Just like our recently completed series "Top 10 SPS", we've decided to keep the journey going, by showcasing our top 10 zoanthids! Not only are they bright in color, they are a crowd favorite for soft corals due to how easy they are to grow and the variety of patterns. There were a plethora of factors taken into account by the Top Shelf Aquatics team to determine our top 10. After taking a closer look at all the zoanthids we aquaculture, we've decided that these 10 zoanthids are our favorites.Â
10) TSA Yellow Brick Road
Named for its mellow yellow tentacles and brick colored oral disk, the TSA Yellow Brick Road paves a path for an amazing pop of color. It has small/medium polyp size which allows it to be a great candidate for zoanthid gardens.
9) WWC Purple Monster
These zoanthids grow incredibly fast and are perfect option to add a splash of color to your reef tank. It displays a deep purple oral disk and a bright green ring of tentacles.Â
8) TSA Pink Hippos
If you're looking to get a splash of pink into your reef tank the Pink Hippos a go to, zoanthid. Similar to other zoanthids, they look the best when they are grown out into a colony. They showcase a medium sized polyp and grow at a moderate rate.Â
7) Rainbow Incinerators
A classic zoanthid in the hobby and also a collectors piece, this medium to large polyp zoanthid changes from red to orange, to yellow, to green, creating a beautiful gradient. Some polyps will even show a bleeding green color throughout the polyp.
6) Rastas
Another classic zoanthid on our list is the Rasta zoanthid. This is considered a rainbow zoanthid, with orange, yellow, green, blue, and a hint of purple. These polyps are on the smaller end, but once they settle in, they can have an explosion of growth.Â
Zoa Garden:
Before we continue on with our list, we decided to have a quick tips and tricks section for creating a beautiful zoanthid garden. While it's easy to throw a few zonathids together, it can be a challenge to make a good looking zoanthid garden.
One of the recommendations we suggest is to firstly plan out your garden with the zoanthids you would like to have. From there it's important to know how fast the zoanthids grow and the size of their polyps. Mixing different sized polyps might not be the greatest ideas as the larger polyps will cover the smaller polyps.Â
The same can be said about growth rates. If one zoanthid grows faster than another, it can be disproportional and may not turn out how you envsioned it to look in the tank. If you want to mix different polyps that grow at various rates, make sure you have adequate spacing between them so you can prune away the zoanthids if they grow too fast.Â
Contrasting colors are another factor to consider. With more contrast, you dont have to worry about colors blending to much with another color. Looking at a color wheel and seeing the complementary colors are a good way to determine what colors to have.Â
At the end of the day, you are the creative mastermind behind creating your zoanthid garden. Have fun with it! Maybe even test a few different iterations of it and really find what you like to have in your tank. Dont follow the expensive hype, instead find what you think looks best and play with that. Some of the best zoanthid gardens we've seen have been created with bread and butter zoanthids, that are inexpensive, but look great!Â
5) TSA Sunny D
The Sunny D zoanthids have some of the most vibrant yellow and orange hues we've ever seen in a zoanthid. This medium to large polyp zoanthid grows pretty quickly and can turn a dark barron corner of a tank into something incredibly bright.
4) CB Rainbow Infusion
Similar to the other zoanthids on the list, the CB Rainbow Infusion's have a great contrasting color. The oral disk transitions from sparking pink to a green center. This piece has been a collectors piece for quite some time now in the hobby and it's truly an incredible colony piece. Â
3) TSA Wizards
TSA Wizards show off a great red and blue contrast with a bright blue speckling in the center. This piece grows at a constant speed and are very hardy in the reef tank enviornment after being aquacultured for such an extensive period of time.Â
2) TSA Frozen Apples
The TSA Frozen Apples are known for their larger polyp size and longer speckled tentacles. The oral disk features a green apple coloration and white colored speckles which truly accentuates this zoanthid.Â
1) TSA Utter Chaos
TSA Utter Chaos has unmatched coloration in terms of the large variety of bright colors. The oral disk transitions from purple, to lavender, to orange all fused together. This zoanthid can truly show off its color when it has grown into a colony. With this piece, we've noticed that the polyps become larger in size but duller in color and vice versa. The TSA Utter Chaos is chaotic in all the right ways.Â
Honorable Mentions:
Little Shops of HorrorsÂ
Little Shops of Horros (LSOH) are a challenging zoanthid to keep alive and truly have them grow and thrive, not to mention their price tag. But once they've settled and have found a spot where they are happy these can easily become on of the best zoanthids you'll keep. A true rainbow zoanthid that has vibrant colors.Â
Stratospheres
One of the mist expensive zoanthids on the market to date, the Stratosphere zoanthids are incredibly challenging to keep alive. They are notorious for melting on hobbyists, but similar to the Little Shops of Horrors, if you can keep them alive, they display a deep purple and bright gold inner rings. Â
TSA Chemically Altered
Once these zoanthids finally settle into the tank, they will take of in growth. They have such an incredible contrast between yellow/orange and pink/blue. The TSA Chemically Altered is one of our most special zoanthids that we've cooked up in our farm and one of our favorite zoanthids.
Exospheres
Another one of our favorites here at TSA is the Exopsheres zoanthid. This zoanthid does better in lower light (around 150 PAR), but still showcases a bright green ring that can illuminate your tank. The Exospheres have a smaller polyp size and are perfect for smaller zoanthid gardens.
Wrapping up our dive into the top 10 zoanthids, it’s been quite the ride seeing how these colorful corals can totally change an aquariums aesthetic. From the chill vibes of the TSA Yellow Brick Road to the eye-popping colors of the TSA Utter Chaos, each zoanthid we talked about has its own cool factor that adds something special to the tank. This whole journey’s been a reminder that keeping a reef tank is as much about creativity and personal touch as it is about care and know-how. Whether you’re deep into the hobby or just dipping your toes in, I hope these zoanthids spark some ideas for your next tank setup. Here’s to mixing, matching, and making something awesome under the water.
