Maybe a Stupid Zoa Question

Ok so I have several different colonies of zoas on one large rock. I add them in seperate clumps to give some nice coloring.

Well here is where I have the problem.

I have (had) a colony of pink zoas and some bluish ones along with my reverse gorilla nips (what they were called when I bought them.)
My pinks and a good bit of my bluish zoas have all taken on the same coloration as the RGN zoas

Why the heck are they all morphing?!

 

Any ideas as to why the RGN colors are becoming the dominant coloration even across the other types of zoas I've picked up?

 

That could easily be it. Once they start growing together they could start to share genes and the dominate one will prevail. I've seen various encrusting montis do something similar. Like if you have a superman, pokerstar and rainbow growing together, their polys will start to change.

 

Very interesting. I did not know this. SO then, theoretically, you could buy some cheapo zoas, stick them next to a nice, bigger one and hope that the cheapos morph? HMMMM.

 

Ok. I was hoping that I would be able to bunch a few colors together to make a nice multi-color rock

 

Possibly. That's hoping that the cheapos aren't going to be the dominant zoas.


I thought it had more to do with the types of zooxanthellae and the process of the zooxanthellae populating suitable hosts. What I was hoping is that I would get blends, not complete takeover.

 

I don't know how it works or even if it works all the time. I've seen rocks with different types of zoas on them and they retained their original color, so I'm not sure if that's even the case. Could it be your lighting?

 

The pink and bluish zoas didn't change until I moved them closer to the RGN zoas.

I'll just keep future zoa additions separated.

 

I think it was Dr.Fragenstein that posted about how all zooxanthellae are brown(I didn't know that), so that wouldn't be the reason for the color change. Most color changes are related to light, to much or to little.

 

Could be a couple things, I've seen it in my own tank. I'm not 100% certain on why they change, what starts it, etc, but I've done some researching. I have observed green pay packers turning into dragon eyes, and I never put DE's in my tank, so where did they come from? Same with my generic green sea mat, they all started tuning red in the center, with a purple ring, from what was mostly a greyish orange with no ing.

It could be that one type of zoa is just growing faster and becoming the dominant species, but nothing is really changing colors, just making way for the faster growing colony. I've seen this, at at first thought it was a color change, then I saw the mats and could see one just grew up over and into the first and pushed aside a few polyps... but that's why they really started to change and I got new colors.

That could be zooxanthellae related. Zoas, like many corals, derive much of their color from their relationship with zooxanthellae, a type of symbiotic algae/dinoflagelate. Zooxanthellae are their own animal and can survive for a short time outside a coral, and can transfer between colonies. If one strain becomes stronger and the lighting conditions favor it's brand of photosynthesis over the another strain then they can and will get into the water column and transfer to another receptive host, at which point that host will slowly be taken over by the stronger zooxanthellae. While it's really organic pigments that make up the wide variety of skin color you see, that skin color will slowly be changed to suit the photosynthetic needs of the zooxanthellae, and the corals seem to know how to do that.

good luck, and be glad you are getting a nice color change, and everything didnt just turn pasty green and brown

-Doug