African Blue Hornet

[watergirl84094]

I just purchased some African Blue Hornets from a reputable seller on ebay. They looked fine when they arrived. I quickly put them in my tank, but the polyps opened and they're practically colorless! None of the gorgeous blue with green/yellow accents their supposed to have. Could this be due to my power compact lighting? The other zoas I have in my tank are very colorful, but the african blues are blah. I'm going to be upgrading to a mixture of PC and MH lights soon. Any thoughts? Thanks!

[nikon187]

pics?

[watergirl84094]

I will post some pics tomorrow.

[terryagi]

They are completely brown? If they were like this when they first opened in your tank, I don't think that your lighting had anything to do with the color loss. Where do you have them located in your tank?

[watergirl84094]

http://i623.photobucket.com/albums/tt320/watergirl84094/DSC03905.jpg
These are the african blue hornets I got online. As you can see, there's a small amount of color in the center, but mostly, they look colorless and dull.

http://i623.photobucket.com/albums/tt320/watergirl84094/DSC03819.jpg
This is a picture of a frag with some different zoas in my tank that look great.

Since the other zoas look great I'm not sure it's due to the PC lights in my tank. What do you think?

[drummereef]

Looks nice. The bottom ones look like eagle eyes but I'm bad with ID'ing Zoas. :) Might want to post in the Zoanthid forum, might get a better ID. The lack of color could very well be from the lack of light. I have PC's over my 40g and it's hard to get my Zoas to really color up like they should.

[terryagi]

The blue hornets do look like they need some more light. My blue hornets are located at the top of the tank a few inches from the left side and nearly in front of koralia 2. They are in a 40g with a 150w halide 2x65w actinics. This is the only place I have had success with them. You may want to try putting your hornets as high up as possible so they receive the maximum amount of light. This is just my experience with them. Here is a thread from the Zoanthid forum about them: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1628987

[korth659]

I read that these zoas are prone to melting

[korth659]

and i also received zoas onces that lost color and they never regained it, but they did spread

[Tswifty]

I had them... melted away like most report within a few weeks. Looked nice while they lasted though. Hopefully you'll have better luck.

http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll128/tswifty8/New%20Rimless/BlueHornets.jpg

[mfinn]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15396875#post15396875 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by watergirl84094
I just purchased some African Blue Hornets from a reputable seller on ebay. They looked fine when they arrived. I quickly put them in my tank, but the polyps opened and they're practically colorless!




Most pictures you see with online retailers are taken under 14k-20k mh lighting. PC lighting will not bring out the colors the same.

Good luck the the african blues. They need very high light and very high flow.

[MrHarvard]

+1 on the pictures being taken under MH lighting. What kind of actintic lighting do you have are you running 50/50s or what? Alot of times they will take the pics to sell these zoas under 20k's to bring out the bright colors. Look at the pic of the zoas for sale and if it has a blue tint to the whole pic then that was the case. those particular zoa that you are talking about need lots of light. Make sure you have them towards the top of your tank and close to the lights. Also I have been researching using Vitamin c and it seems light that is what you may want to be doseing to bring them back. The other zoas in the pick are deff. Long lash eagle eyes I have tons of them. I dont think that in this case your lighting is the reason for the faint coloring but I dont think you are ever going to see the colors you are wanting without upgradeing you lights. IMO..

[watergirl84094]

Thank you for all the input! My first thought was that it was my lighting. I know PC's are a lot less powerful than MH which is why I'm going to be adding some MH soon. I'm going to move the zoas to the highest rock I have and see if that helps at all. Hopefully once I get the MH installed the blue hornets will look better. Thanks again!!

[MrHarvard]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15408262#post15408262 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by watergirl84094
Thank you for all the input! My first thought was that it was my lighting. I know PC's are a lot less powerful than MH which is why I'm going to be adding some MH soon. I'm going to move the zoas to the highest rock I have and see if that helps at all. Hopefully once I get the MH installed the blue hornets will look better. Thanks again!!

That will be your best bet. I forgot to ask about your water params? Though most zoas are hearty some are less foregiving! Also make sure once you get the MH you move the hornets down lower in your tank....JAT