3. Candy Apple Reds

With amazing colors on both the zoanthus plate and skirt, it’s no wonder that Candy Apple Reds are some of the most desired zoas in the hobby.  We’ve gathered a lot of attention on this site for featuring this zoa so chances are if you have some in your collection, you can get some great trades for it! Have you seen other rainbow zoas as bright as these?

2. Purple Deaths

The majestic Purple Deaths paly gets a lot of attention in this hobby due to its color and its size. These paly’s certainly seem like they are large enough to swallow up whole critters. If you have these in your collection, we would love to hear how you are taking care of them. What conditions have you found to be ideal for these?

1. Purple Hornets

Deep colors zoas are a favorite amongst zoa collectors. Combine deep colors with bright florescent markings, you have a collectors item!  Purple Hornets, the darker cousin of the Blue Hornets is now one of the hobby’s most sought out zoas – even more than the Purple People Eaters! If you have these, please share them with the community so they can be more widely distributed and preserved.

Similar to the purple hornet zoanthids, the blue hornet is another zoa with very distinctive patterns and vivid colors.  While the purple hornet sports a purple mouth and purple plate, the blue hornet sports a blue plate with a purple mouth.

These corals were originally found off of the African coast and thus have been harder to collect than corals found on other coasts.  While these zoas also look similar to the Blue Eyed Dragon, it does share more similarities with the Purple Hornet by having the same color ring and skirt.

If you’re looking to get some of these, make sure you keep them in low, indirect lighting.  Also, if you are buying from a private party, check and see how long the seller has had the colony.  Word on the street is these zoas are fickle and emo.

When new zoas are formed, the mouth glows.  As the zoa matures, it becomes slightly white/light blueish.

If you’re into collecting blue zoas, make sure you add these to your collection.  Like most blue zoas, you will want to keep these off of direct lighting to keep the majestic dark blue color.

The bleeding hearts zoas are undoubtedly one of the nicest pink zoas in the hobby. In addition to the vivid pink body, the zoas have a bi-colored red skirt. These zoas really pop under actinics and should be placed in medium flow area.

purple hornet zoas

As you can see, this zoa sports a purple body with a distinctive yellow ring around the mouth and what appears to be a alternating purple and yellow skirt – definitely a gem in the industry.

So do you have these for trade or sale?  If so, please post in the comments section below.

purple hornet (actinics)

As you can see, these zoas look pretty amazing in actinics as well.  Thanks Jarrod for sending the pictures.

Armageddon is one of the most striking red zoanthids in the hobby and a quick peek at its plate shows you why.  Not only does this morph glow in actinic lighting, the pattern resembles part nuclear explosion, part event horizon, part gates of hell.

Due to the popularity of this coral, you can trade for a number of other exotic corals by having it in your collection.  This zoa is also easy to propagate when placed in medium flow and high lighting conditions.

If you want to talk about N-I-C-E orange zoas, you have to check out the Creamsicles.  I’m not sure where the origin of the name came from but whoever named them must have thought these resembled the old school popsicles or something.  In a way, I guess they do.

The center of the Creamsicles do not pop as much as say… Eagle Eyes or Dragon Eyes, but they are definitely colorful in terms of orange zoas.

If you’re looking to acquire these beauties, you can probably find a good number of them in your local community – just check out your local reef club or online coral forums.

The Fire and Ice zoa has a fiery red/orange skirt along with a light blue body. The mix of colors has dubbed this as the Fire and Ice zoanthid and is another one of the commonly traded zoas in the hobby.

Fire and Ice zoas grow rather quickly and do not require intensive care like some of the slower growing zoas. These do well under medium, sporadic currents and will work under PC’s or metal halides

Dragon Eyes is one of the most distinctive orange zoas in the hobby.  A great colony is kept under MH and actinics and the orange body will really pop under the right conditions.  I’d imagine dragon eyes were named for their intensity and what seems like an intense stare from the mythical beast.  There’s just something about the orange body and the black and white rings around the body makes this zoa really fiercesome.  I’m guessing the green skirts also help blend the zoa to the dragon scales.

If you’d like to get this zoa, you are in luck.  These zoanthids grow very easily and are widely traded in the hobby as of the writing.  If you’re looking for some, please feel free to leave a comment below.

However, if you notice the image below, a lot of the zoas look “normal” when view from afar. Most zoanthids do look amazing when seen up close or when taken with a macro lens. So it’s very possible your plain jane zoas will also look just as good when you take a pic of it with a macro lens.

Like the Candy Apple Reds, these zoas also have a green center with a colorful edge and skirt. However, unlike the Candy Reds, the green portion of the zoa is smaller and a bit more erratic than the other zoas.

Even though the zoa is called Candy Apple Reds, the zoa’s primary plate color is green. Other characteristics include a white colored mouth, a colorful edge and a colorful, striped skirt.

This zoa closely resembles the Kaleidoscope morph and can sometimes be mistaken for them. Of course, both zoa would be great to add to your collection if you’re a collector that loves color.

So do you have the Candy Apple zoas in your collection? If you’re willing to trade or frag your colony, please leave some comments below.

Fortunately, blue zoas are not considered rare in the hobby even though they are great collectors’ items. If you’re looking for these beauties, my advice would be to try trading for them with local reefers. If all else fails, there are a number of online stores and private collectors that carry these zoas in stock.

If you’re lucky enough to get these zoas, my experience with them is that they like lower lighting conditions. Tub’s Blues‘ polyps are pretty small compared to other zoas and do not require spot feeding.

If you own these blue zoas and would like to trade or sell frags of them, please post in the comments below.

I don’t think this particular morph were ever officially named, but regardless of their anonymity, these classy pink zoas looked great in my tank. New polyps always started in the yellow spectrum and eventually they would color up into the pinks.

If you’re just starting out and are looking to trade some zoas for some pink ones, leave some comments below and let other reefers know. The pink zoas are pretty easy to take care of and under optimal conditions can spread pretty quickly. The pink zoas I had grew pretty fast in the shadier parts of my 90g which were under 14k Metal Halides with actinic supports. Your mileage may very.

Under MH lighting and actinics, the peach color really popped – to the point of radioactivity!

When I showed these pictures to the community, some have even suggested these zoas could be a morph of the rainbow zoas. What do you think? Are these more like rainbows or are they simply peachy?

Mean Greens can be easily identified by their brown skirts, green plate and an enlarged white center that extends just beyond the mouth.

I’ve found these zoas do better in medium lighting as they seem to extend better in that setting coupled with medium flow.

Eagle Eyes can be defined by their light green skirt, gray mouth, orange plate and a bold dark ring around the main zoa body (plate).  Luckily for beginners, this is one of the more traded zoas in the hobby and they grow pretty easily under normal home reef conditions.  If you are looking for some Eagle Eyes to trade or frag, please leave some comments below.

Fortunately for zoa collectors, this is a relatively easy zoanthid to grow and as long as your tank has proper lighting and flow, this morph will reproduce rather easily.

I’ve seen the Incredible Hulk zoa labeled as Luck of the Irish and even as Green Crossettes on CoralPedia.  The main things that distinguish these zoanthids from others are the brown skirts, the deep green plate and what appears to be a lighter green vein coming out of the zoa mouth.  Under strong MH lighting, the lighter colors really pop in the tank.

The Incredible Hulk zoa is one of the hardier morphs that can grow under high lighting or be kept in the shade.  The patch I had in my tank spread pretty easily without dedicated feedings and if you are a beginner looking for some color to add to your tank, green is a great place to start.

If you have additional pictures of this coral, please send them to us and we will update this post.