Stratosphere
Zoanthus, a zoanthid. Intermediate to keep, typical PAR 75–150, moderate flow.
Also sold as Stratospheres, Strats, Stratospehere.
A loose trade name. Sellers use it loosely, so trust the photo over the label.
Collector tier: ultra, where the trade ranks it from common through grail.
Names that contain “Stratosphere” and are not this coral: Queen Stratosphere. They are separate corals traded at their own prices, so read the animal rather than the label.
A zoa known for its centre: gold to yellow rings wound tightly with black to deep purple, so tightly that one farm asks whether it is black on gold or gold on black. A UK grower calls this the classic swirl and sells a speckled strain separately. The skirt is less settled: one farm calls it pink and black, another only deep and contrasting.
Before you buy one
Judge the centre: gold against near-black or deep purple, in rings or a swirl. The record is thin: three sellers describe it in a sentence or two each, the forum threads about it could not be read, and the shop pages that say more read as marketing copy, one of them giving it a cyan mouth no one else mentions. It is among the most expensive zoas sold, and one grower warns of knock-offs under the name, so ask to see the mother colony under white light. Stratocaster is a different zoa with a similar name. Top Shelf calls it notorious for melting, and in 2020 a CORAL Magazine photographer whose own had melted thought it gone from captivity until learning that SBB Corals still had it.
Keeping zoanthids
Low to middle rock, enough flow to keep detritus off the mat. Stratosphere is intermediate to keep at a typical PAR of 75–150 in moderate flow. A typical starting range for this type of coral, not measured on this one.
What Stratosphere goes for
No verified sales yet. A range publishes once 3 dated, checkable records from 3 different sources exist, priced per polyp and reported as a median, with what shops ask kept separate from what buyers paid. One polyp, so a ten-polyp frag is divided by ten. Listings that do not state the count are dropped rather than assumed. Nothing on this page is for sale.