10 'most rare' SPS corals for a Tank

[Znut Reefer]

You can also check out rockymountianfrags. Jared has some really nice and hard to come by acros. Some others to consider and hard to come by are:
Bubblegum millie
Millie maddness
Palmers blue millie
Ultimates rainbow millie
Rouge millie

As you can tell I like millies

 

[t4zalews]

I've gotten some cool pieces from vivid aquariums and atlantis aquariums

 

[Gangous]

Wet thumb frags has some sweet ones!!

 

[dvanacker]

Those are all good suggestions guys but he wont be able to have any of the American online retailers ship corals to him.

 

[acroholicreefer]

Are you trying to ask about which acros have the highest demand? Since you are outside of the US, I would focus on species vs trade names. You'll have a much better chance of finding what you are looking for in maricultured pieces.

This is my list and yours might be completely different.

01) Acropora Suharsonoi
02) Acropora Lokani
03) Acroproa Granulosa
04) Acropora Echinata
05) Acroproa Microlados
06) Acroproa Nasuta
07) Acropora Sarmentosa
08) Acropora Tortuosa
09) Acropora Hoeksemai
10) Acropora Horrida

 

[Big E]

I agree, and I'm not one to buy simply because something is expensive but I have seen of the harder to come buy SPS corals and they are simply beautiful. I was just wondering where you can buy them from thats all.

Example:

http://www.aquacon.com/images/AcroporaBaliPurpleTricolor2.jpg

That's a valida or secale...........

You can get a colony of that from Live Aquaria. You just have to be picky & wait for a nice one to show up.


Nothing I've seen listed so far is "rare".................these are all available locally in my area from other reefers. You should get in touch with reefers in your area & look for something that catches your eye. Most are always willing to a trade or charge a reasonable price versus what vendors want.

 

[shaginwagon13]

Thanks for all the input guys. Now onto my next question. I went online and found the CITES Application forum which would allow me to get corals shipped to my US address and then I could bring them back to Canada with me.... anyone fill one of these things out? Some of the fields are sort of confusing.

 

[myzislow]

ATL Red Polyp Clathrata, very hard to come by, extremely slow grower, really a stunning piece, rarely see one that is 'grown out'.

Red dragon rare? I think not, super-fast grower, you're already seeing colonies on a regular basis.

Mine is well on its way to being grown out. Im getting some fast growth on my piece, even showing branching! You can see it top down in my thread here or the other site. I agree with you tho, hardly anybody has it.

Add the real deal pink panther, ora purple pillow, and dustins deepwater...now those are hard to obtain. Only a few vendors have them, and many hobbyists dont want to cut theirs.

 

[myzislow]

I would say-
tyree red dragon acro
Ice Fire Echinata
tyree purple monster
$500 efflo
********** red robin acro
Tierra de fuego
ultimate's rainbow acro
Rommel's Watermelon
Tyree Blue Matrix
uww sunburst monti

all of these besides the real blue matrix are readily available...

 

[Jeff000]

Thanks for all the input guys. Now onto my next question. I went online and found the CITES Application forum which would allow me to get corals shipped to my US address and then I could bring them back to Canada with me.... anyone fill one of these things out? Some of the fields are sort of confusing.

You do not need a permit to ship US to US.
Any of the named corals listed in this thread can not be legally imported as ORA does not release their collection sites.
Any ORA frag you see in Canada was probably shipped to the boarder and driven across or shipped with fingers crossed you don't get the one guy out of a thousand that actually knows corals can't be shipped across the boarder.

To get a CITES permit you are looking at 300+ and you need to fudge a bunch of info like actual species. The odds of the lowly worker checking the corals over actually knowing the difference between one acro and another are almost zero, as most hobbiest can't tell you that. But if you are bypassing the law already why not just skip the added cost.

NOTE, I am not suggesting or condoning breaking the law. All these frags are in Canada already, just a lot harder to come by as they have been brought in illegally.

 

[rtbm]

Mine is well on its way to being grown out. Im getting some fast growth on my piece, even showing branching! You can see it top down in my thread here or the other site. I agree with you tho, hardly anybody has it.

Add the real deal pink panther, ora purple pillow, and dustins deepwater...now those are hard to obtain. Only a few vendors have them, and many hobbyists dont want to cut theirs.

plus one on purple pillow.

Does anyone have this anymore? The pillow is the only long captive acro I could see actually becoming extinct. :uhoh3:

 

[MammothReefer]

My rare list has nothing to do with named corals.. if it's named it's being propped it's not rare. Almost everything on the other page you can buy RIGHT now in RC classified forums, or a couple online vendors.

To me there are a few species I have never seen imported. Aussie stuff seems to be very limited to maybe a dozen acros. Have you ever seen an Aussi Soli, or a Branchi from Sri Lanka. That's not even talking about the stuff that is illegal to import. When have you ever seen a Japanese Acro in trade? (yes they have some)

Look threw http://sdmas.com/corals/ Sure there are a lot of mis-id's but there are a TON of acros on that list I've never seen available in the trade.

http://sdmas.com/corals/22.php
Acropora Dendrum? Never seen one of those for sale.

Acropora filiformis
http://sdmas.com/corals/789.php

 

[myzislow]

plus one on purple pillow.

Does anyone have this anymore? The pillow is the only long captive acro I could see actually becoming extinct. :uhoh3:

I got a large frag the same day my pack from you came in. So far so good as its doing great, putting down a nice base and growing at the tips. Color is very unique green with purpleish tips. Nice PE on it as well which makes it even more unique.

 

[shaginwagon13]

My rare list has nothing to do with named corals.. if it's named it's being propped it's not rare. Almost everything on the other page you can buy RIGHT now in RC classified forums, or a couple online vendors.

To me there are a few species I have never seen imported. Aussie stuff seems to be very limited to maybe a dozen acros. Have you ever seen an Aussi Soli, or a Branchi from Sri Lanka. That's not even talking about the stuff that is illegal to import. When have you ever seen a Japanese Acro in trade? (yes they have some)

Look threw http://sdmas.com/corals/ Sure there are a lot of mis-id's but there are a TON of acros on that list I've never seen available in the trade.

http://sdmas.com/corals/22.php
Acropora Dendrum? Never seen one of those for sale.

Acropora filiformis
http://sdmas.com/corals/789.php

this one is beautiful:

http://sdmas.com/corals/35.php

 

[dvanacker]

You can't really go by the colour you see in the aims database. Some species that look brown can be found in the trade with awesome colour and vice versa. Things totally change when we get them under out artifical light.

Humilis is not that rare....you can definately find nice wild ones. I think they are hard to keep though because you never see any 2nd or 3rd generation captive grown frags and many people with long time nice colonies in their tanks.

 

[lobsterotomy]

So, instead of hunting for "rare" or "expensive" why not stock your big tank with whatever catches your eye at the shops? With the number of local shops in TO/GTA bringing in quality mari and wild shipments, you'll undoubtedly be able to find corals to fill your new tank.

And since you're not all that familiar with what might be rare, instead of trying to start off with a SPS aficionado's coral collection why don't you figure out what you actually like before shelling out hundreds (or for some of us) thousands on that collection of sticks and plates? Some of the most common varieties are the most beautiful available.

Also, if you look, there are those hobbyists in the GTA that have some of the above mentioned corals - you just need to know who to ask

 

[dnsfpl]

imo anything that is beautiful, difficult to keep(or maintain its color) and slow growing sps can be consider as rare

 

[allsps40]

Dont know how rare it is but I have only ever seen just the one I have. Not a good pic white balance is not right so it looks really brown, sps on the sand bed under the undata.

 

[dvanacker]

Im not sure what kind of LPS that is but its definitely not an SPS.

 

[allsps40]

No it is a sps for sure, not a lps. It has larger polyps for a sps but nothing like any lps. It is some kind of encrusting sps. Slow grower as well.