Natural Reproduction
Zoanthids for sale, well itall starts with importing and fragmenting or propafgation. While larvae from sexual reproduction from Zoanthids and Protopalythoa has been found in plankton (Sprung 1997) I have never witnessed it in my tank, nor am I holding my breath. Asexual reproduction does take place however, and basically has been the catalyst of growth in all of the species of zoanthids I propagate. So don't plan on a mass larvae reproduction in yoru system to put these zoanthids up for sale.
With  regards to the Palythoa and Protopalythoa small buds appear at the base of the mature polyps. Asexual reproduction in Zoanthids usually takes place as small polyps grow from the fleshy tissue know as “Coenenchyme”, in some cases where the colony seems to have no where to expand, the new polyps grow more dense throughout the tissue mass. In cases where the Zoanthids plainly has room to spread the maturation process tends to take place along the perimeter. Keeping this in mind you do have the opportunity to control the expansion of the polyps by physical means in the aquaria. In cases where I added a morph to a specific area for color in which I knew grew rapidly I would be careful to how I mounted the coral in the display system. It is best to keep the rock isolated from other rocks so that the polyps stay contained. I would often glue rocks in place with underwater epoxy that would appear to be touching the rest of the rock structure, but in fact were a few inches away.
The key to natural reproduction on the reef or in the reef aquarium is space. All things provided, current, lighting and nutrients the Zoanthids needs room to grow if your objective is to list them for sale.
Keeping this in mind the first and foremost items of importance is placement of your colony in the reef aquarium. Say you have come across a very rare color morph and would like to see these Zoanthids spread over a large section of rock. With a rare blue or pink morph you can fund a small operation for a year by posting the offspring zoanthids for sale on the web at yearend.
The first instinct of most aquarist is to wedge a small piece into a crevice in the rock. In actuality the answer is far from that. Ideally you would first propagate your zoatnhdis colony and spread three to four cuttings onto small plugs (flat disks). Placing these starters in high current and some intense light they should take off in about a month. You can then attach those same four plugs to the rock work via underwater epoxy. Take care not to spread the glue onto the zoanthids coral itself. Providing high current and strong lighting these four patches should cover your rock very quickly, much more so than wedging a cutting into the rock.
These four can then be split in about 60 days so you have 8, repeating the process for 12 months you will have many zoanthids for sale by year end. |
