If you actually read the thread on that forum you would realize how difficult it is to achieve the full alternating skirt color. Many of th red ring colonies simply don't end up having red skirts. That being said, true red hornets are probably more common than most people realize.
Akwarius, you are correct, they are very common and very cheap. The price went through the roof when the consumer gave them a name and called them rare. Now the LFS and suppliers watch these forums and what do you think they will do? Raise the price sky high because the reefers gave them a name and created the false hype.
Does anyone know how long these have been around?
For at least 15 years. This is not a rare, hard to find or uncommon zoanthid. If someone has told you this, it isn't true. I see that a lot of people want to believe a story if the story is exciting or adds value to what they own. If some want to believe that, that's fine, but the truth of the matter is there was a time when you couldn't give this particular zoanthid away in a store. I have seen full colonies sit untouched for months at a time. Then someone gave them a name and the world believed the hype. A colony of 30 to 40 could be purchased for $ 45 on a 3" x 4" rock. Then naming, hype, false statements about rarity...and here we are.
If you haven't notices, this is why so many reefers here with many many years of experience have left. I can name 15 off the top of my head. Some of these guys were here when I joined and some came later. When they leave, I lose, you lose, the forum loses. zoa keeping loses. Why? A wealth of knowledge that can answer your questions, give back, help and share also leaves. If you haven't noticed, when was the last time you saw 650-IS350 post? Think for a minute? Can you now imagine why so many are leaving?
There is so much more to zoa keeping then names, hype, high prices, ID's
and false claims of something which is rare and expensive when it really isn't.
I just checked 5 pages back. There are 50 questions ask or post made in this forum in the last month with 5 or less replies. Many only have 1 or 2 replies and some have zero....zero REPLIES ???. Yet the minute a picture is posted, a picture with a name is posted, that thread lights up with 20, 40, 60 replies and hundreds of views. When your tank is in crisis and you are experiencing a serious issue which threatens your entire zoa population, will the names, the discussion of the names, or hype, false claims or pricing do anything to save your polyps? Then why are these topics the only topics which show any interest? I'm only asking.
The reason everyone is leaving and we have gone from filling the entire first page of this forum with dozens of active topics to 4 or 5 days of post on the first page is obvious. And yes, I have spoken to many of them, they are gone and more and more are leaving. But it seems that few seem to care. I learned a lot when I got my first tank from those guys who came before us. I valued those opinions, but I guess things have now changed.
I agree with the OP, lets say good bye to all of these over priced polyps and frags.
