better strains?? this vs that

[shcrimps]

i’ve heard few people talk about this
i am curious if you guys have had this issue
for context i’ve had a frag of exosphere zoas for 6-7 months now and within that time only gotten one polyp growth and they’re very small
on the contrary other hand other fin whatever you want to say

i picked up another exo frag
but this time the polyps are huge and are growing good (i got 2 baby polyps within a week)

are there such thing as “strains” with coral?
i know there are for some other things that wouldn’t be a good thing to talk about here
i mean they’re both the same zoa so why the vast difference?


i was thinking maybe it could be how there’s like different “quality/grade) corals
how for zoas you have leys say
psychosis, then black orchid, then tasers
which are almost exactly the same zoa just slight variations in pattern

thoughts?

 

[Pizzafam!]

I was curious about this as well but also wondering if placement can make that much of a difference.where yours in the same area?Maybe something as small as a 2-3 inch distance can be the magic recipe where a frag just settles in better ,the light and flow is just perfect? Definitely interested in what others have to share.

 

[shcrimps]

I was curious about this as well but also wondering if placement can make that much of a difference.where yours in the same area?Maybe something as small as a 2-3 inch distance can be the magic recipe where a frag just settles in better ,the light and flow is just perfect? Definitely interested in what others have to share.

i’ve tried different spots
and right now they are actually next to each other just one piece looks great and the other not so much
gonna keep an eye on it
if the other one doesn’t start growing soon ish
i’m probably gonna give it away
the size of it isn’t that big a deal but growth and coloration are to me
especially for this one

 

[Faurek]

The answer is yes and maybe at the same time. We got to a point where a name of coral has multiple strains, I will explain with SPS, for instance the og Pikachu was a microclados and every Pikachu was a microclados, now you have Cytherea and 2 more species, all same color but different species.
With zoa's we only know as zoanthus spp so any zoa that is let's say purple with a green outline will be called a pink diamond. You can have a pink diamond from Indonesia and other from the great barrier, both will behave different.

 

[theswiftduck]

So I have had many different frags of exospheres. In my experience they are really dependent on the par you put them in. Low light you’ll get these slow growing larger in size polyps. High light they’ll get small and grow like weeds when they’re really settled in. It takes time for the polyp to change sizes maybe 6 months and I have noticed during that time their growth is stunted. I have some exospheres in 210 par that I moved from 120 par that have changed size and are much smaller than they were originally. Now thagt they are settled in they are growing like absolute weeds. The frag you got that immediately grew 2 more heads could have come from a higher light tank maybe? Either way congrats IMO exospheres are one of the coolest Zoas out there. They contrast really well with utter chaos if you wanted to make a garden.

 

[VintageReefer]

My exospheres are very fast growers
Grew out this 2x2 tile, and the rack it rests in, from a 4-5 polyp plug. Took less than a year