New Zoanthids & Cleanup Crew

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glaekenjz

Guest
Mine do that whenever my daylight bulbs go out too. Not sure if it is a bad thing, or not, but mine are growing nicely.
 

infalable

Member
Do nothing. They often close at night. Also, they are closing due to the cerith snails crawling on them. All is well.
 

wrassecal

Active Member
The certihs are just doing their cleanup thing. Clean up critterslove new pieces in the tank. They won't hurt the zoanthids but, will clean around them.+ By the way, very nice zoanthids
 

kdfrosty

Active Member
One quick note......Those arent Ceriths. They are hermits. I jut got home and noticed my emerald crab feasting on one of my 3 new colonies.
 

kdfrosty

Active Member
Thanks, Starten
So I am not sure what type of hermits they are. They're not blue leg or scarlet hermits.
Also, I have an Emerald Crab that I saw eating the zoos. Anyone keep an Emerald with Zoanthids???? Please help.
BUMP
 

kdfrosty

Active Member
Ive been taking out the hermits as I see them on the zoos. But what about the Emerald Crab? Surely someone has an emerald with Zoanthids! Cmon!
 

smarls

Member
KD,
I have some hermits, an maybe 12 zoanthid colonies. I have never seen a hermit eat a zoanthid.
I have seen my hermits on my colonies numerous times, sometimes eating small algae buildups between the polypys, and sometimes eating a polyp that is not healthy, but I have never seen them eat a healthy polyp.
Actually, let me go one step further...when I get a new colony in my tank, one of the first things I do is grab some of my hermits (and snails) and place them on the new colony to clean stuff out of it.
I am actually not a huge hermit fan (prefer snails) but at the same time, hermits do serve a purpose, and I honestly have never seen them eat a zoanthid. My thought would be if they are eating it, then there is something wrong with it (algae growing around the polyp, maybe they are shedding a layer of skin as they acclimatize to your tank, maybe some of the colony is not healthy).
Personally, I would leave the hermits and the emarald alone, and let them do their thing.
BTW - really nice zoas.
Stewart
 

kdfrosty

Active Member
Thanks for the helpful advice, Smarls. I have take out a few hermits already, but only those on the zoo colonies. I did witness my Emerald Crab eating closed zoos though. The specific colony that he was on is the only colony that hasnt opened yet. I am not sure if they are going to make it, b/c they are the nicest ones I ordered. Shipping them here was a big giant mess, and DHL came to my door with my pkg. wrapped in many bags. I hope everything goes ok. How long should I leave them (the unopened colony) in there before taking them out and counting them as dead?
 

kdfrosty

Active Member
Here's the 3 Zoanthid colonies that I received.
-The colony on the left (green center) seem to be doing pretty well. 90% of polyps are somewhat open, but not fully.
-The colony in the center (orange skirt) is the only one that seems to be doing exceptionally well.
-The colony on the left are the only ones that have never opened. They are also the colony that the crab/hermits have been picking on.
Any opinions?
 

smarls

Member
KD,
Again though, the clean-up crew cleans up things that are not doing well...I don't think they would eat healthy polyps. Perhaps something is wrong with the colony that you cannot see, or perhaps there is algae etc nestled in amongst the poylps or underneath the rock? Just a thought.
From what I can tell from the pictures, I do not see anything blatantly wrong with your colony...and sometimes it takes time for a colony to open (up to two weeks). In the last picture you posted, it looks as though the polyps are slowly begininning to open...I can see a little color on a few of the polyps. So even if you lose a few of them, I would not take the colony out...all you need is some of the polyps (hoefully most!) to survive to have a sustainable population.
The last colony I recently purchased, as soon as I put them in the tank, half the colony "disintegrated". No idea why, but the same thing happened to the sister colony at the LFS when I went back to talk to them about it. But, the good news is that the remaining half of the colony stayed closed for about a week and a half, then openeed up...so it turned out OK.
These are hardy animals, so honestly do not stress it....giver them some time, and make sure they get a decent flow on them, as IMHO, zoanthids really seem to do better and propogate faster when they are in a decent flow.
HTH, and keep me updated on how they do.
Stewart
 

kdfrosty

Active Member
Thanks for the reassurance!! I will stop worrying about them now, and let nature take its course. I will let you know when they open :)
 

wrassecal

Active Member
FWIW I have an emerald and zoanthids, don't do hermits. My emerald will pick algae from between my polyps and they generally close up. I'm with smarls. I don't think it's the crab and I wouldn't take them out.
 
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