How big are actual polyps?

[wantahealthytank]

I am very new to this hobby, I don't have any corals yet and won't be getting any for a while. But I had thought that I would love to have many Zoas from what I have read and seen. I was able to see another reef tank this weekend which had a few Zoa colonies in it and it suprised me how tiny the actual polyps were. The polyps were 1cm or less probably (just guestimating). From pics I've seen I assumed they were bigger, I know that to get detail alot of the pictures are on microzoom, but from the TOTM a couple of months ago it looked like Zoas would/could be bigger, can someone please post some picks of average sized Zoo's not zoomed in too much, maybe in relation to somthing so I could see.

Thank you! :)

[CodeToad]

It depends on the particular colony. Some tend to be larger than others, some tend to be smaller. It just really depends :)

[rpg]

1cm polyp would be considered LARGE
Look at my avatar, the actual frag is about the half the size and I've seen many smaller sized polyps.

[wantahealthytank]

These are Zoa's in the background on the main page right? They seem to be larger to me, or is it just because there are a ton of them? I am sorry I don't mean to be so ignorant :( .

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-08/totm/index.htm

[Nagel]

1cm would be SMALL, to TINY.

1 INCH may be large.

Avg zoanthid size is like 1/4" to 5/8" inch.

[CrystalAZ]

I agree with Nagel. I'd say most of my zos are just under 1/2", but some are bigger and some are smaller. The largest ones are almost an inch across.

Crystal

[rpg]

Originally posted by Nagel
1cm would be SMALL, to TINY.

1 INCH may be large.

Avg zoanthid size is like 1/4" to 5/8" inch.

How can 1cm be small to tiny when you say, "Avg zoanthid size is like 1/4" to 5/8" inch."

1/4 inch is 0.64cm

[wantahealthytank]

Thank you for your replies. The ones I saw were so tiny that I had to squint to see any color in them, so they were obviously much smaller than 1cm, but I'm glad to know there are larger ones out there because I think they are beautiful and I would love to have some in my tank.

[Nagel]

Originally posted by rpg
How can 1cm be small to tiny when you say, "Avg zoanthid size is like 1/4" to 5/8" inch."

1/4 inch is 0.64cm

Ok, I'm not english, and admit I'm not big on metrics....

1 1/2" - 2" is Large (protopalythoa grandis)

1" is kind of big (palythoa and protopalythoa)

Most average about 1/4 - 5/8 " (zoanthus)

I have seen 'em smaller then 1/4 ", but that's rare...