Prometheans Zoanthids

PZ Prometheans Zoanthids will always have a place in our hearts with their incredibly unique and bizarre coloration. They are one of the few zoanthids that we would consider “black,” and the black coloration is most apparent under blue LEDs. Under white lighting, they are not as deep black but are still just as nice. Aside from the rare black coloration, the polyps have an eye-catching orange center followed by stunning neon green rings. The green coloration outlines the patterns on this morph perfectly, surrounding not only the orange mouth, but the entire outer skirts, giving a very clean and handsome look to this Zoanthid. Their minute size is also a unique feature, as their size is inbetween a Micro-Zoanthid and standard Zoanthid. Emeralds on Fire and Fruit Loops are good comparisons when it comes to polyp size.


Travis of Planet Zoa brought these amazing Zoanthids to the attention of zoanthid collectors around 2013. At the time, Planet Zoa was one of the few places where you could easily find a selection of 100+ Zoanthids at a time. Zoanthid collectors would eagerly follow Travis’ updates for the latest and hottest morphs, which gave this morph a chance to shine.

But the origin story goes back a little bit further. A Reef2Reef hobbyist under the username of “coralfarm123” purchased them from vendor Pacific East Aquaculture as a no name wild morph. Luckily, as his username would suggest, he was very proficient at growing corals and aquaculturing. After a few years of growing them, he offered his first handful of frags onto the Reef2Reef Marketplace on November 25, 2012. What an eventful Thanksgiving weekend, as Travis happened to be browsing the forums and the unique coloration caught his eye. Travis purchased a few of these zoanthids and took them under his wing. When it was time to offer them for sale, he gave them the name PZ Prometheans, most likely after the robot-like enemies from popular video game Halo. Unfortunately, as unique as PZ Prometheans were, they were outshone by multi-hundred dollar morphs that were entering the scene. The early 2010s was a golden era for Zoanthids, where many morphs such as Ktar Black Hornets, Seductions, Hallucinations, and Shazaams were entering the scene. With such high price tags, they demanded the attention of Zoanthid hobbyists more so than the modestly priced Prometheans. Planet Zoa was the only source to purchase this unique little zoanthid, along with user “coralfarm123” offering frags once a year throughout 2013-2015. Eventually, Travis started a family and had no time to run Planet Zoa anymore. Once Planet Zoa shut down, finding this zoanthid became increasingly difficult. Luckily, zoanthid lovers who did purchase this morph were able to grow it and spread it around a little bit more. The frags that you find today of this morph is due to those few Zoanthid collectors that gave this morph a shot.



To this day, PZ Prometheans still remain a rather elusive morph. If you’re fortunate to find this piece, it’s worth a grab just so it gets spread around and can remain a gorgeous strain in the hobby. Its growth rate and care is similar to Fruit Loops, which fortunately means it’s not too difficult to keep. The only difficulty with PZ Prometheans is its rather small polyp size. The small size means it’s more prone to being physically damaged along with being covered in algae and detritus. Once this zoanthid has created a decent amount of tissue mat, it is recommended to give it adequate flow to prevent any detritus build up. PZ Prometheans do best under lower lighting conditions and require stable water parameters.