What's the difference?

So can anyone tell me what the main difference is between Palythoas and Zooanthids. To me they look the same except palys might be a little bigger.

 

Anyone?

 

Blah, there are all in the same faimly zoanthidae. Other than the obvious size difference, there isn't much.

 

Well actually, palys can consume meaty foods, it's pretty neat.

 

The palys mat is thicker than the zoas. Hard to tell even then.

 

The Zoanthidae (Family and Genus) have the following Species

Zoanthus are individual polyps. They don't incorporate sand in their bodies and they don't share nutrients. They are photosynthetic but they get a lot of their food from DOM. Very hard to target feed.

Palythoa are called Sea Mats because they have a membrane attaching all of the individual polyps. They share nutriensts with neighboring polyps with this mat. They incorporate sand and such in there bodies. If you want them to grow faster, target feed them periodically.

Protopalythoa look like palythoa. Usually brown or green/brown. They don't have a mat but you will see sand and such in the bodies. Can be target fed.

Isaurus are often called snake corals. They are very tall, skinny polyps that share nutrients via a mat. Hard to target feed.

Sphenopus look like Protopalythoa. There's no sand in their polyps. Can be target fed.

Parazoanthus sometimes have a mat and sometimes don't. There won't be sand in the bodies (which are often mostly clear). The most commonly sold ones are sold as Yellow Polyps. The long tenticles clearly indicate that they need to be in good flow so they can nab particulate matter. If, you don't do this, they obviously need to be target fed periodically as they don't absorb as much DOM as other related species.

Epizoanthus are non-photosynthetic and need to be target fed.

Acrozoanthus are non-photosynthetic and need to be target fed