How much are these zoas worth

fishgirljockey · Dec 5, 2022

Jeff-Ft-Lauderdale said:
I do too. I'm relatively new to the hobby (less than a year), but this hobby has some really bougie cliques in it.

To me the value is "How much does this make me feel like the ocean? How objectively pretty is it?"

A lot of people seem to assign aesthetic value to the rarity. I've seen some very rare stuff that is ugly AF to me. GSP is still my favorite coral. It is objectively beautiful. Bold colors, and lots of movement. It looks like grass from a fantasy painting. But because it's so common and easy, a lot of people treat it like it's garbage.

Dude you nailed it! GSP is one of my absolute favorite and people treat it like garbage. I think it’s one of the most beautiful corals out there. The way it waves in the flow is amazing. I’m trying to cover the whole back of my background with it. It’s stunning to say the least. No idea why people hate them and give them such a bad rep.

mdb_talon · Dec 5, 2022

fishgirljockey said:
Dude you nailed it! GSP is one of my absolute favorite and people treat it like garbage. I think it’s one of the most beautiful corals out there. The way it waves in the flow is amazing. I’m trying to cover the whole back of my background with it. It’s stunning to say the least. No idea why people hate them and give them such a bad rep.

Because it can be quite invasive. Its not necessarily bad when put in the tank appropriately or if you want a tank covered in it. I think it gets a bad name because its often sold cheaply to people brand new to the hobby (because it is pretty and very durable).... however that leads to many hobbyists 6 months later making a post on a forum like these about "help the GSP has taken over my tank I dont know what to do". Its one of those things the buyer needs to know what they are getting into and ways to isolate it in their tank.

Jeff-Ft-Lauderdale · Dec 5, 2022

mdb_talon said:
Because it can be quite invasive. Its not necessarily bad when put in the tank appropriately or if you want a tank covered in it. I think it gets a bad name because its often sold cheaply to people brand new to the hobby (because it is pretty and very durable).... however that leads to many hobbyists 6 months later making a post on a forum like these about "help the GSP has taken over my tank I dont know what to do". Its one of those things the buyer needs to know what they are getting into and ways to isolate it in their tank.

People kept warning me about how invasive it is. I tried to deliberately grow it on my back glass, and I can't get it to spread. After a year it's still well contained, even though there is nothing to stop it from covering everything. It's not isolated. The main body looks very healthy (better than the GSP I see in my LFS displays). It's just not spreading.

fishgirljockey · Dec 5, 2022

Jeff-Ft-Lauderdale said:
People kept warning me about how invasive it is. I tried to deliberately grow it on my back glass, and I can't get it to spread. After a year it's still well contained, even though there is nothing to stop it from covering everything. It's not isolated. The main body looks very healthy (better than the GSP I see in my LFS displays). It's just not spreading.

That looks great! Cut a few pieces and glue it to the back glass. That’s what I did. It will grow trust me. Just give it time. Use a exacto knife to cut a piece off in the water. Cut maybe 4 pieces and glue them spread out on the glass. It will grow. You won’t kill it either by cutting it. They heal extremely fast and nothing seems to phase them. Do you dose iodine at all? And I dose magnesium 1500. 1300 is still way low. There a famous frag shop that taught me this. Ever since my mageniusm has been at 1500, I am seeing crazy growth in a lot of corals. You can also use a frag rack and place pieces on there until it latches to the glass. One it latches on the glass u can remove the rack. Or even cut a huge huge piece of it and glue on the glass. It comes off like a carpet

Jeff-Ft-Lauderdale · Dec 5, 2022

fishgirljockey said:
That looks great! Cut a few pieces and glue it to the back glass. That’s what I did.

There's actually 3 on the back glass in that picture. I bought new frags and glued them there. They have not grown in 6 months. They didn't die but they're not expanding. Only the main mass is thriving.