How do you feed your zoanthids?

Well, we aquired a free zoa frag at the LFS yesterday cause they just like us and are trying to thin out their "ten dollar frag rack" so I picked out a nice simple zoanthid. It looks like it's thriving already, it seemed bigger this afternoon than it was this morning 5 hours ago. My question is, what do you feed these things and how often? I know different people have different ways of feeding them...I'd like to know how you yourself do it, and what would be the best way for me to do it? Squirt some phyto in the water and make it filter it out itself? Or squirt it directly above it? I know most of their "food" comes from the lighting.

I'll try to get some pics of the new additions tonight in our thread in the Show Off Your Tanks forum. Gonna get rid of some more algae before we take some pics though haha.

 

no feeding required, they host zooxanthealle that feed on light, so light is their best friend, given that and good params and your set to go.

 

Exactly. Mine won't eat anything either but they pop new heads all the time. The only zoas I have that will take food are button polyps.

 

Ok thanks alot for your help! It's not exactly a "wavy thingy" as my mom wants...but it's close. Good first coral IMO cause you don't have to do anything really.

 

Zoas are awesome! I love them. When I upgrade my nano tank is gonna be a zoa species tank. My big tank will be an acropora species tank.

 

I've done absolutely nothing for mine. They're pretty, hardy, and easy to care for. I picked up a rock for $20 with around 40-50 polyps on there, and over the last month and a half it's sprouted another 10 or so polyps. The rock is now completely covered - I'm pushing the rock against another so they'll spread onto the new rock, then start fragging them off.

Be very careful of Zoas. Do not handle with your bare skin, and if you do, make sure you have no open cuts and wash thoroughly afterwards. These are quite poisonous - not something many people mention or talk about. They contain Palytoxin.

Palytoxin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

From Reefs.org
"First, all members of Zoanthus and Palythoids contain the highly potent neurotoxin known as palytoxin. It is found in their mucus and in their mesenteries. This toxin does not seem to affect neighboring colonies in the same way as some of the other noxious chemical secretions of corals. Rather, it appears to serve as an anti-predation defense. Delbeek and Sprung note that several predators of zoanthids are not only unaffected by palytoxin, but actively store it in their bodies and shells. Notwithstanding this fairly common behavior of certain organisms to adapt highly specialized means to cope with their environment, palytoxin has been shown in grazing studies to be an effective anti-predation compound. Irrespective of its use to the zoanthid, palytoxin is a very dangerous substance, and anyone handling zoanthids of any species should be very careful not to allow the polyps to contact any area of broken skin. Handwashing to remove mucus after handling zoanthids is absolutely required in the interest of safety. Palytoxin is also denatured by heat, and hot water hand washes will further act in loosening and solubilizing and mucosal remnants."

Congrats on the frag You'll have an entire colony before you know it.

 

Very few corals ingest phyto. Of the few that will ingest it, most will not digest it...they just later spit it back out. Most corals that will digest it are non-photosynthetic.

Most species of zoanthids feed off photosynthesis and DOM. Some of the larger species will also eat POM. (Dissolved Organic Matter and Particulate Organic Matter).

 

Thank you thank you thank you everyone for the input. Just did a water change, everything's going great. Camera has decided to not cooporate...however everyone is doing great. This has become a pretty nice tank in only 4 weeks (2 week cycles are amazing, I know ) 2 clowns, a 6 line, a tiger pistol shrimp, a cleaner shrimp, and harlequin serpent star are the main attractions now. Along with our new zoa frag.

This poison stuff...is it something to worry about?

 

Well, I very much fear my Zoanthids, and i'm probably going to get rid of them because of this. However, this is just me as I have an inherent fear of poisons. As to you, many people keep them with no harmful effects. As long as you respect the animal and are careful you will be okay. This goes for all of your animals, not just zoas, as many can be dangerous if not respected. Many people make gloves that go to the shoulders for aquariums and I would recommend these if you have Zoanthids. Good luck, and I wouldn't worry about it as long as your careful.

 

I've never fed my zoa's either..