Coral Lineage - Is it REALLY that important and worth the $$$ ?

[Stray32]

I hear people ask questions all the time about coral lineage, some even refuse to buy a piece if it doesn't have lineage, even though it looks the same and is half the price. So is it bragging rights? Help me understand, because that's the only reason I could think of to buy a Mummy Eye Chalice with lineage for $150 over a Mummy Eye Chalice without lineage for $75 (just an example)

I know there are "collectors" in this hobby, however, I would hope that most of us are in this to create a thriving reef, in essence a mini-ocean, that's why I am in it anyway.

 

[raynist]

I think it depends on what your purpose is with the piece. If I am just keeping it in my tank I don't care if it has lineage if it looks the same (and would rather pay less!!)

I supposed if you are buying a piece with the purpose of growing it out and fragging it to sell then the lineage would be important if you want to get the most money for your frags.

 

[cloakerpoked]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14682635#post14682635 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by raynist

I supposed if you are buying a piece with the purpose of growing it out and fragging it to sell then the lineage would be important if you want to get the most money for your frags.

Like you originally identified, there is definitely a niche market of people who pay crazy amounts of prices, and obviously to them, the lineage is absolutely worth the price. You see some people who have nothing but lineaged corals in their tanks. I'm sure they have a varying amount of reasons for this.

ORA used to only sell 3rd or 4th generation corals if I understand correctly. That means that ORA corals are a sure bet in captivity to thrive if kept in proper conditions. That's nice to know, but if I knew something had been in somebody's tank for 2 years, and had healed over its plug, it pretty much tells the same story.

Bottom line is that it comes down to personal preference. Obviously to some people, lineage is worth the extra cash. To me, if it looks nice, I'll pop it in my tank I have zoas that I have no idea what they are actually called (or what some hobbiest at one point decided they were an "expert" on) but if they look nice, and the price is right, I'll take them. It's helpful from an ID standpoint, since pics can't always tell the true story, but it does get ridiculous. Some of the zoas and palys out there now have such subtle differences that it hardly commands creating a new name for...but then I guess if you do find some way to make it unique (i.e. my eagle eye zoa is different at the cellular level, so I'm going to call it an eagle eye ppe super paly), you can sell it for $300 per polyp on ebay (Purple Hornets anyone?)