Zoanthids: Care, Palytoxin Safety and WYSIWYG Zoas for Sale

Zoanthids are the right first coral for most people and a lifetime collecting habit for the rest. Flat round oral discs on short stalks, joined by a mat, with a fringe of short tentacles around the rim — and colors that come in named morphs selling for wildly different money on pattern alone. They are hardy, they multiply fast, and a zoa garden under blue light is the cheapest spectacular view in the hobby.

Zoanthid or palythoa?

Palythoa polyps are larger, with a thicker, fleshier stalk and often a sandy texture from grit embedded in the tissue. The distinction matters for one reason: palys can carry palytoxin, which is genuinely dangerous. Never boil rock with polyps on it, never scrape colonies in a closed room, and wear gloves and eye protection when handling or fragging either genus. Treat every unknown polyp as a paly until you know otherwise.

Care at a glance

Reading closed polyps

Closed zoas tell you something only if you read the pattern. All shut at once points at a whole-tank event — a parameter swing, something in the water. A few closed beside open neighbors points at predation: zoa-eating spiders, sundial snails, nudibranchs. The full diagnostic, pest by pest: Why are my zoanthids not opening?

Zoas and palys in stock now

One thing to know before you order: shipping and packing are charged by the box, not by the coral. A box holds several corals for the same $15 packing fee and the same overnight ride, Florida orders under 6 lb ship overnight for a flat $30, and orders over $399 ship free. If this page puts one coral on your list, it is worth seeing what else belongs in the box — start with corals under $100 or the newest WYSIWYG pieces.

Every stony coral we sell is aquacultured at the shop in Key West under Florida Aquaculture Certificate #AQ0254072, and the photo on a WYSIWYG listing is the exact animal that ships. Corals ship UPS Overnight every Tuesday and Wednesday. If you are ever in Key West, come see the raceways.