Utter Chaos, Red People Eater & Butt Muncher Palythoas: “Paly Pillar”

[Kavorka]

Hello all.

My tank (35 gal waterbox) is about 1.5 months old. Did fishless cycle with both Dr Tim’s. After the ammonia/nitrites read 0 I did a large water change then added fritz turbo start before I stated adding fish and corals.

First, I Made a Zoa island about size of a softball with radioactive dragon eyes, pinwheels, scrambled eggs, and unknown small neon orange Zoas. i read they spread alot and wanted to keep them contained.

second, wife wanted bigger flowers and I saw some utter chaos Paly at LFS and loved ‘em. Decided to dedicate one of the “pillars“ holding an arch as the “Paly pillar”. (Pillar about 8.5 inch high and roughly 4 inch wide)

I placed the utter chaos at top with red people eater below and buttmuncher at bottom left. (pics below)

the chaos and people eater on same size disc. Buttmuncher disk is larger.

My aim is that these fully cover the pillar providing that nice orange, red, and yellow. Looking for roughly an equal amount of each (but love the chaos the most lol)


QUESTIONS:

1) have I left enough space betweeen for future growth.
2) should I reposition the larger butmunchers frag? Might be able to move it further to side of pillar.
3) will these Palys play nice together once they grow to touch?
4) do these types of palys grow at same rate.
5) if one starts to outgrow others, is there a way to remove some perimeter polyps to keep are open for other palysto eventually grow in?


thanks all. His is my first tank and first group of corals so I am a newb here trying to avoid huge mistakes.

cheers

 

[encrustingacro]

Those are all actually Zoanthus, not Palythoa.

 

[Kavorka]

Those are all actually Zoanthus, not Palythoa.

Oh….

guy at LFS said they were palys. He Said that palys are bigger and have a visible mouth in middle compared to Zoa.

looking online I see some sites say the chaos and people eaters are palys and some as Zoa.

oh well…..first time reefer so this won’t be my first mistake/confusion.


regardless of what they are, do you have any help for the questions in my first post ??

 

[encrustingacro]

Oh….

guy at LFS said they were palys. He Said that palys are bigger and have a visible mouth in middle compared to Zoa.

looking online I see some sites say the chaos and people eaters are palys and some as Zoa.

oh well…..first time reefer so this won’t be my first mistake/confusion.


regardless of what they are, do you have any help for the questions in my first post ??

What your LFS said was wrong. True Palythoa have a rough mesoglea, due to incorporating sediment into its flesh, and can have capitulary ridges, while Zoanthus have a smooth mesoglea and no capitulary ridges. Zoanthus also have thicker tentacles.

1) Yeah, you have left enough space for future growth
2) I would leave that coral where it is.
3) Generally, Zoanthus (and Palythoa) are not agressive, so yes, they can touch once they grow into each other.
4) Depends on the species, but keep in mind that Zoanthus can grow pretty fast
5) I honestly don’t know, but I would guess take the rock out of the tank and use a razor blade and tweezers to pull the Zoa off the rock.

 

[Kavorka]

What your LFS said was wrong. True Palythoa have a rough mesoglea, due to incorporating sediment into its flesh, and can have capitulary ridges, while Zoanthus have a smooth mesoglea and no capitulary ridges. Zoanthus also have thicker tentacles.

1) Yeah, you have left enough space for future growth
2) I would leave that coral where it is.
3) Generally, Zoanthus (and Palythoa) are not agressive, so yes, they can touch once they grow into each other.
4) Depends on the species, but keep in mind that Zoanthus can grow pretty fast
5) I honestly don’t know, but I would guess take the rock out of the tank and use a razor blade and tweezers to pull the Zoa off the rock.

Thanks for clarification. …now to google so I can research what a “mesoglea” lol

cheers.

 

[freepizza80]

I think these corals are too close to each other. One of these will eventually take over and I am betting it's gonna be RPE. It will take time, maybe over a year but it will happen. Give at least 8 inches of space between frags for future growth.

 

[Kavorka]

I think these corals are too close to each other. One of these will eventually take over and I am betting it's gonna be RPE. It will take time, maybe over a year but it will happen. Give at least 8 inches of space between frags for future growth.

Once they push up to another Zoa will they just stop growing in that direction or do they compete/fight each other.