What zoa food?

[cent36]

So to get this back on track..... I would seriously like to know about the original question.

What do ya'll feed your zoas???

 

[jda123]

Nothing.

 

[charleshardy5]

Phyto, brightwell phyto gold 5ml broadcast to my tank every night just after lights out before the polyps close up

 

[ReefCheif]

Reef Roids

 

[jda123]

Unless new research was done since I read up in the 2000s, phytoplankton does nothing for zoas - even if caught (and they will catch some), it costs them more energy to process than they get in return. Some zooplankton might be of benefit, but nobody is for sure. In either case, if the feedings raise the N and P levels even a bit, then they are hurting since the zoas are capable of feeding themselves 100%.

Don't think just because they grab stuff that it is helping them. The same is true for BTAs where smaller ones can expend more energy on feeding than they get out of it. Sometimes, just letting them be is better.

There was a study on reefkeeping mag, or the like, about 10 years ago that took some larger polyps and targed fed them pellets on one half of the rock and nothing on the other half. Neither grew better than the other. You can do this yourself with some tweezers and breaking a current colony in half.

 

[zombie]

Unless new research was done since I read up in the 2000s, phytoplankton does nothing for zoas - even if caught

That has not changed. One thing that research didnt bring into the picture is that dosing phytoplankton in small quantities vastly increases the amount of live zooplankton in your tank without increasing N and P if you only use live phyto (the bottled stuff that doesnt say "live" is garbage and should never be put in a reef tank IMO). The zooplankton will give enough energy to make it worth catching and provides certain vitamins, minerals, and ammino acids that the zoa does not get from the water column.

 

[jda123]

There is not much chance that anything that could eat phyto could be caught and consumed by a polyp - they cannot catch the few pods that might consume it and fine filter feeders like some worms are not mobile. The can get everything that they need from the light and from a quality salt mix. If you want your polyps to get a meaty snack, then you need to target feed them dead stuff since a live mysid or pod will get away in an instant. My polyps can catch finely crush flake food as well as they can zooplankton.

 

[zombie]

There is not much chance that anything that could eat phyto could be caught and consumed by a polyp - they cannot catch the few pods that might consume it and fine filter feeders like some worms are not mobile.

You are aware that the primary food source for ALL zooplankton is phytoplankton right? all copepods, isopods, and amphipods (excluding predatory or parasitic versions) feed primarily on phytoplankton and the rest of their diet comes from detritus that has broken down to the size of phytoplankton.

 

[jda123]

Not all zooplankton. Some zooplankton eats smaller zooplankton. Pods are not plankton anyway. Plankton is active in the watercolumn and pods are not that. Pods are scavengers and will eat whatever they can. Cope eat lots unicellular algae, other algaes and detritus. Iso eat copepods and some green algae. Amphipods are too large to filter unicellular algae and scavenge like crazy. Some pods will ingest phyto, but no polyps are going to be catching them... this was my point. It is not likely that anybody has large amounts of plankton in their tanks that are not filtered out by mechanical filtration. Feeding phyto is not likely to directly feed your polyps, but can provide some N and P on the backend if your tank is otherwise devoid.

 

[Benjamin]

I feed mine reef roids and mix various types of frozen food blended up till it is just a liquid

 

[zombie]

I feed mine reef roids and mix various types of frozen food blended up till it is just a liquid

You don't see nutrient levels spike out of control doing that? I feed my fish fairly heavily, but any more than a teaspoon a week of food the fish can't eat gives me some serious algae blooms even with an oversized skimmer and a 30 gallon fuge.

 

[Benjamin]

I have done it from the time I started my tank but I just target feed not broadcast I see results with my zoas and palys. Also change 10 gal of water or better every 3 days so the water is fresh

 

[Benjamin]

I have some hair algae but I keep emerald crabs and a tang that help out.

 

[Walter White]

I alternate between 1 cube frozen mysis and 1 cube worth elite reef cuisine, a pinch of flake mixed with 1 pinch of pellets, and 1 scoop of reef chili along with 2ml of aquavitro fuel daily on my 60.

im not sure if my zoas really eat any of those things but they are doing really well and all the other corals show a really nice feeding response.

 

[Benjamin]

Seems like when I spot feed I get several new polyp's the next day

 

[Walter White]

Oh and a strip of nori everyday but I do feel pretty confident my zoas are not eating any of that.

 

[Matt_Arian]

I've noticed a very slight difference in growth when I started target feeding the zoas. Very slight. Phytoplankton is probably pretty prevalent in this tank, as there is no mechanical filtration, a fuge
and a light stocking of fish and only naturally set filter feeders, so I wouldn't imagine a whole lot of increase in growth for the zoas as there's already plenty of food floating in the column. (I'm pretty sure it's a lot of phyto, considering the amount of sponges intermixed in the live rock.) Now target feeding LPS... that's a different story.

ThunderTwonk, you're a liar. You aren't right behind me, I looked.

 

[Munch]

My zoas we're closed up for 2 weeks, in my display. It was because I stopped feeding them in my frag tank that was attached. So zoas definitely benefit from feedings!! I started feeding my display, and they were open within 24 hours.

 

[Ghxst]

I keep my nutrients relativity low in the 34 mixed reef and feel the zoas and mushrooms do better by turkey basting the rock work and sand, it kicks up a lot of junk. I don't think they are particularity picky about what nutrients they eat, as long as they have some. Why not reuse the junk already in there!

Except is Scotts case then there are many more zoas then junk laying around