Seeding Zoas

[Red_Beard]

Just musing out loud and wondering if i am not alone. Has anyone ever tried to 'seed' their scape with zoas? I mean, you can stick the whole plug on the rock and be done with it, but if you are patient, you can do it without glue or plug stuck to the rock.
I have found (mostly through apathy) that if you let your fancy new zoa plug sit on the rack until it fills the whole disk, then temporarily stick it on the rocks, that it will send out runners and colonize the rock next to it. Then you just pop the plug up leaving 3 or so heads firmly attached, rinse repeat. Tons of spread, no plug stuck to the rock and no messy glue.

 

[Amstar]

Something similar

that’s what the rock on the bottom right is. It’s a frag rock that different zoas were put in and then grown out. And then you can pull the plug and put it elsewhere

 

[Red_Beard]

Dang, that is really pretty!

 

[mdpitts]

I'm new to saltwater and didn't know what to do when I bought a few $4.99 zoas from my LFS. They have a tank that they toss little bits and pieces of coral in and the zoas were just 2-3 heads not on any rock or plug. I just stuck them in my tank on the rock work and made sure not to blow them away for a while. A couple have attached and the ones that didn't I recently decided to glue to a frag plug because a new Tuxedo Urchin was parading around with his new Zoa hats. Anyway, I hate it that I glued them down. I tried to be careful and just glue under one head but 2 of them curled into a ball and now have stayed like that. If I could do it all over again I would let them attach on their own. I'm all about free choice.

 

[mdpitts]

Something similar

that’s what the rock on the bottom right is. It’s a frag rock that different zoas were put in and then grown out. And then you can pull the plug and put it elsewhere

WOW!! So awesome. I hope my tank gets there one day.

 

[kevgib67]

There are frag plugs under my zoas but you can no longer see them.

 

[Amstar]

Yea those frag rocks work great for zoas

 

[Borat]

i better seed the tank with aiptasia than zoas..

 

[Grog]

You can just stick a frag plug of zoas on a rock and it will grow over it and attach/encrust. The issue is that until it spreads, attaches, and covers the surface then crabs, snails, fish, your hands, etc. will very likely bump it and knock it off the desired location. (Usually when you are out of town and it sits upside down for days.....)

So, in my experience they need to be wedged in, have some positive contact, or adhesive to prevent inadvertent movement from occurring. It doesn't need to be glue but glue works really well, which is why it is so common.

I do it both ways. If I have a crevasse where I want them, then I wedge the plug in there and let it spread. If I want them on an odd surface, or there isn't a way to keep it in place, then I'll glue the plug down.

They both seem to work.

 

[blecki]

When a zoa colony gets big enough, they will 'seed' the rest of the tank by themselves. I find heads tumbling around on the sand all the time.