Red People Eater Zoanthids (AC)
Blood-red skirts around dark purple mouths with a green halo.
Red People Eaters are a hobby staple for a reason: deep red skirts, a thin green ring, and a dark purple mouth create a contrast that reads clearly from across the room. Hardy, quick to encrust, and stable under a wide range of lighting. Aquacultured, tank-adapted, and pest-free.
What it needs to thrive
- Lighting
- Moderate — 100–150 PAR. Higher light deepens skirt color; too much light washes out the centers.
- Flow
- Moderate, turbulent flow to keep detritus off the mat and encourage full polyp extension.
- Feeding
- Photosynthetic with a strong appetite for fine particulate. Weekly reef roids or oyster feast dramatically speeds encrusting.
- Temperament
- Peaceful but competitive — spreads over adjacent rock and can smother slower corals over time.
- Difficulty
- Beginner
- Ideal Tank Size
- 10 gallons and up.
- Water Parameters
- SG 1.025 · Temp 78°F · Alk 8.0–9.0 dKH · Ca 420–440 ppm · Mg 1350–1400 ppm · NO₃ 2–10 ppm · PO₄ 0.03–0.10 ppm
Low to mid rockwork, or an isolated frag island on the sand bed. Give the colony bare rock to creep across.
Zoanthids do not sting, but they encroach. Mount on an isolated island rock or leave 3 inches of open real estate around the colony. All zoanthids can carry palytoxin — always wear gloves and eye protection when fragging or handling, and never boil or scrape colonies dry.
Quarantine, dip, and acclimation
Quarantine
Hold all new fish in a bare-bottom 10–20 gallon QT for a minimum of 4 weeks. Observe for flashing, clamped fins, white spots, or breathing changes. Treat preventatively with copper (1.75–2.5 ppm chelated) or tank-transfer method for ich, plus a praziquantel course for flukes. Invertebrates and corals skip QT but go through dip and observation instead.
Recommended coral dip
For every new coral: a 5–10 minute bath in your reef-safe dip of choice (Bayer Complete, CoralRx, or Reef Primer) following label dosage, followed by two clean saltwater rinses. Inspect plugs and bases for flatworms, pyramid snails, and eggs — remove or refrag onto clean plugs before placing in display.
Acclimation
Float sealed bags in your QT or display for 15 minutes to match temperature. Then drip acclimate at 2–4 drops per second for 45–60 minutes until volume has tripled. Net livestock into the tank — never pour shipping water in. Dim the lights for the first 24 hours to reduce stress.