A Community-Built Zoanthid Library
I’m building a Wikipedia-style, community-moderated database where reefers can browse, identify, and learn about zoanthid morphs — together.
This page is an early preview. Your feedback will directly shape how IDMyZoa works.
What is IDMyZoa?
IDMyZoa is a dedicated platform for zoanthid morphs only — a place to collect:
- High-quality morph photos
- Clear descriptors (skirt, mouth, rings, pattern, size)
- Basic care & parameter info
- Rarity, price range, and “heat” (hype) level
- Community notes, experiences, and lookalikes
The goal is not for one person or vendor to define everything, but to build a community-driven reference that gets better as more reefers contribute.
Planned Core Features
Here’s what I’m planning to build, roughly in this order:
-
Morph Profile Pages – Each morph gets its own page
with:
- Top-rated primary photo + community gallery
- Descriptor-based fields for ID (skirt, mouth, rings, pattern, size)
- Difficulty, PAR range, flow preference, growth rate
- Price range, rarity, and user-voted “heat level”
- Confidence indicator (red / yellow / green)
- Lookalikes and related morphs
- Comments & user experiences
-
Submission & Review System – Reefers can:
- Submit new morphs with name, photos, and basic descriptors
- Suggest edits and fill in missing data
- Vote up good information and down questionable fields
- Report duplicates (by linking to the morph it looks like) for review
-
Library View – Browse morphs A–Z with basic filters:
- Color traits and pattern
- Rarity and heat level
- Difficulty and PAR range
-
Identify Tool – Filter by traits to narrow down
“What zoa is this?”:
- Skirt / mouth / ring colors
- Pattern style and size category
- Confidence indication per match
-
Articles & Care Guides – Longer-form content such as:
- Care guides for specific morphs or groups
- Tips for dealing with “melty” zoas, pests, or shipping stress
- Equipment recommendations specifically for zoanthids
- These will be written by trusted contributors and reviewed by the community.
How You Can Help Shape IDMyZoa
Before I get too deep into development, I’d love to hear from other zoa keepers and collectors. I’m especially interested in feedback from people who:
- Regularly buy, sell, or trade zoas
- Struggle with identifying morphs accurately
- Run coral businesses or online shops
- Have large or rare collections
Some questions I’d love your thoughts on:
- What fields matter most when you’re trying to ID a zoa (or prove it isn’t what someone claims)?
- Would you use a “heat” / hype rating when browsing or selling?
- How strict should the community be about naming duplicates and lookalikes?
- What kind of abuse or problems do you expect (e.g. price pumping, fake names), and how should the system handle it?
- Would you contribute photos or data if your profile tracked your contributions and trust score?
If you have strong opinions about zoa naming, lookalikes, or how a “zoa wiki” should work, I especially want to hear from you.