The Definitive "Hornet" Zoa List

[Hooz]

I have a thing for Hornet zoas. I have a lot of them already but, to celebrate the purchase of a new frag/growout tank, I've decided that I want them ALL!

There are a few main characteristics that make a Hornet a "true Hornet". I think I have most of those already. Now I'm branching out.

@footgal and @intricate_reefer have helped me hone my list, but I'm calling on the R2R hive to help me complete my list. Names are cool, if you have pictures too, that's cooler.

Red Hornets
Blue Hornets
Purple Hornets
Black Hornets
Ktar Black Hornets
Rainbow Hornets
Jawbreaker Hornets
King Jawbreaker Hornets
Frozen Hornets
Murder Hornets
Halloween Hornets
Golden Hornets
Yellow Hornets
UFO Hornets
Orange Hornets
Tiger Hornets?
Green Hornets?
Bumblebee Hornets?

What am I missing? Have you heard of or seen any not on my list?

 

[Dcal]

you should start thinking of a good name for the build thread. Keep this updated on your search for them all

 

[larangcon]

If you’re going to start a thread show us pictures with names to keep us interested Hahaha

 

[Hooz]

Ok. Here are some pictures of some Hornets that I already have to get things going.

From my list, I have: Black, Ktar Black, Red, Purple, Blue, Jawbreaker, King Jawbreaker, Rainbow and Frozen.

Working on Halloween, Orange, Yellow and UFO now, and trying to find some more Murders since my first attempt melted.

 

[blasterman]

Blue/purple Hornets are still my fave. When they take off they grow fast.

I'm just getting away from smaller zoas, although I'm seeing some morphs with bigger size recently.

I've narrowed down their melting habit to unstable nitrate. They are a deeper water zoa and like stable nutrients.

 

[littlebigreef]

Given that naming is arbitrary (and often based on superficial similarities) I’d say your list is pretty good.

In my experience the jaw breaker and king jawbreaker are the same thing. There is also a yellow jawbreaker that bears some similarity to a belladonna.

IMO the Halloween, golden, orange, green murder, and bumblebee are somewhat suspect given they’re ‘newer’ strains. The UFO might just be a rebrand from Cornbred. I have them, I’d argue they’re not very ‘hornet-y.’ Same on the tiger hornets, they’re a neat little zoa but don’t fit nicely into what you’d expect a hornet to look like.

By the same token I’d argue that based on their pattern and temperament emeralds on fire and tree house of horror belong in the hornet family. If you wanna get crazy we could add purple bears too.

As for the blacks you have Ktar and PZ (planet zoa). After that there’s a number of black and yellow strains that I’ve seen offered as ‘either or’ over the years. But, it’s up to you to decide if they’re arbitrary differences or distinguishing characteristics. These are all strains I have now. If folks want to see some of the others I can dig up my external hard drive.

King Jawbreaker/Jaw

Emeralds on fire (secret hornet family member?)

PZ Blacks (from my IG account)

Purple hornets (note the aolid

Red Hornets

Tree house of horror (another misnamed hornet?)

Yellow jackets (strain from 2009- smaller zoa)

CB ufo hornets (not terribly imprssive

Tiger hornets

 

[Hooz]

Given that naming is arbitrary (and often based on superficial similarities) I’d say your list is pretty good.

In my experience the jaw breaker and king jawbreaker are the same thing. There is also a yellow jawbreaker that bears some similarity to a belladonna.

IMO the Halloween, golden, orange, green murder, and bumblebee are somewhat suspect given they’re ‘newer’ strains. The UFO might just be a rebrand from Cornbred. I have them, I’d argue they’re not very ‘hornet-y.’ Same on the tiger hornets, they’re a neat little zoa but don’t fit nicely into what you’d expect a hornet to look like.

By the same token I’d argue that based on their pattern and temperament emeralds on fire and tree house of horror belong in the hornet family. If you wanna get crazy we could add purple bears too.

As for the blacks you have Ktar and PZ (planet zoa). After that there’s a number of black and yellow strains that I’ve seen offered as ‘either or’ over the years. But, it’s up to you to decide if they’re arbitrary differences or distinguishing characteristics. These are all strains I have now. If folks want to see some of the others I can dig up my external hard drive.

King Jawbreaker/Jaw

Emeralds on fire (secret hornet family member?)

PZ Blacks (from my IG account)

Purple hornets (note the aolid

Red Hornets

Tree house of horror (another misnamed hornet?)

Yellow jackets (strain from 2009- smaller zoa)

CB ufo hornets (not terribly imprssive

Tiger hornets

Awesome! This is the kind of feedback I was hoping for!

I started off only getting the "true" Hornets, starting with blue, purple and red. I needed a black one, so I went with Ktar Black because they were more interesting to me.

The problem started when I decided to do my zoa gardens with Ocean's Wonders Frag Stations. They come in 5, 10 and 20 plug configurations. Since I'd already put my Hornets on a 10 plug station, I decided to branch out and fill the whole thing with "Horrnets" (Darn OCD!).

Then came the rainbows, Frozen, regular black, Jawbreaker, king Jawbreaker and Murders.

Then I bought a frag tank, and now it's on!

Seems like some Hornets have come and gone over the years, so I'm having fun tracking them down. I have a local buddy that has 100+ different zoas, so I have a ton of options at my fingertips. I'm just finding that the searching and collecting is fun for me, and the "hornet" thing gives me boundaries to operate in so I don't go too crazy.

I've heard of some old school Bublebee Hornets that are hard to find these days. Sounds like they might just be one of the black variants you were talking about.

I'd be curious to see any pictures and names of anything you have or have seen over the years.

 

[littlebigreef]

It’s good to give yourself guardrails when it comes to zoa collecting... it’s very easy to go whole hog and start trying to collect everything.

There’s def a satisfaction that comes from hunting down and collecting ‘older’ strains. With most stuff there’s a tipping point where once it loses it ‘high end’ status a lot of people (but not all) move on to the next popular strain. This sometimes causes well-traveled strains to become far less readily available- especially if it’s a temperamental strain like most hornets tend to be.

You seem to get the name game so I’ll just caution you that there’s plenty of ‘one offs’ and renamed hornets if you dig around in a Google image search.

I’m attaching a few more images from my IG account of hornet and hornet-like strains I have/had including that black hornet strain.

 

[Falreef]

What defines a “hornet”???

 

[Hooz]

What defines a “hornet”???

This is an example of a "true" Hornet.

You can see that the skirt has alternating colors, one matching the solid "face" color of the zoa, the other matching the thin ring around the mouth.

The solid "face", thin ring, alternating skirt and pattern are what define a "true" Hornet.

The "other Hornets" have some, but not all of those characteristics.

 

[lemonade]

Favorite out of the hornet types

 

[WetPets]

Zoanthids.com normally has murder Hornets. I got a frag from him for grow put its doing great.

 

[Hooz]

Zoanthids.com normally has murder Hornets. I got a frag from him for grow put its doing great.

I got mine from there originally (along with a few others). They never completely opened for me and, in the course of 6-7 weeks, they melted away to nothing. All the others I got in the same shipment are alive and thriving.

They have also doubled their price since the last frag I got.

 

[Hooz]

Took some updated Hornet pictures, so I thought I'd bump the thread and keep it alive. I'm still on the hunt for all the Hornets!

 

[tjohnson3]

you should start thinking of a good name for the build thread. Keep this updated on your search for them all

Gotta call it “the hornet’s nest” of course

 

[Hooz]

FYI - I've seen more than a few people now selling "CB Orange Hornets" which, in fact, are identical to my "Orange Oxides". I did see one person selling "Orange Hornets" that looked distinctly different, but they were even less Hornet-y.

I'm having fun, though, so the search continues!

 

[tjohnson3]

I have a thing for Hornet zoas. I have a lot of them already but, to celebrate the purchase of a new frag/growout tank, I've decided that I want them ALL!

There are a few main characteristics that make a Hornet a "true Hornet". I think I have most of those already. Now I'm branching out.

@footgal and @intricate_reefer have helped me hone my list, but I'm calling on the R2R hive to help me complete my list. Names are cool, if you have pictures too, that's cooler.

Red Hornets
Blue Hornets
Purple Hornets
Black Hornets
Ktar Black Hornets
Rainbow Hornets
Jawbreaker Hornets
King Jawbreaker Hornets
Frozen Hornets
Murder Hornets
Halloween Hornets
Golden Hornets
Yellow Hornets
UFO Hornets
Orange Hornets
Tiger Hornets?
Green Hornets?
Bumblebee Hornets?

What am I missing? Have you heard of or seen any not on my list?

Nuclear clockworks look like hornet fam to me

 

[Hooz]

Took a few Hornet pics with the whites on today, so I thought I'd share.

 

[Hooz]

Bumping this up again. My Hornet Quest has continued, and some interesting developments are coming soon.

 

[Hooz]

Added a few new Hornets. Will update the list and pics soon.