zoa frag tank

[berns]

zoanthid obession kicking in my first zoa buys were a couple pink varient zoa colonies, whilst lfs sold that first pink stock the following pinks that arrived there were not all sold and some sat there loosing colour (colour fading/going mauve) not looking wat they were i took this oppotunity to grab another colony each week for my new venture to nurse back to colour and frag on, as it turned out i actually have 4 varient pink colonies so thats cool too.

so the plan now is to frag and grow small colonies of any zoa's i like/buy for main tank fortunatly i had a space in the kitchin to set up frag tank so heres the plan

http://www.reefcorals.co.uk/forums/imagehosting/99450ef91f04422.jpg

[berns]

tank set up consists of about 15k live rock rubble and a full length spray bar made that runs full length of tank positioned high along back connected to a 1500 ltr powerhead and a 5ft 3x T5 35w luminaire

http://www.reefcorals.co.uk/forums/imagehosting/99450f009c34fa9.jpg

[berns]

i can only say my first efforts at fragging those first 2 pink colonies were a disaster:eek: as i peeled the zoa matting from the rocks to trim for frags but the zoa's decided to unload and squirted their contants which resulted in very poorly zoa frags once they were glued onto cockle shells. most never survived but those that have completely lost all their pink colour:( i dont think placing these frags high in my main tank under 10k 150w halides helped either as they soon turned brown.

the good news is that now they looking better in frag tank as im nursing them back to health.

so the frag tank looks like this at the moment, 2 grids containg frags and a handful of colonies at far end.

http://www.reefcorals.co.uk/forums/imagehosting/99450efc347ed85.jpg

[liquidlogic]

ill be speaking to u in the futre ;) ;)

[berns]

ive now also changed my main tank halide bulbs to 14k which hopefully will be better for zoa health/colour and placed a few not so pink frags on the sand bed (2ft deep) to watch recovery before adding my small colonies.

here is a picture of one of my pukka pinks colourless frags, they were like my aviater picture:(

http://www.reefcorals.co.uk/forums/imagehosting/99450f0620aa8dd.jpg


since my first sweeny todd fragging ive changed my style,
now using a scalpal im actually cutting a slither of rock under the zoa matting before cutting through the top between polyps removing a handful. 2 ways this helps are firstly there is virtually no stress placed on polyps so they not squirt and secondly im actually glueing rock to shell so theres no reaction (burning) from the glue by the polyps :D

[berns]

ill be speaking to u in the futre ;) ;)

no worries liquid as ill have many pink varient frags for swap/sale once they all looking tip top bright and healthy, ill be posting all future avaliable frags here first;)

[Harrison]

Interesting little project you’ve got there Berns (I’m trying to grow mine out in my sump).

Nice article here in respect of Zoa fragging if you haven’t already seen it.

http://www.zoaid.com/articles003.php

One point it makes reference to is trying to separate a thin layer of rock from where the colony is rather than just trying to remove the polyps/mat.

Good luck.

Cheers

Matthew

[berns]

cheers harrison, thats how i do frags now, comment below my last added picture:D

a sump good place as any to store/grow frags, wats residing in yours?

[eskimoigloo]

Ok, that looks interesting, but how do you do it for Zoas that don't have a mat, and the polyps are direct onto the rock, is that just a cut the rock job or is there something else you can do?

Chris.

[berns]

same as really, cut slither of rock under each polyp, i have a couple of zoa colonies where polyps have seperate attachment points on the rock but as they close together can still cut slither of rock under a few at a time:D
live rock is really soft and its quite easy once you get the hang of it to remove a 3mm thick slither of rock.

[Harrison]

Sorry Berns didn't see that last comment, have you seen any improvement since changing your techniques?

My Zoa fragging has gone on hold since I discovered Zoa eating spiders were demolishing most of my colonies. Got 20 – 30 different colours variants current favorities include Purple People Eaters, Fire & Ice, Sunflowers & Lunar Eclipse gonna be a while till I can start trading as I’m having to fresh water dip once a week to get rid of the sipders.

Cheers

Matthew

[berns]

Sorry Berns didn't see that last comment, have you seen any improvement since changing your techniques?

My Zoa fragging has gone on hold since I discovered Zoa eating spiders were demolishing most of my colonies. Got 20 – 30 different colours variants current favorities include Purple People Eaters, Fire & Ice, Sunflowers & Lunar Eclipse gonna be a while till I can start trading as I’m having to fresh water dip once a week to get rid of the sipders.

Cheers

Matthew

hi mat, yea new technique had a 100% polyp survival on about 30 frags mix of bubblegum pinks/sweet pinks

i add lugol's to my dipping but will also get some flat worm exit aswell soon as dipping tips recommend adding that the ro water mix.

you have some cool zoa's maybe when you ready we can do some swaps:) i just starting collecting but do have about 10 different, ive 4x pink varities in stages of colouring up/healing -
pukka pinks (as avater),
sweet pinks,
bubblegum pinks,
blue eyed girl (my fav but most poorly after my sweeny todd activaties:( )

also have
dragon eye (few polyps)
radioactive dragon eye
orange bam bam (few)
toxic (not avengers)
kiwi stars
guava green palys

a few of these but no name found yet crap piccy i know, just using dodgy digi - cream peach center,dark orange border, white tips, grey lashes
http://www.reefcorals.co.uk/forums/imagehosting/99451184d3cd49f.jpg

and lots these no name found yet - lime green center,dark blue border, orange lashes.
http://www.reefcorals.co.uk/forums/imagehosting/994511848075155.jpg

[Gillybaby]

Wow, you've got quite a collection already and I'm sure your setup will be a great success. Wished I could get some frags off you but I'm all zoaed out at the moment - my nano's full having taken as many refugees from my main tank as will fit. My emperor angel has realised that zoas taste good and has eaten all the ones I couldn't get out, kinda knew it was bound to happen :(

Oh well, I suppose I will just have to pursuade my b/f to set up another tank so I can get more zoas.

[berns]

when i have some frags ready to go gilly ill show them on here for swaps or sales or if they have to go into livestock for sale section then they'll be there:)

[Harrison]

Some very nice Zoas there Burns, where do you source them from? Have you got a good lfs or is it case of travelling and having a bit of luck?

Definitely be up for frag swap but I wouldn’t hold your breath, it’s going to be a while until most of my colonies will be back up to fragging size.

Cheers

Matthew

[berns]

Some very nice Zoas there Burns, where do you source them from? Have you got a good lfs or is it case of travelling and having a bit of luck?

Definitely be up for frag swap but I wouldn’t hold your breath, it’s going to be a while until most of my colonies will be back up to fragging size.

Cheers

Matthew

traveling and having a bit of luck so far, they all come from lfs that use tmc as suppliers so i will be limited this route.

looking at the bigger picture to get some of the really bright rare stuff
i think maybe lies with some of the independant lfs that source their own corals regular and zoa lovers that have done the import thing themselves so from a collecting point of view these are the ppl you gotta make friends with;)

my tank is 4x2x2 and id like to scatter the sandbed and lower rocks with golf ball size colonies so any zoa's i aquire will also be grown on plates in prop tank aswell then fragged in time for future swap/sales so ill have frags of all of mine from time to time avaliable.

[Harrison]

You’ve done well to source those from TMC according to my lfs they never import anything that nice (looks like they’re telling me porkies).

Cheers

Matthew

[berns]

You’ve done well to source those from TMC according to my lfs they never import anything that nice (looks like they’re telling me porkies).

Cheers

Matthew

from wat i been told your lfs is being honest, tmc have stock arriving regular through out the week and lfs visit them daily to buy stock, so when your lfs goes he only sees wats there that moment in time and as 99% of zoa's tmc get in are the usual dull brown/green ones he gonna be very lucky to see anything really special, the occassion a nice bright colourful colony surfaces their it is snapped up quickly by whoever happens to be there at that time, they probably only last hours in tmc holding tanks?

even then plenty lfs have waiting lists for certain corals at times, a phone call here and there etc so joe public prob dont see them anyway, nowt wrong with that as lfs will look after their valued regular or high spending customers, its good business for them, so easily to see why our lfs cant supply them

for most of us i would guess swapping with others will probably be the most productive way to gather some of the rare stuff that already resides in others tanks but then you gotta have something very nice to swap back to prize a frag from them:rolleyes: or join a bidding war if any rare frags ever go up for sale:eek: or a risky expensive option of importing direct from sellers acoss the pond:eek:

its all good fun tho and i guess makes it all more of a challenge, the prop tank should go a long way to helping me by swapping/selling frags of my own colonies to pay for more:)

[Harrison]

Valid points Berns, from speaking to a couple of not so local fish shops who have good reputations for the quality of there stock both had personal friends working for TMC who gave them heads up when the “special” stuff comes in.

Like everything I guess it’s what you know about who you know.

Cheers

Matthew

[berns]

i been playing with cement today, decided to start making my growing plates

6 parts aragonite and 1 part cement
http://www.reefcorals.co.uk/forums/imagehosting/99451451448ae49.jpg

plastic pot trays seem a good plate mould
http://www.reefcorals.co.uk/forums/imagehosting/99451451451f7a8.jpg

mix and fill
http://www.reefcorals.co.uk/forums/imagehosting/99451451457eb02.jpg
http://www.reefcorals.co.uk/forums/imagehosting/994514539d0bc03.jpg

ill leave to set for 24 hours then soak them in freshwater changing water every day for 5 days, over this period as the cement slowly cures/hardens the ph levels should fall off.

[Tangman]

Hi Berns. It looks like you are going for it bigtime with these Zoa frags i like the tray idea. I have been following this thread and noticed there are quite a few doing the same, and i wondered if you all know that Zoa's are toxic and that you can die if you ingest it off your hands. Please all of you either wear the latex gloves or wash your hands after doing the frags and dont lick or put your finger in you mouth. HTH. Eric PS This is not a lecture just a warning to those who dont know. :)

[berns]

hi tangman, im enjoying the percy thrower dabbling just as much fun as main tank:D i do try to wear my latex when im at it but must confess ive not always:rolleyes:

i think most of the old boys/long term reefers are all doin as its obviously one way to feed the hobby habit without too much strain on the wallet:)

[Kev]

Wow, a nice zoa frag factory. Impressive.

Kev

[berns]

Wow, a nice zoa frag factory. Impressive.

Kev

i guess ill see on that one kev as i keep hearing the brighter colourful zoa's tend tp grow slowly:rolleyes: maybe ill talk to them daily and/or play them some music:eek: if it works for flowers then why not coral flowers:D

i guess ill have to increase my cd collection with some mellow sounds;)

[Kev]

No mellow sounds, give it to them straight, non other than a fine band like OASIS will do.

Kev

[Pinkfish]

WOW - talking about "grabbing the bull by the head"

Looks super very impressive.

Mike

[jamieb]

hi berns, frag tanks are looking good, when do you think you'll be ready for tradeing?
jamie

[berns]

well now some pink varieties have been growning out im making up a 3x diff pink morph frag pack, they'll be 5-10 polyps on each frag, ill add a thread with pictures in the for sale/swap section over next couple days.

[cl0wn]

berns, just an idea, if the frag mounting moulds are small enough pop them in the cistern of your lav, automatically flushed out every so often. think i remember that one from garf.

[stevieh]

great thread berns any update:):)

[berns]

updates....

well i changed lighting to T8 luminaire as with shallow (6"water depth) tank i realise i not need such intense lighting, still have 100w but its a softer light and noticing im not getting the bubble fizz (start of slime algea) now so thats good.

i been messing about growing small back up colonies on those cement plates... well thats changed aswell lol, now just using milliput made shallow dome shaped plates as they are easyier to make and work well.

my variety and colour of my morphs has grown alot since i started sourcing from the yank collectors :) so ill grow frags of them.

i had ravenous bristle worm muching on some nice flowers for a while (had a taste for blue morphs lol) but he now left the building.......

im actually enjoying this lark quite alot, its very satisfying (yes and rewarding if you source the nicer stuff) and i realise why quite a high % of reefers in america have prop tanks as standard to grow/sell/trade corals cause its a section of the hobby that is immensley enjoyable and interesting in its own right, maybe in time the UK will catch up......

[stegoodall]

always fancied it but i need to sort my main tank properly first :D

[Lukechromis]

i like zoas. They are pretty simple and look good. Even though my fish seem to love knocking them from wherever i put them in my tank, whatever size rock they're on.

[L3igh 1990]

you got any frags for sale mate, wanna load up my red sea max with zoas,would need postage

[Tangman]

Hi m8 look at the date the thread was made its nearly 2 years old. Twiggy:D

[jameS_94]

and also was last active on the 05-26-2008 ;)

[zoaphoria]

you got any frags for sale mate, wanna load up my red sea max with zoas,would need postage

I have 1 or 2 ;)