New Zoanthids - opinions

[Playdope]

Maybe it's me but when I look at the photos of the zoos I purchased (they say you get what you see), they aren't as nice as they are in the pictures. Do zoanthids take a while to get back color after a shipment and freshwater dip? Do you think they played with the photos in photoshop or something?

Here are the pictures I saw when I bought them:

And here are pictures of them in the tank now. Tthe small "red" one in the above pic still hasn't opened (seen below).. only like 2 polyps have - and they are neon pink!? I don't see how they could be neon pink, when the above picture is red.

You can also see how the teal/green zoos with the blue dot in the center have larger polyps on the right of the frag and small ones on the left... I would say about 75% of the frag is madeup of the small polyps, and they are too small to really enjoy... so I have those big ones facing out. Will all of the small polyps eventually grow to a larger diameter as well??

Everything has been in the tank since yesterday:

I am also wondering if they look okay, or if there is anything that you want to draw my attention to that I need to take care of?

Here is a colony that I've had in my tank for just over a month... they were advertised as "Tonga zoanthids", and I notice the dark centers seemed to have faded out a bit since I've had them. I read of a fungus they can get, and I wanted to know if it could be that or lighting? Lack of nutrients? Etc..

Thanks for any input

 

[Anonymous]

They look ok..It also depends on what lighting the vendor took the pics of them under? 20K lighting has a different appearance than 14K and so forth for 10k and 6.5k

 

[Marco1]

I agree the lighting has a big effect oh how the pictures turn out. Also the vendors pictures appear to be taken from the top looking down in fairly shallow water where yours are taken through the front glass. The Zoos don't look bad though.

 

[Playdope]

Anyone able to add info about the condition of the orange ones? Like I said, I've noticed some lightening of the dark centers.

I'm also still wondering ... if the teal/green zoos with the blue dot in the center have larger polyps on the right of the frag and small ones on the left... will the small polyps eventually grow to a larger diameter as well??
The small polyps still seem to have crowded together to form that dense beehive look when zoanthids are all growing next to eachother... but then how or will the small ones grow to the same size as the larger polyps? Thanks

 

[Anonymous]

Again, the lightening of the dark centers could be your lighting..If they kept them under higher or lower Wattage and/or run a differnt bulb then you are currently using, this will affect the way they look...They may and probably will lose some of their aesthetic appearance if you are using a weaker source of lighting then the vendor...

if the teal/green zoos with the blue dot in the center have larger polyps on the right of the frag and small ones on the left... will the small polyps eventually grow to a larger diameter as well??
The small polyps still seem to have crowded together to form that dense beehive look when zoanthids are all growing next to eachother... but then how or will the small ones grow to the same size as the larger polyps? Thanks

That appears to be the case..the ones seem larger on the left then the right, however they can[smaller polpys] can grow to that larger size too..Those on the right may have been around longer and the left the newer growth of polyps...In any case, they'll do fine..Zoo's are pretty hardy...

 

[bradl.]

Those are sharp,Im sure you spend some bucks on those.Could you tell us how much and where you got them.Include the shipping price.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm also still wondering ... if the teal/green zoos with the blue dot in the center have larger polyps on the right of the frag and small ones on the left... will the small polyps eventually grow to a larger diameter as well??
The small polyps still seem to have crowded together to form that dense beehive look when zoanthids are all growing next to eachother... but then how or will the small ones grow to the same size as the larger polyps? Thanks

I've purchased zoo colonies that have taken hold and grown right to the main LR. They start out a little smaller but eventually grow to the same size as the rest of the colony.

Nice looking zoos!!

 

[Anonymous]

the second pic you posted sounds like it was taken under some 14K or 20K bulb. the center of each polyp should be white!

look at mines:

those zoanthus are in my 12G under a 150W 20K HQI bulb.
when i turn the HQI off, the center is white and and the pit orange!

it is very easy to make things look different or more colorfull than what they really are.

just my 2 cts


antoine

dp

 

[Anonymous]

also, your third picture is quite "saturated" in the reds !

one can tell :wink:

 

[dizzy]

How long did you freshwater dip them? It is posssible you stressed the red zoos, because they don't look like they are doing well at all. Sometimes when they fail to open, they get covered in fungus. You might try moving them to a place in the tank with more current.

 

[Playdope]

Yeh, I'd really like some 20k halides or 14k's. Right now I've got an 8 bulb t5 setup, which should be plenty of light for most of what i'd like to keep. The bulb config I currently have was suiting my taste, but i guess zoanthids really need halides to fully show their flourescence. I'm not sure. Maybe I'll try adding another actinic 03 bulb instread of a blue plus.

I did a 4-5 min FW dip for all of the zoo colonies. Someone else I know who got the reds said they took about 3 days to open. Well.. its day 3, so we'll see. I'll move them to a lower lit area for now though.

After reading about zoanthids getting fungus, I'm wondering if some of these zoo's have it. Here are some pictures.. maybe you can tell me if it is:

It looks like some of the closed polyps are white/grey, where as the ones that are opening regularly are pink. Does this mean they are dead? Fungus? Or?

Here are a few more pics of the baby blues and the greens:

How do you think the orange ones look above (the ones that have been in the tank for a month or so)?

 

[melas]

tank glass, especially on lager tanks, filters out much of the blue spectrum in light. If you ever look at a clam from the side of the tank and then from above you will see a drastic change in the "appearance" of the clam. also the images were touched up - below is a sample of your image after 30 seconds of photoshop. . .get the point?

 

[Unarce]

also, your third picture is quite "saturated" in the reds !

one can tell :wink:

Oh, I see. What should be white, isn't white (eggcrate).

Photo-enhancing scum! :x :lol:

 

[dizzy]

tank glass, especially on lager tanks, filters out much of the blue spectrum in light. If you ever look at a clam from the side of the tank and then from above you will see a drastic change in the "appearance" of the clam. also the images were touched up - below is a sample of your image after 30 seconds of photoshop. . .get the point?

If that is true then why is there no color change when you hold a piece of glass above the tank and look through it? Also why do clams look different in acrylic tanks when viewed from above verus through the side?

 

[melas]

water bends light. glass removes certain wavelengths of light. look it up. when you look at the tank from above you are getting more light reflected to your eye than when you view it from the side. also if you look at the glass on your tank from the side(look into the end of the glass) you will see that it is green.

 

[melas]

here is an image describing what happens to light as it passes through glass at any angle greater than 45 degrees

as you can see not all light escapes. the same would be true for acrylic although its refractive index is much closer to that of air. the higher the angle of the light the more light is reflected back into the glass itself. . .

now from keeping and breeding reptiles for over 15 years i know that glass filters out a great deal of UVA & UVB light. Ultra violet light is a short wavelenght light at the "bluer" end of the light spectrum. much of this unable to pass through glass or is simply reflected internally inside of glass

 

[Anonymous]

Oh, I see. What should be white, isn't white (eggcrate).

Photo-enhancing scum! :x :lol:

well, open PS CS or any other version, and do a Alt+U
then play with the red staruration cursor ... and see what it could look like!

this eggcrate is definitely not white as it "should" be


antoine

dp

 

[K9coral]

Change your bulbs or get a better lense. I have zoos in my tank that look AWESOME until you photo them and also plain zoos that look crappy until you put a good lense on the digital then snap a pic. Too many variables.[/img]

 

[Playdope]

I was thinking about trying to swap out an actinic 03 bulb for a blue plus, but i dont know if i wanna lessen the ammount of usable light.

 

[EmilyB]

FW dip ? 8O

Jon, are you anal or what? :lol: