Making sure these are Palys Vs Zoas....

[chazman113]

So I have a little prop tank. Its about a year after I had some little frags delivered in a few "mystery packs" and these colonies below are pretty big now. Thier stalks are large and tall and they look different than the traditional Zoa's I have. I didn't know if they were palys or large zoas. The first one is pretty obvious but the rest are a little ambigous to me. They def all grow much faster than the smaller colonies that are clearly zoas. Bonus points to if you know if certain ones are more "invasive" than others if I was to put them in a display tank or if they have a kewl trade name.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I believe they are all pally's

 

[chazman113]

I believe they are all pally's

I know this is a little subjective, but are all of them probably fast growers / a little invasive assuming I don't want them to take over my tank?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I would only be concerned about the green ones, I think they are called nuclear green's, they grow very fast. The others look safe to me. Its the solid color pally's you need to be careful of, the colorful ones are ok

 

[chazman113]

I would only be concerned about the green ones, I think they are called nuclear green's, they grow very fast. The others look safe to me. Its the solid color pally's you need to be careful of, the colorful ones are ok

Thanks for the insight. Maybe I'll put a few of them on a separate rock on the floor

 

[ReefStable]

So I have a little prop tank. Its about a year after I had some little frags delivered in a few "mystery packs" and these colonies below are pretty big now. Thier stalks are large and tall and they look different than the traditional Zoa's I have. I didn't know if they were palys or large zoas. The first one is pretty obvious but the rest are a little ambigous to me. They def all grow much faster than the smaller colonies that are clearly zoas. Bonus points to if you know if certain ones are more "invasive" than others if I was to put them in a display tank or if they have a kewl trade name.

The first one is absolutely a palythoa, the others look to be zoanthids. Some zoas are known to be larger polyp/stalks, and some of those, like the Gobstoppers, match that. Others, like the Blue Daisys, usually don't grow as long of stalks unless they're reaching for light. I am assuming the light in this tank is relatively low since most of the zoas do seem to be reaching.

As for being invasive, or fast growing, the Green Palythoa are VERY invasive. The others all look like fast growers, except the last one should be a little more moderate.

Hope this helps :)

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I personally have never had palys, but the tanks I have seen that have those green ones grow extremely fast

 

[chazman113]

So I have a little prop tank. Its about a year after I had some little frags delivered in a few "mystery packs" and these colonies below are pretty big now. Thier stalks are large and tall and they look different than the traditional Zoa's I have. I didn't know if they were palys or large zoas. The first one is pretty obvious but the rest are a little ambigous to me. They def all grow much faster than the smaller colonies that are clearly zoas. Bonus points to if you know if certain ones are more "invasive" than others if I was to put them in a display tank or if they have a kewl trade name.

The first one is absolutely a palythoa, the others look to be zoanthids. Some zoas are known to be larger polyp/stalks, and some of those, like the Gobstoppers, match that. Others, like the Blue Daisys, usually don't grow as long of stalks unless they're reaching for light. I am assuming the light in this tank is relatively low since most of the zoas do seem to be reaching.

As for being invasive, or fast growing, the Green Palythoa are VERY invasive. The others all look like fast growers, except the last one should be a little more moderate.

Hope this helps :)

Cool yea I know the distinction is a little vague. Yea I've been through some battles with dinos so having the light low and blackouts have been common. I'm ramping the lights back up. It's a 2*8 tank with 3 nicrew 100w hyper reef 2s on it so it's def on the low end. I actually just raised them a bit too so I'm getting it up to about 130 par. Some of the ones pictured have actually grown a little faster than the green ones... The growth rate of my zoas is all over the place.. for example I have some of the rasta variant and theyve grown the slowest of them all, being the ones I actually want to grow.