I have been selling my Oregon tort frags way to cheap

reeflover62

reeflover62

New member
Just found this on Divers Den:eek1:My prices just went up.
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that is an abnormally high price for oregon tort, even retail. i got my 1" frag thrown in as a freebie on a frag pack.
 
Yeah, their prices are kind of crazy. Saw a ponape bird for like $50-60. We practically give those away around here.
 
I got mine from Scott at High Tide in Tallahassee who got it from Mark Lamont at Fish Heads in Cali in 2007 and He got his from Rick Soutas in Oregon:thumbsup:
 
MBMAX said:
dont get me wrong I am trying to learn. but why you need lineage?
I only care if it is healthy and looks good but I am just starting in the hobbie.
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sounds good now but you will look back at this threadand be like "What was i thinking" hahhaahha

Just nice to track things back kinda like a car fax but its a "fragfax" get it hahhahaha:crazy1:
 
I have about 40 frags of this coral at swaps and not one person asked me the linage. All they said was what is that and how much.
 
psykobowler said:
They are around $40 to $50 an inch in California.
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I don't think there are but a handful of people with true OT in the US and most of the colonies I know about in the Northeast died in 2013 or 2014. I know of 4 colonies that came from the colony I started in 2003 with a frag from Rick Souta in Oregon and all those colonies died in the last 12 months which makes me think that there is some type of coral senescence issue. Of course it's all purely anecdotal so we'll never know, but anyways back to the main point . . .

Where are you seeing OT frags for sale?


Personally, I'm not convinced the one in Diver's Den is a true OT because the picture shows too much green and the polyp is not blue. Could be the lighting but I have my doubts.

Here's some background info surrounding the coral that I think of when people say OT. Others may have a different idea and that's fine, I'm just sharing what I think of when talking about Oregon Tort. :D


Rick Souta's Early Colony

OregonT.jpg



My Original OT frag in 2003 purchased from Rick Souta.


OregonTort.jpg



My Colony in 2007


BestTort.jpg



Reeflovers Colony


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My Colony at it's peak

GroupI.jpg



A Macro (notice the blue polyps and NO GREEN)

BestTortB.jpg



And the drama from the original group of OT owners (Travis, Shaun, and Rick):


hogan400 said:
travis used to sell the only supply (of Oregon Tort), and thats one reason why the static between him and shaun. rick soutas used to hate it and had to send his customers over cuz that guy had none. we used to laugh about it all the time. he finally gave a few pieces back to shaun monahan and thats how he ended up getting it "back" and growing it out. when shaun sold his store, he sold all his colonies of the original torte to rick soutas(a other competitor in portland is rick soutas) to **** travis off. also travis "never" had it first.... shaun had it first but it was dying for both him and myself. lol.... basically i said give it to travis, your display lagoon is killing whats left.... i know he is your competitor but its worth a try. you see what most people dont know behind the story and why its so chopped up is this.

shaun monahan worked for travis before he ever opened his own shop. shaun left to become the competitor and tried stealing customers. which you cant really steal, and thats why the hard... cold.. bloody.... static. they actually tried to be friends a few times but i think customers played against one another. shaun had a very small part but made it his ultimate destiny.
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ShaunMonahan said:
Hello all-

My name is Shaun Monahan and I imported the ORIGINAL Oregon Tort back in late 1998. It was originally a beige color. This is about the time the first 20k 400w Radiums became available, and this (then beige) coral was mounted about 6" from the water line, directly under the 400w 20k Radium in my store's (Waves Marine Aquaria) 150g display. Within a few days this coral started to develop the solid deep blue coloration it's well known for today.

This coral was imported from Bali - NOT the SOLOMONS or any other local- I cannot speak for the "other" torts, and where they've originated from, just this one.

This tort was starting to show some signs of RTN along the base, so Travis and I ended up trading some SPS. Once I fragged my tort, it ended up completely bleaching out then next day. So, Travis thankfully ended up saving this coral, growing it out, and fragging it to sell.

The rest of what Travis stated is correct, and to further clarify we have never been enemies- just very competitive. Also my website was ecorals... And Patrick Monaghan and I are not related.... And Steve Tyree and I used to do a lot of frag trading back in the late 90's....

And I hope this clarifies.
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Actually after rereading the story I think I'm gonna up my lighting to 400 watt just to be sure. I lost my colony when I switched to T5 with 150 HQI, and none of the local reefers that had frags used 400 watt MH so I wonder if that is the secret : ultra high light!
 
For the record I just bought a piece from Reeflover62 and based on his photographs and story I am certain he has one of the few OT colonies in existence. I don't think any other coral has that true navy blue color. Blue Matrix and Blue Hoek are close, but then they have very different growth. I really think true blue OT is rather distinctive.

Also I never sold a frag for less than $150 and I probably sold 100 frags over the ten years I had my colony, but I also never sold less than a one inch piece.
 
Jpmagyar, I purchased mine directly from an old school reefer Tim (Tfp). He had his colony from over a decade ago. There are a handful of reefers in Northern California that have colonies of Oregon tort. Tim told me he paid quite a lot for a half inch frag from the original source up north. We have a lot of talented sps reefers locally including Tim plaza and mark Poletti just to name a few. We run into them once in a while in our local fish stores. We have john from yourreef who also provided Steve tyree a lot of his lineage corals. The Oregon tort is not uncommon in NorCal but normally it is sold by connections rather than advertising. Once in a while an old school reefer would put it up for sale and it sells quick. The Cali tort is a fast grower and can be purchased for $20 in our neck of the woods.
 
psykobowler said:
Jpmagyar, I purchased mine directly from an old school reefer Tim (Tfp). He had his colony from over a decade ago. There are a handful of reefers in Northern California that have colonies of Oregon tort. Tim told me he paid quite a lot for a half inch frag from the original source up north. We have a lot of talented sps reefers locally including Tim plaza and mark Poletti just to name a few. We run into them once in a while in our local fish stores. We have john from yourreef who also provided Steve tyree a lot of his lineage corals. The Oregon tort is not uncommon in NorCal but normally it is sold by connections rather than advertising. Once in a while an old school reefer would put it up for sale and it sells quick. The Cali tort is a fast grower and can be purchased for $20 in our neck of the woods.
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It's good to hear there are more colonies still around. If you come across a frag I will gladly pay a hefty "handling" charge so I hope you'll keep me in mind. I wish there were more folks on RC with colonies.
 
No problem. John Coppollino copps did a seminar in our local club MARS - marine aquarist roundtable of Sacramento. If you ever do a seminar in Cali I can even frag you a piece.

Glenn
 
reeflover62 said:
I got mine from Scott at High Tide in Tallahassee who got it from Mark Lamont at Fish Heads in Cali in 2007 and He got his from Rick Soutas in Oregon:thumbsup:
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sounds perfect to me..can we some how get a frag to come my way in new york? I did have it two times and both times i lost it. I picked it up from cunareefer and it looked like yours. let me know size price and shipping

Michael
 
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