Gold Polyps

Parazoanthus swiftii

Also known as Golden Zoanthid, Gold NPS Polyps

SaltwaterCoral

Gold Polyps (Parazoanthus swiftii) — Jessica Rosenkrantz · CC BY-SA 4.0

Care at a glance

Temperature: 73–81°F (23–27°C)
pH: 8.1–8.4
Adult size: 7.9 in (20 cm)
Minimum tank: 20 gal (75 L)
Temperament: Peaceful
Social behavior: Solitary
Swim level: Bottom
Difficulty: Difficult
Breeding: Medium
Rarity: Rare
Reef safe: Reef safe
Origin: Caribbean reefs, walls and overhangs
Family: Parazoanthidae

Overview

Feed it like a non-photosynthetic coral, offering fine meaty and powdered foods most days, because without a feeding routine the colony slowly shrinks no matter how good the light is. Give it moderate to strong flow so food streams past the polyps, and place it anywhere from bright to fully shaded, since lighting is irrelevant to its nutrition. Well fed colonies spread by budding new polyps along creeping runners and stay peaceful with all neighbors.

In the wild

On Caribbean reefs this colonial zoantharian lives almost exclusively on living sponges, winding across their surfaces in bright golden chains of small polyps around half a centimeter across. The colonies stand out vividly against the purples and browns of their host sponges on walls and under overhangs. In the aquarium it needs no sponge at all and will colonize bare rock, with cultured colonies coming from Bocas Mariculture in Panama.

Good to know

Parazoanthus swiftii is an accepted species in the family Parazoanthidae, and despite the zoanthid look it is not a stony coral but a colonial anemone-like zoantharian. Unlike the photosynthetic button polyps most reefers know, it is azooxanthellate and captures every meal itself. Its golden color is the animal's own pigment, not a product of symbiotic algae.

Did you know

In the wild gold polyps almost always grow as streaks of color across living sponges, one of the classic sights of Caribbean reef walls, yet in a tank they abandon the arrangement without complaint and simply carpet rock.