I received a box of rocks today.

Crabby48 · Aug 11, 2020

Raege said:
Now my mind wonders why did original stick in its current Spot? The spot works for it so does a nem have a min requirement that once met says forgetaboutit I ain’t moving no more or just something different between the two that wasn’t quite identical. Fascinating creatures to be certain now to wait for the 2nd to split and see what becomes of a third nem! Your going to need a bigger tank!

Edit Jinx posted and saw your above lol

Mine stayed and filled the rock low in my tank. Always stretched up and long tenticals. The one moved to the highest point between the two lights and stayed flat and bubbly. Only anemone knows why

NY_Caveman said:
In my opinion, the key to making an anemone stay put is having a secure hole or crevice for the foot. This is especially true for BTAs I believe which tend to live on the rockwork. I posted this before and worth repeating. The original sits in the crevice in this rock

When I purchased my live rock back in 2018, I saw this in an invert display tank and I had to have it. I just knew an anemone would never leave the security of that tight hole and it never has.

They do prefer a crevice to bury in and seem to like them to split. Mine would move to areas with bigger holes or more 90 degree angle to split

interesting beast

one day you will come home and this will be your FTS

GBRsouth · Aug 11, 2020

NY_Caveman said:
Right! Having clones side by side was the perfect, unintended experiment.

NY_Caveman said:
In my opinion, the key to making an anemone stay put is having a secure hole or crevice for the foot. This is especially true for BTAs I believe which tend to live on the rockwork. I posted this before and worth repeating. The original sits in the crevice in this rock

When I purchased my live rock back in 2018, I saw this in an invert display tank and I had to have it. I just knew an anemone would never leave the security of that tight hole and it never has.

You have to change your name to Professor Caveman! We're all learning here!

GBRsouth · Aug 11, 2020

Crabby48 said:
one day you will come home and this will be your FTS

Not full tank shot but what he will see when he opens his front door!

NY_Caveman · Aug 11, 2020

GBRsouth said:
Not full tank shot but what he will see when he opens his front door!

Ha! That is absolutely a concern. I also worry about my kids getting too close to the tank.

fishguy242 · Aug 11, 2020

"enablers"huh..upgrade time!

"this big";Facepalm

NY_Caveman · Aug 11, 2020

fishguy242 said:

Now that is a monster. I really need a Kraken tank.

GBRsouth · Aug 11, 2020

NY_Caveman said:
Now that is a monster. I really need a Kraken tank.

Well, you better get a kraken then!

NY_Caveman · Aug 12, 2020

Okay, time to recap my day. To be more accurate, my week. Buckle up. I did something a couple of days ago I thought I would never do. Something that goes against several of the original plans for my tank that I began planning just about 3 years ago. The tank has now been wet for 2 years.

I bought a Zoa pack.

It is a beautiful pack with many excellent color combinations. It ended up with shipping around $15 a plug which I consider a pretty good deal.

First thing is I never thought I would add Zoas to this tank. My plan was always to cover the bottom levels in Acans and Favia. After the crash last year though, I have enjoyed a more natural and lazy approach. Truth is, I have enjoyed the tank more than ever. Simply put, I no longer felt like employing the expense and effort necessary for a tank of LPS and SPS. I get much joy from the anemones and Clownfish. I still wanted color along the bottom and when I saw the pack above offered, it felt like a great way to get this done.

The second thing long time readers may notice is I am abandoning my original color scheme. I always have had cool colored corals and anemones with warm colored fish. I loved the idea, and I loved the look in the best of times. As time has gone on, with the losses I have had, I decided to relax this idea and really boost the overall mix of colors.

The third thing I will note is I have gone to great lengths to avoid having frag plugs in my tank. I do not like the look for MY tank (and I am not judging anyone else’s option). I think I only have one, in the back, under the Cespitularia. With Zoas I will have to keep the plugs. I do not love the look, but Zoas should grow fast enough to cover them.

In the end, my tank needed a boost of color along the bottom and this is a great way to accomplish the task. I am thrilled to receive these corals tomorrow and see them when they open up.

Today in preparation I gave the tank a deep cleaning. Blew off all surfaces with a powerhead and turkey baster and pulled out a lot of hair and bubble algae. Also razored the glass.

Post blow off

Hour later

Felt really good to give the tank some love. Looked great tonight, but the lights were too low for pictures.

I wrap up this verbosity with some shots of tonight’s sunset. We live in a beautiful world.

fishguy242 · Aug 12, 2020

awesome colors both zoas,and sky ,great pics!! as always

just a thought ,nip off stem of plug,if does not fit for you, and of course i am sure you are aware of the palytoxin.

TheWB · Aug 13, 2020

NY_Caveman said:
Okay, time to recap my day. To be more accurate, my week. Buckle up. I did something a couple of days ago I thought I would never do. Something that goes against several of the original plans for my tank that I began planning just about 3 years ago. The tank has now been wet for 2 years.

I bought a Zoa pack.

It is a beautiful pack with many excellent color combinations. It ended up with shipping around $15 a plug which I consider a pretty good deal.

First thing is I never thought I would add Zoas to this tank. My plan was always to cover the bottom levels in Acans and Favia. After the crash last year though, I have enjoyed a more natural and lazy approach. Truth is, I have enjoyed the tank more than ever. Simply put, I no longer felt like employing the expense and effort necessary for a tank of LPS and SPS. I get much joy from the anemones and Clownfish. I still wanted color along the bottom and when I saw the pack above offered, it felt like a great way to get this done.

The second thing long time readers may notice is I am abandoning my original color scheme. I always have had cool colored corals and anemones with warm colored fish. I loved the idea, and I loved the look in the best of times. As time has gone on, with the losses I have had, I decided to relax this idea and really boost the overall mix of colors.

The third thing I will note is I have gone to great lengths to avoid having frag plugs in my tank. I do not like the look for MY tank (and I am not judging anyone else’s option). I think I only have one, in the back, under the Cespitularia. With Zoas I will have to keep the plugs. I do not love the look, but Zoas should grow fast enough to cover them.

In the end, my tank needed a boost of color along the bottom and this is a great way to accomplish the task. I am thrilled to receive these corals tomorrow and see them when they open up.

Today in preparation I gave the tank a deep cleaning. Blew off all surfaces with a powerhead and turkey baster and pulled out a lot of hair and bubble algae. Also razored the glass.

Post blow off

Hour later

Felt really good to give the tank some love. Looked great tonight, but the lights were too low for pictures.

I wrap up this verbosity with some shots of tonight’s sunset. We live in a beautiful world.

Great looking frag pack there Caveman. It’s gonna look great when the bottom is all covered in nice Zoa colonies. I remember your initial sketch ups of where each rock was going to go and what was going to go on them. Funny how things change right?

NY_Caveman · Aug 13, 2020

TheWB said:
I remember your initial sketch ups of where each rock was going to go and what was going to go on them.

Ha! Thanks. I actually did some sketchwork visualizations for these Zoas as well.

I started with the individual pieces over my rockwork looking for placement and combination ideas (along the bottom)

Then once I had a sense of where they would go I simply started looking for the best color combinations using larger images.

This was all done using Google Slides, a free PowerPoint type of application. It really helps me get an idea of what I want and don’t want. I will let them open and get a sense of their true color before glueing anything down. Using the visualizations above will help me from ending up covered in glue trying to decide what the heck I should do.

TheWB · Aug 13, 2020

NY_Caveman said:
Ha! Thanks. I actually did some sketchwork visualizations for these Zoas as well.

I started with the individual pieces over my rockwork looking for placement and combination ideas (along the bottom)

Then once I had a sense of where they would go I simply started looking for the best color combinations using larger images.

This was all done using Google Slides, a free PowerPoint type of application. It really helps me get an idea of what I want and don’t want. I will let them open and get a sense of their true color before glueing anything down. Using the visualizations above will help me from ending up covered in glue trying to decide what the heck I should do.

That’s a solid plan. I just added 7 Zoa frags to my tank and I wasn’t quite so scientific. I drilled holes for the plugs in Stax rock and just popped them in but I didn’t glue yet. If I don’t like the combos they can just be switched around. Figuring out the true colors is unfortunately something we have to do since the pics we see on the seller websites are so oversaturated. Unless it’s a well known Zoa it’s hard to know exactly what you’re getting. Most of mine were pretty true to the picture but the Utter Chaos and Nirvanas both look different than what I was expecting. Neither are bad, just different.