Chalice Frags

CrayolaViolence

New member
While I have a couple of chalice and love them, I'm seeing a lot of wildly colored ones I've never seen before. Are these morphs people have bred in captivity? Are they cultured by some how grafting different chalices together? Or do they come from somewhere in particular.

I'd like more information on them. I've seen a few sellers on Ebay with them but also heard those sellers photoshop the color so I am wary of buying from them.
 
P.s. Are these chalice frags called something else as well besides a chalice? Might be why I can't find them anywhere but certain places.
 
I've noticed several people who have these brightly colored chalice, rainbow in appearance. I've never seen then in stores. Where do you find them? Thanks

Online and Maybe Frag Swaps.

Stores are not Going to have them and they are not Cheap.

I know a guy who pays $800 an eye which is a small fraction of a frag plug.

A Full Frag Plug can cost many thousands of dollars.

The First One is $5,000

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I admit, I never thought of chalices as LPS. I have a couple but they don't seem like they'd be LPS (they are common ones) Hollywood stunner, then some type of purple one with yellow eyes and a yellow rim. I don't know, maybe it's because the polyps don't look so large to me.

Anyhow. What causes these colors to occur in these chalices (shown above). Are they morphology or just luck of the draw when you purchase them somewhere? Are the cultured this way? (small pieces put together then grown together over time?). Or are they only found in a certain area of the world? I'd be really curious as to what causes these bright swirling colors.

While I'm not going to pay 5K for a frag (of any kind unless I win the lottery) I would pay a fair price for something very unique (a couple hundred dollars). Maybe not ultra rare, but beautiful to add to my tank.

Are there individuals here on the list who specialize in chalices? I'd love to talk with you if you do.
 
I admit, I never thought of chalices as LPS. I have a couple but they don't seem like they'd be LPS (they are common ones) Hollywood stunner, then some type of purple one with yellow eyes and a yellow rim. I don't know, maybe it's because the polyps don't look so large to me.

Anyhow. What causes these colors to occur in these chalices (shown above). Are they morphology or just luck of the draw when you purchase them somewhere? Are the cultured this way? (small pieces put together then grown together over time?). Or are they only found in a certain area of the world? I'd be really curious as to what causes these bright swirling colors.

While I'm not going to pay 5K for a frag (of any kind unless I win the lottery) I would pay a fair price for something very unique (a couple hundred dollars). Maybe not ultra rare, but beautiful to add to my tank.

Are there individuals here on the list who specialize in chalices? I'd love to talk with you if you do.

They are Just Rare and Hard to Find in the Ocean.

Plus Chalices Grow Super Slooooow.

If they found more in the ocean or they grew fast they would not be so Rare and would not cost so much.

In regards to Color that can be said about any Coral.

There are Brown Zoanthids and Acros and there are Beautiful Crazy Colored Ones Too.

I am sure nobody knows why some have amazing colors and some don't.
 
The colors we see & perceive are either pigments in the tissue itself or the zooxallanthae pigments reflecting select wavelengths of light. We know that hard coral loose color when they bleach and the cause is expulsion is said zooxallanthae into the water column. And we know these free swimming dinoflagellates can incorporate back into the animals tissue sometimes if conditions improve.

There is an interesting thread in this forum by an Austrailian who has a technique of inoculating blah acan/micromusa lords with zoox from rainbow varieties and the secret seems to be zoox transfer.

I've always speculated that outrageously colored rainbow colored chalices and other species are missed because collectors are hunting during the day when colors are washed out at 6500K sunlight as opposed to hunting at night with blue spectrum lights. I guess I'll probably have to plan a dive trip to OZ to test that theory out.
 
Um, like you said Lighting.

Use all Blue LED and they will look like that.

I use all blue LED and they do not. Those pictures are photoshopped AF, the ultra high contrast alone is a dead giveaway much less how the reds saturate through the other colors in the image. Textbook fake pictures.
 
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