What's up with all these named zoas?

[euphoricgear]

Hi, joining the reefing community again and slowly getting my collection back up.
I've noticed that in a lot of forums, people are selling all these "named" zoas but I don't see
a lot of them on zoaid.com that's where I usually get the names of zoas that I don't know the names of
and what they look like.

Where do they get their names from, did they just invent it and hope that people would buy it cause they're named or is there another website with pictures and names on them?

 

[secretreefer]

i think the ones ID'd in coralpedia people will sell and name them accordingly. For those who have zoas that aren't registered they will name because it's easier to say "Mr boombastic PE" than try to describe the zoa by pattern and color. In my experience it's easier for the buyer and seller. It's time consuming for the seller to describe the zoa to everyone who PM's them. Of course some will just name for hype and blast corals with actinics like deer in headlights for profit. that's why i like to only take 14k halide pics when i sell stuff.

 

[euphoricgear]

True, but wouldn't it sell more if you just use the name or coralpedia?

I've also seen the same morph in coralpedia and then sold somewhere with a different name. I think websites do this so they can have their own "named zoa" and price it whatever they want or is
it that the names in coralpedia trademarked or copyrighted so they can't use it?

 

[Reef Pets]

There are so many different morphs that get imported everyday that its nearly impossible to keep up with them. Coral Pedia is a good reference but then again some of the coral listed on Coral Pedia were named way before they were put on Coral Pedia, and the names were different.
Also, with so many different types of lighting on the market the coral honestly look mush different and can be mistaken. When seeing a zoa under 14K metal halides and then the same zoa is seen under LED's the difference is amazing. For this reason honest mistakes of naming coral take place.

 

[SD Actuary]

Also if it is a similar looking morph to a well known one, you might want to give it a new name to distinguish that it is not that exact well known one already. the benefit of this is to show that you are not abusing a well known named polyp to sell yours for more money if you are not sure its identical

 

[pumarjr]

there is only one real benefit of naming every single new morph or new colony of an existing morph already known, $$$ Greedy people that say, if you want this from me, pay up! Also, if I have a Zoa that is blue with a red skirt, why was that so hard to describe, but they say hey, I have some blue hearts, man they are really rare! lol, $100 a polyp please, what a joke. i'm just fortunate that i can dive and collect my own, I may not have the super crazy names, but hey, they still look nice and all. Zoa's used to be dirt cheap, then someone decided to collect big dollars for the colony, then the person that bought them decided to cut them down and down, and down to maximize their profits until you have the Zoa conundrum we have today. Do not get me wrong, some of the Zoa's out there are quite nice, but cmon, $100 a polyp, people like that are going to destroy the Zoa movement. lol. I understand that everyone is wanting to make money, but using a $5 animal to create 1000% return on your money is insane, no wonder some of these coral shops are short lived, they do not realize that selling things for a cheaper more realistic price would actually increase business and create loyal customers that would recommend their product to the end. Sorry to stand on a soap box and rant, this topic has always rubbed me the wrong way. maybe I should sell some of my Little Poo Bears? umm, even if you have one, it's not from me, it has my name now and I will charge $1,000,000 a polyp. yay!
just kidding, not really tho.

 

[caudill187]

Naming zoas is a great communication tool and important for collectors.....especially since current Zoanthid taxonomy is vague and doesn't do much to describe the appearance and other characteristics of different polyp morphs. Prices are set, normally according to appearance and rarity and with certain color Zoanthid color morphs, demand keeps them high. Most names are consistent with those seen on Coralpedia, although variations on this do occur, as mentioned above.

 

[secretreefer]

+1 agree with G, but i disagree with the high prices.... BUT if you have the hard earned money, who says what you can and cannot do with it? if i had the scrilla i'd be dropping coin on some hot corals too! :xd:

 

[mikezalewski]

I have to say that I can not stand the idea of the named zoas as well but it is the new hotness! there is nothing you or I can do about it. I hate the idea that when selling the zoas that people only look at the names and not really what the coral looks like. I have found that when I have done a few little frag swaps that even the lights make a difference. I had the white lights on to show what the corals will look like in everyones tanks but no one baught anything till I just left on the attnic leds. oh well what can you do? If you want to get a good price for the corals stick a cool name on them and sell them for what ever you can get. I do not fault the seller I fault the buyer because if someone is willing to pay then SELL away!

 

[Gitsoe]

For me the naming is good and bad, Good because it helps out with IDing the polyp fast and it also helps with letting you know where it came from. also it would be impossible to google search red and blue zoa when you can just search spiderman or whatever. Ofcourse vendors do go over the top sometimes but thats what fuels the collecting game I think it's like baseball cards or trading cards they all have names and rarity. I can see where it could suck for some vendors who are trying to sell some frags but since there no names or a name thats connected to a cheap piece No one will buy it.

BTW does anyone know when the last time Zoaid was updated?

 

[organism]

It's an easy way to tell what the names are when you look on zoaid so that you know what you'd like to keep an eye out for. When it's not on zoaid who knows, what I've seen quite a bit of is some guy who colored up a generic polyp, threw his name on it and wants $$$. Like someone said above, the difference in color between 14k halides and LED's is insane, so imo it seems like a lot of "new" zoas and palys these days are very colored up versions of things already named.

 

[larryl]

It seems the name mostly dictates price. A hot name of a new morph can hype it up enough to get top dollar. The craze will go on until people stop paying top dollar.

 

[Gitsoe]

BTW whats the lineage on the Mr. boombastic PE?