Zoas Selection
It’s important to remember that Zoas have a symbiotic relationship with Zooxanthellae, just like other corals, such as Palythoa and Protopalythoa. The later are more inclined to feed mechanically with larger foods verses the small polyp  Zoas that feed through chemical absorption. These Zoas typically settle in shallow waters and receive a high amount of sunlight and UV radiation, most have a propensity for incredible coloration. We all have, or at least know a lucky friend who bought a piece of brown Acropora and had it turned blue in a few months.
Zoas in my experience have acted much the same way, this being the main reason I look close before discounting any brown polyps at the local fish store. In high nutrient conditions and poor lighting the polyps can turn color very quickly to adapt to their environment. Collectors on the reef certainly would not intentionally grab a patch of brown polyps, everyone unanimously agrees color sells. One of my rules of thumb in studying a potential Zoas specimen for acquisition is to look for faint contrast zones, even if they appear to be a similar color. Most of the polyps encountered in nature have contrasting disc components, that is the mouth and the disc may contrast one another or perhaps the tentacles. If you look closely at a specimen that’s color has been muted from the absence of light you still have a shot at identifying the contrast zones. The more zones you can count the more colors regions there are that have the potential to become definable under the proper lighting.
 My most impressive Zoas has 7 color zones, and when I purchased the colony the contrast regions were clear (from close observation) however the Zoas appeared to have a dull orange oral disk, with green tentacles. If you look closely you can see the light green mouth is surrounded by a zone of high contrast that looks to be a deep purple. The first ring on the oral disk is light orange which almost appears to gradient to a darker orange. The disk’s final ring is in purple repeating the contrast zone around the mouth. The tentacles begin in a light muted green the same color as the mouth, and finish in an incredible iridescent green. Such a display of color I find truly incredible. I found this colony locally for $25 dollars; it had about 20 polyps but not near the impressive display that it has evolved to in my system. In about a year, I have traded no less than 5 fragmented plugs of this color morph for many more brilliant colors to expand my collection. You can see more than 25 color morphs of Zoas I Have collected on my web site, under captive propagated species in the coral farm section that lies within captive systems.
Sometimes just as enjoyable as coloring up a specimen is finding a few polyps accidentally, that have come in as hitchhikers on another piece of coral picked up through mail order or from a local fish store. Zoans often come in this way because of the encroaching nature of colonies. The L.F.S usually does not separate them and grow them out, they mostly sell the specimen as it came in. One of my greatest finds was on a piece of “Wood Sponge” or Placospongia. I actually saw a few Zoas on the underside when I was purchasing the specimen but they were closed and I had no idea what to expect. |
