ZOAS

[bubbymac]

I have a small colony of zoas that seem to be shrinking. When i 1st got them they were doing great now it seems like they keep getting smaller and never open up. I have everything else in my tank is doing awesome except for thest. i have them about in the middle of my 29 biocube. My glove polyp is flourishing as is my mushroom. Maybe i have too much waterflow on them.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Or you might be like me, and just don't have any luck with zoanthids! Like you say... everything else I have is doing great. Even my Palythoas. But zoanthids?... any I get - no matter where I put them - have slowly withered away like you describe.

 

[Bige]

I have a biocube and mine flourish. I have them high and in the sand and they do great. Maybe it is something you cant have. I cant keep plate coral. They keep getting eaten. Once it was a peppermint shrimp then a hermit crab.

 

[thincat]

How did you aclimate them. If you got it from a LFS with different lighting from your's you need to move them up slowly so they get used to your lighting setup. They also like a little feeding once an awhile.

 

[bubbymac]

is there a premix food you use?

 

[Bige]

I have never fed mine. What do you feed them?

 

[thincat]

I feed my zoas adult brine shrimp soaked in a multi vitamin. I use Reef plus vitamin supplement by Seachem... You will be amased at how they eat the stuff.

 

[bubbymac]

i dont want so sound stupid but how do you feed them

 

[joy13]

One thing you might want to look for is something like flatworms, zoa pox or a nudibranch. I noticed you had peppermint shrimp on your list of your tank set up, some people have said their peppermint shrimp eat them. I started feeding my peppermint shrimp once I saw them stocking one of my little feather dusters.

 

[thincat]

i dont want so sound stupid but how do you feed them

I use either a turkey baster or a feeding tube I made from a ridged airline and a bulb of an ear irrigator.

 

[joy13]

That is a great idea, no more wet salty armpits at feeding time.

 

[thincat]

Also great when feeding the sharks!