Green Star Polyps give you a grassy field. But if you want a flower garden, you need Zoanthids.
Walk into a specialist shop like Macallum Ocean, and you will see racks filled with tiny, colorful buttons. They have crazy names like “Fruit Loops,” “Rastas,” “Utter Chaos,” and “Hornets.”
They look like alien eyes. They come in every color combination imaginable—Neon Orange, Purple, Radioactive Green, and Pink.
Zoanthids are the “Pokemon” of the coral world. You can’t just have one; you have to collect them all.
1. What are “Zoos”?
Zoanthids (or Zoanthus) are colonial soft corals.
They don’t build a hard skeleton. Instead, they grow as individual “polyps” (heads) connected by a fleshy mat.
- The Appeal: They are incredibly easy to keep and grow fast. A “frag” (fragment) with 2 heads can turn into a colony of 50 heads within a year.
2. The “Name Game” (Why Price Varies)
Why does one Zoa cost RM20, and another looking almost the same costs RM150 per head?
It comes down to Rarity and Brand Names.
- Common Zoas: (e.g., “Watermelons” – Green/Pink). Cheap, grow fast.
- Designer Zoas: (e.g., “Stratosphere” or “GMK”). Rare genetics, slow growers, extremely bright patterns.
- Tip: Don’t get tricked by the fancy name. Buy what looks good to your eye. A cheap RM20 colony can look just as stunning as an expensive one once it grows out.
3. Care: They Like it “Dirty”
Zoanthids are forgiving.
- Light: They prefer Low to Medium light. If you blast them with high light, they might close up or melt. Place them on the bottom of the tank first.
- Water: Like GSP, they prefer slightly “dirty” water (detectable Nitrates). If your water is 0.00 clean, they will starve and shrink.
- Flow: Moderate flow is best. You want their skirts (the little hairs on the edge) to wiggle, but not be blown away.
4. The Zoonosis Warning: Palytoxin
I must include this warning. It sounds scary, but you need to know.
Some cousins of the Zoanthid (specifically Palythoa and Protopalythoa) contain Palytoxin.
- The Danger: It is one of the deadliest poisons in nature.
- How people get hurt: Usually by boiling rocks to clean them (vaporizing the poison into the air) or scrubbing them aggressively with open cuts.
- Safety Rule: Never boil live rock. If you are cutting/fragging Zoas, wear gloves and eye protection. Do not rub your eyes.
5. Creating a “Zoa Garden”
The best way to display them is to create a mosaic.
Get a large, flat rock. Glue small fragments of different colored Zoas onto the same rock (e.g., Orange next to Green next to Blue).
As they grow, they will touch each other but (usually) won’t sting each other. They will form a breathtaking carpet of multi-colored flowers.
Bottom Line
Zoanthids are the perfect “next step” after GSP. They are low maintenance, high reward, and fun to hunt for.
Just be careful—checking the LFS every week to see if they have a new “color morph” is a very expensive habit!
