Zoe Garden Combinations

[TateLitts]

Alright y’all. Everyone can read online that contrasting colors on zoas should be placed next to one another in a garden to make their individual colors POP, but what about specific zoa strains? Any particular combination of 2-3 zoas within a garden that has really caught your eye? I’d love to see a picture or fifty of that combo.

I really want to start a zoa garden with some killer zoa contrast / complement placements. I’m currently growing some frags out in the sand before placing them on rock, and a particular image of my Utter Chaos w/ PPE in the background caught my eye. I can envision the chaotic blend of colors of UC next to a sleek, dark PPE for some great pop of color.

Let me see them garden combos (names included)!

 

[tnewell]

I have thought about this too, in the process of making a island an garden, and I’m trying to find a balance... but with such vibrant colors it’s difficult!!

 

[Zoa_Fanatic]

I plan on starting two gardens here soon when I get my garden rocks. I plan to use bam bams/rastas/purple hornets on one. And on the other I’m going with vamps in drag, GB packers, utter chaos, and purple monsters. I’ve got a small garfen going of radioactive dragonseyes and some other I thought were fire and ice but idk what they are. Pics of the garden I have started and the rocks I ordered attached. As well as pics of my Zoa frags atm.

Edit: be careful because some zoa grow SUPER slow. I have two polyps of white zombies I’ve had for months that are just now even opening. My fruit loops by contrast started with 5 heads and are now around 20 in four months.

 

[vsolovyev]

For my Zoa garden I went with just trying to add completely different colored zoas, I think it looks good. Just go with whatever zoas you like.

 

[Mike from TN]

For my Zoa garden I went with just trying to add completely different colored zoas, I think it looks good. Just go with whatever zoas you like.

I did the same thing. I have two separate “gardens” going in my tank. One is filling in a little faster than the other though!

 

[Zoa_Fanatic]

I did the same thing. I have two separate “gardens” going in my tank. One is filling in a little faster than the other though!

Did you plant them mixed like that or did they do that themselves?

 

[blasterman]

Dragaon eyes and Bam Bams.

Tubbs blues and king midas.

 

[Mike from TN]

Did you plant them mixed like that or did they do that themselves?

The large section in the first picture was purchased as a mixed colony with about 35 total polyps of different varieties. They are just growing together that way. The smaller “garden” are just different frags that I mounted close together hoping they do the same thing.

 

[PicassoClown04]

Hi there! Several things need to be taken into consideration when you’re trying to create a zoa garden. Here’s the big 3

1- Growth rate. You don’t want to plant Little Shop of Horror next to a Radioactive dragon eye because the dragon eyes will out grow the LSOH and choke it out. Generally, the more expensive a zoa is per polyp the slower it will grow so use that as kind of a guideline

2- color and pattern. You already mentioned this but color plays a big part in how good a zoa garden looks (assuming it’s healthy). You don’t want to put 2 zoas that are the same shade of green next to each other, instead try using color theory. Yellow and red contrast nice, purple and yellow do too. A big help for people that have trouble with this is to look at sports teams. Each team has two colors that look nice together and contrast well. So if I were to do a zoa garden and I have Gobstoppers (red) then I could look at the Houston Texans and see blue contrasts well and but something like AOI or Tubbs blue there.

Pattern also plays a role in how nice something looks. You don’t want to be boring (no patterns) but you also don’t want to overwhelm your eyes with too much pattern. Instead, try to mix lots of pattern with a little pattern. So if you have Utter Chaos (very bright, patterned zoa) you might want to put something like Blue Hornet, scrambled eggs, or Halle berry next to it because they have less pattern.

3- polyp size and shape. This is definitely not one of the things a lot of people think about when creating a zoa garden but it really makes a big difference! Putting small and larger zoas with normal sized zoas creates a lot of contrast and keeps things interesting! Throwing in some Paly Grandis definitely shakes things up but having tiny zoas like Eagle Eyes creates a great break from zoas that are all the same size. Palys like Beauty and the Beast are also a different shape than your average zoa, some people may not be able to figure out what the difference is but the can tell that they’re different!

So shake it up, have fun! At the end of the day, the only person that has to love your garden is you so make it something you like! Throw those salted agaves next to the magicians, and those Mandarin Oranges by your Utter Chaos, not EVERYTHING has to dramatically contrast! Put some shrooms, rock flower nems, scolys, clove, Xenia, goniopora, whatever into your garden, even more variety and they don’t hurt zoas! Keep it fun, mix it up, there’s not a right or wrong way to do it. Make sure you keep your viewing angle in mind too; will it be viewed from the front, side, from above? Multiple angles? Post some pics when you’re done!

 

[Tired]

I think it can be nice to have a high-pattern and a low-pattern zoa of similar colors together. I had a nice little combination of Solar Eclipse and Utter Chaos next to each other, and I really liked it. Melted all the Chaos with a light change, though.

As far as mixing fast- and slow- growing zoas, they won't hurt each other, right? I know a fast grower can surround a slow grower, but will it actually crowd the slow grower out and get rid of them, or just keep them from spreading any further? I'm assuming that ones which aren't large enough to badly shade others won't do any harm.

 

[PicassoClown04]

I think it can be nice to have a high-pattern and a low-pattern zoa of similar colors together. I had a nice little combination of Solar Eclipse and Utter Chaos next to each other, and I really liked it. Melted all the Chaos with a light change, though.

As far as mixing fast- and slow- growing zoas, they won't hurt each other, right? I know a fast grower can surround a slow grower, but will it actually crowd the slow grower out and get rid of them, or just keep them from spreading any further? I'm assuming that ones which aren't large enough to badly shade others won't do any harm.

The fast grower will kill a slower grower unfortunately. Put scrambled eggs too close to some Pandora’s and I only have about 1/10 of the original scrambled eggs left. The zoas are the same size. Keep the faster one trimmed back and you’ll be okay

 

[Tired]

Huh, that's interesting. What ends up killing the slow grower? Do they just get so overgrown they can't open up and photosynthesize any more?

If I have a fast-growing zoa that I'm not trying to take frags of, can I corral it by just cutting the heads off the polyps at the edges? I'd think that would have it putting its energy into growing the nubs into full polyps again, rather than growing new polyps. Like how people prune plants.

 

[PicassoClown04]

Huh, that's interesting. What ends up killing the slow grower? Do they just get so overgrown they can't open up and photosynthesize any more?

If I have a fast-growing zoa that I'm not trying to take frags of, can I corral it by just cutting the heads off the polyps at the edges? I'd think that would have it putting its energy into growing the nubs into full polyps again, rather than growing new polyps. Like how people prune plants.

Nope, I tried just cutting the polyp. It makes a mess, releases palytoxin, and does absolutely nothing to slow growth. The best way is to have it growing on a tile where you can completely remove a whole bunch of polyps at once.

I think they attack the mat of the zoa next to them? The polyps never shaded each other out, the scrambled eggs just started disappearing