a rock or something?? I just want to get him secure so he doesn't float and get clobbered..

Also he's shed little polyps from time to time, since I'm a newb I'm assuming those are frags, what do I do with them to help them grow or is this a bad sign??

Thanks

[chemisfun11]

If you have a shallow plastic dish and some spare rubble to place inside of it zoos and leathers will attach to rock on their own within about 4 weeks. If you need faster results try super glue gel. Check out www.GARF.org for more info.

Not sure about the polyp shedding, sounds a bit odd if its a single button. Most people refer to zoo polyp frags in numbers. Check out www.zoaid.com for some cool pics.

[whalloper]

yeah, seriously, ive super-glued (gel) just about all my different kinds of zoos when Ive gotten tired of them blowing around my tank. They have been fine - some say not to do it, but it works for me. Just a little and that keeps them in place until they attach themselves!

[ahill3780]

Place him on a small piece of rock that you want him to attach to and set it in the sandbed and cover it with a strawberry basket or something similar so that nosey critters can't get to it. Weight the basket down with another piece of rock to secure it. After a few weeks when he's good and attached to the rock fragment you can place him wherever you want him in the tank.

Also, you could use one of those little breeder net traps that hang on the inside of the tank and put the piece of rock with the Zoa on it in there - so long as it isn't directly under a halide light.

IF you want him on a bigger piece of rock you'll have to trim the little plastic cover basket to contour to the surrounding rock to keep the clumsy cleanup crew out of the way.

I had a little Zoa that wouldn't attach to anything and kept getting knocked down into my rockwork by my hermit crew until I thought he was well and truely gone. Then when I moved the rock he was in into my office Nano (2 months later) he popped back out onto the sandbed all closed up. I placed him up high on a large piece of rock under a strawberry basket for about two and a half weeks and now he's securely attached to where my turbo snails don't bother him when they graze by.

Have fun

[Sprockett]

Thanks for the info, I found three polyps in the tank that he had dropped, I pulled out all three and with a little gel glue, attached them to a small rock and put them in a safe location. A couple of hours later they all were open and looked good, the big buy I found a little rock, glued him down and put him right in the front of the tank where I could watch him, I don't think he liked being mauled but I'm sure he will be fine.

Other than taking a beating rolling all over the place they all seem no worse for wear...

I told my wife this was like farming 101 for me

Thanks

[mecold]

You did the correct thing. A little super glue gel on the base, and that zoanthid will stay put, and soon will spread. Just a heads up, zoa's that are happy really spread quickly. At first it's fun, untill you notice how space starts to be at a premium. Example of this is that I had a zoa frag of 10 polyps 6 months ago, now it has literally grown to 100+ polyps. Multiply this by about 75 different types of zoas (trust me, you will buy a ton of these addictive animals ) and you can see the potential issue. With an eclipse though, it should be easy to just remove the rock and frag the zoas when they start to take over.