Zoanthids growing in unusual patterns

[nightfox]

Hi everyone,

I've had these more expensive Zoanthids for about 45 days now, and I was told they came from the Philippines. As they've grown, I've noticed these longer appendages forming around the edge of the coral. Lately, it seems like they're not opening up completely and not forming a flush colony like I'd expect. Is this normal or something I should be concerned about? They're still growing and have kept their color, so maybe I'm just being paranoid.

My setup is a 20-gallon reef with mostly other Zoanthids, some hammer coral, and Galexia. I'm using an AI prime for lighting, and my calcium levels are a bit high, but everything else looks good.

Does anyone have any idea what genus and species these might be? The picture doesn't do the color justice, but they're mostly orange with this bright green linear center.

[flora7]

With the vibrant orange and that bright green linear center, I'm getting a strong resemblance to a type of people eater palythoa, but I'm no expert. They seem to be growing fine from what I can see, but like you said, the photo might not be telling the whole story.

[creebo]

I'm not seeing the grainy stalks that'd point to Palythoa, looks like a nice zoa to me, the green mouth is a typical People Eater trait though.

[ravelo]

They resemble RPE from Indo, I'd say they're a nice zoa, that green mouth does give it a bit of a PE vibe though.

[oceanix_10]

They resemble RPE from Indo, I'd say they're a nice zoa, that green mouth does give it a bit of a PE vibe though.

I think I see what you guys mean about the Palythoa possibility, but I'm still not entirely convinced - the green mouth does seem similar to a People Eater, but I don't see any of the grainy stalks that usually come with Palythoa.

The RPE from Indo idea sounds plausible too, given the Philippines origin, but I'd love to hear more about what makes you think that.

Also, just to clarify, when I said they weren't forming a flush colony, I meant that the polyps seem to be opening slightly unevenly - not drastically, but just enough to notice.

[VitalMind22]

I saw some similar ones at my LFS and the guy said they were people eaters, wasn't sure if zoas or palys though. They had longer stalks, so I passed. But he's got a frag with 7 nice polyps for $15, I'm hoping it's still there next time. Nice score, they look great.

[creebo]

I saw some similar ones at my LFS and the guy said they were people eaters, wasn't sure if zoas or palys though. They had longer stalks, so I passed. But he's got a frag with 7 nice polyps for $15, I'm hoping it's still there next time. Nice score, they look great.

I'm not convinced stalk length is a determining factor for type, it's more about reaching for light. Palys have that distinct calcified grainy texture on their stalks, whereas zoas have smooth stalks.