2 zoas in need of ID

[Stephen8169301]

1:

2:

 

[ladders]

the first ones look like fruit loops

 

[littlebigreef]

First is a blue eyed blonde. Second one is sort of grainy so hard to say, likely a fire and ice variety but perhaps a darkened utter chaos?

 

[Stephen8169301]

First is a blue eyed blonde. Second one is sort of grainy so hard to say, likely a fire and ice variety but perhaps a darkened utter chaos?

maybe I’ll try an orange filet on second one it’s pretty dark In person

 

[Stephen8169301]

First is a blue eyed blonde. Second one is sort of grainy so hard to say, likely a fire and ice variety but perhaps a darkened utter chaos?

Awesome definitely that! I’ll see if I can get a better photo it’s a dark Zoa in general

 

[Legendary Corals]

First is a blue eyed blonde. Second one is sort of grainy so hard to say, likely a fire and ice variety but perhaps a darkened utter chaos?

I would agree and say @littlebigreef 's ID is spot on! 2nd one looks to be the speckled variety of Fire and Ice like this picture:

 

[Stephen8169301]

I would agree and say @littlebigreef 's ID is spot on! 2nd one looks to be the speckled variety of Fire and Ice like this picture:

Wow beautiful!

 

[Stephen8169301]

Last one I think

Nirvana?​

 

[Legendary Corals]

Last one I think

Nirvana?​

Nirvanas have yellow in their centers, but they do look similar.

I'm sure there are multiple names for the ones in your photo, but I have been selling them as LC Space Haze for the past few years now. They grow very well and keep their colors better under higher lighting. If you want bigger polyps, give them less light (they can get as big as a dime but will be a bit more drab).

 

[littlebigreef]

For the second one, bear in mind there's lots of fire and ice varieties. Some lack the blue and might have brown, creme or orange markings. Given how common they are I don't know I'm not certain you'll find a more specific widely-recognized ID.

Your third one is interesting, not a nirvana as it lacks they yellow center. Looks more like a strawberry wine or something along those lines.

 

[Stephen8169301]

Nirvanas have yellow in their centers, but they do look similar.

I'm sure there are multiple names for the ones in your photo, but I have been selling them as LC Space Haze for the past few years now. They grow very well and keep their colors better under higher lighting. If you want bigger polyps, give them less light (they can get as big as a dime but will be a bit more drab).

Remind me to shop your web wow stunning zoas

 

[Stephen8169301]

For the second one, bear in mind there's lots of fire and ice varieties. Some lack the blue and might have brown, creme or orange markings. Given how common they are I don't know I'm not certain you'll find a more specific widely-recognized ID.

Your third one is interesting, not a nirvana as it lacks they yellow center. Looks more like a strawberry wine or something along those lines.

Yeah maybe over time that one will change as it gets new polyps we will see as for that other one okay I see what your saying and it very well could be strawberry wine I did get them up north from a reefer buddy and a coral shop in NY sells them near him

 

[Stephen8169301]

Just did some google searching with the names mentioned above it’s a space monster Zoa

 

[Legendary Corals]

Just did some google searching with the names mentioned above it’s a space monster Zoa

Very close!

World Wide Corals calls something similar WWC Space Monsters, but they seem more pink than a hazy purple. But they could be them if they color up more pink.

As for the name Space Monsters, it's a bit confusing because there was an original Space Monster introduced by Steve Tyree/ Gonzo's Corals.

There is even an old thread about it:

Tyree space monster

Like the title says. Anyone still have these sexy zoas? All I see now are the WWC which is half as good as the tyree. Let see some pics. Thanks

www.reef2reef.com

The original Tyree Space Monsters, photo from @joshporksandwich

Photo from @broach in the thread

Here is World Wide Coral's Space Monster:

Strawberry Wine Zoanthids are almost ruby in the center have extremely fine speckling. I would recommend @CherryCorals for a frag, as they still have the original strain.

This is an example of why trade names are used in this hobby, but ultimately a photo is worth more than any label. All of these Zoanthids have a pink-purple center, sorta glittery, with green skirts. But all 3 are different.

And then there are Rose Nebulas, which have a more splashy/ blotches pattern.

I hope this information comes across as helpful. Knowing the names of all of these popular strains gets a little confusing, especially when they are misidentified and passed around with a new/different name.

 

[Stephen8169301]

Very close!

World Wide Corals calls something similar WWC Space Monsters, but they seem more pink than a hazy purple. But they could be them if they color up more pink.

As for the name Space Monsters, it's a bit confusing because there was an original Space Monster introduced by Steve Tyree/ Gonzo's Corals.

There is even an old thread about it:

Tyree space monster

Like the title says. Anyone still have these sexy zoas? All I see now are the WWC which is half as good as the tyree. Let see some pics. Thanks

www.reef2reef.com

The original Tyree Space Monsters, photo from @joshporksandwich

Photo from @broach in the thread

Here is World Wide Coral's Space Monster:

I’d say this is the closest to the one I got

Strawberry Wine Zoanthids are almost ruby in the center have extremely fine speckling. I would recommend @CherryCorals for a frag, as they still have the original strain.

This is an example of why trade names are used in this hobby, but ultimately a photo is worth more than any label.

All of these Zoanthids have a pink-purple center, sorta glittery, with green skirts. But all 3 are different.

And then there are Rose Nebulas, which have a more splashy/ blotches pattern.

I hope this information comes across as helpful. Knowing the names of all of these popular strains gets a little confusing,

Yes this helps a lot thank you!

especially when they are misidentified and passed around with a new/different name.

Yeah this is why I like to try and get as close as I can get to knowing the names before putting up online

Do you think with all the difference in the lighting each person uses why everything varies from Zoa to Zoa and that’s how these designer zoas start?

 

[Stephen8169301]

Better photo of the other one

 

[Legendary Corals]

Your first Zoanthids is definitely Blondies, named by a reefer called @wishentobeoutside

I’d say this is the closest to the one I got


Yes this helps a lot thank you!

Yeah this is why I like to try and get as close as I can get to knowing the names before putting up online

Do you think with all the difference in the lighting each person uses why everything varies from Zoa to Zoa and that’s how these designer zoas start?

I'm glad it helped!

This is just my opinion and understanding of coral names after doing it for 10+ years:

Corals receiving names are mostly for people who are looking to buy/sell. It's a product name to help the buyer and seller understand what is being bought. It's like how Chelmon Rostratus is commonly known to American hobbyists as the Copperband Butterflyfish instead of the "white and orange banded flat looking fish with a long mouth." It also goes by the common name "Beaked Coral Fish" in some parts, so its common name varies depending on what is more popular regionally. At the Cairns Aquarium in Australia, I probably looked pretty dumb calling it a Copperband Butterflyfish next to the person who worked there who informed the crowd it was indeed some other common name.

Likewise, people who sell (such as myself) assign names to pretty much all of our corals so when a fellow reefer is looking to buy something specific you can simply say "I'd like a frag of your Dragon Eye Zoanthids" instead of "I want the green ones." What if the seller grows a couple of different green ones? Then you'd have to have more back-and-forth conversations to understand what is wanted. Or someone else says "Hey, I have a frag of green Zoanthids. I'll sell them to you" and you think you're getting Dragon Eyes but instead get Green People Eaters. They weren't lying when they said they had green zoanthids.

Trade names help when looking for something specific. It's also why not every Zoanthid has a common trade name yet because for it to be "common" enough hobbyists will have known about it.

As to how Zoanthid names keep changing for the same piece, it is sometimes due to just a Mis-ID.

This is also how some corals end up changing names from their original given ones. Like the above example with Space Monsters, most modern hobbyists have not run into the originally named Space Monsters. The original ones used to be everywhere, but for some reason are now almost all gone.

Whoever at World Wide Corals that named their Zoanthid "Space Monsters" probably thought it was the same piece since the colors looked the same. World Wide Corals are experts at growing corals and their ability to aquaculture corals is leagues beyond what many people can do. This means they have a much larger reach to customers as well. So everyone who has this Zoanthid knows and calls it WWC Space Monsters because it's what they purchased it as. And it's become the accepted name since it's the majority and no one can even find the originals.

This also happened to their Blondies. World Wide Corals call these Blondies, most likely because the person who decided to try and ID it thought they were the same. If you don't look for the small details, you would think they're the same. But they are much smaller, have different body shapes, and have speckling on their body. This is actually Speckled Fire and Ice from Exotic Frags/Whodah.

Here is World Wide Corals Blondies

And here are the original Blondies, fully known as Blue Eyed Blonde B!tch3s (not a family-friendly name that forums will blur out, so people called them Blondies).

This also happened to Omega Mauls, which was a very niche coral that only a handful of people were able to grow. Jason Fox was able to grow them amazingly and offer way more frags than other people. Named them @s$cracks (not a family-friendly name) and that's what they're called now because his reach was much larger than anyone else with that coral at the time.

And then there's the whole ordeal of lineage that complicated things. I'll pick on myself on this one.

There is an old school Micromussa in the hobby known Cj's Pink Eye that looks like this:

Picture from Cherry Corals

And I got a wild colony last year as this, called it Cotton Candy Massacre, because it wasn't the same lineage which I respected. If I called it CJ's Pink Eye it's actually not the same because it didn't come from CJ. But maybe I could call it "LC Pink Eye." But then sometimes people drop the "LC" lineage portion and then the frags I sell from here people might just call "Pink Eye," like the Zoanthids above.

And for some corals being renamed, mostly by vendors, it's for branding purposes. It seems more attractive to be consistent that a store sells its own "signature" everything and that its items are unique to them. And since corals are actually no one's product, you can do whatever you like to make things seem more exclusive. It happens all the time and also proof that names are simply product labels.

A little bit of a long reply, but I hope my perspective on names in this hobby gives some information for you!

I'm slowly working on my own Zoanthid ID page to help out on things like this, as I feel the other ID sites are community-based meaning mis-ID can happen often. It's chugging along slowly and I am trying my best to only include what are true hobby names.

If you have any advice on what I should do or improve on as someone who is looking for IDs, it would be greatly appreciated.

ZOA ID ENCYCLOPEDIA | Legendary Corals

A place to view and learn all of the different Zoanthid IDs.

www.legendary-corals.com

 

[Stephen8169301]

@Legendary Corals wow makes complete sense very well written! I will be checking out that Id page for sure and your website to make my first online coral purchase I’ve done fish (which was pretty stressful lol) in a couple weeks thanks for taking the time out of your day to write this to help me!

Much appreciated!

Steve


Definitely saving this one in my notes

 

[littlebigreef]

Do you think with all the difference in the lighting each person uses why everything varies from Zoa to Zoa and that’s how these designer zoas start?

Some zoas, most notably utter chaos, can morph widely. In other cases wild collected stuff can land with different vendors and that's why you have three names ( 1) flaming brohicans, 2) reverse hallucinations 3) sticker shocks) for the exact same strain. In other cases you have names being recycled due to the name recognition, in this way we have the krakatoa name sticking around even though the OG strain is long gone (and likely never to be seen again). Then, finally, you have many strains that are nearly identical save for minor differences. To what end a superficial difference necessitates a new name? That's an unending debate. Fact is we don't need 50 different names for fire and ice... anything more exact is splitting hairs and unlikely to be widely recognized - the real litmus test of a 'named zoa.'

 

[littlebigreef]

Do you think with all the difference in the lighting each person uses why everything varies from Zoa to Zoa and that’s how these designer zoas start?

Some zoas, most notably utter chaos, can morph widely. In other cases wild collected stuff can land with different vendors and that's why you have three names ( 1) flaming brohicans, 2) reverse hallucinations 3) sticker shocks) for the exact same strain. In other cases you have names being recycled due to the name recognition, in this way we have the krakatoa name sticking around even though the OG strain is long gone (and likely never to be seen again). Then, finally, you have many strains that are nearly identical save for minor differences. To what end a superficial difference necessitates a new name? That's an unending debate. Fact is we don't need 50 different names for fire and ice... anything more exact is splitting hairs and unlikely to be widely recognized - the real litmus test of a 'named zoa.'