Idaho Grape Monti at swap

MJAnderson

Premium Member
Just curious.

I see two people listing this frag. One says it's a Tyree LE frag. I thought all these came from the same frag in Idaho. Is there any difference in these? The one with the Tyree name is $5 more. Just marketing?

Thanks.
 
I'm no Idaho Grape expert but there are a number of variables that can affect frag pricing. A few that come to mind...

size
shape
color intensity
fresh cut or healed
availability (supply & demand)

All of these being equal...marketing :D
 
tyree is the one that sells this coral on his site. Thats why its called tyree l.e. Not positive where the name idaho grape came from.
 
A little bio of Mr. Idaho Grape.

http://www.reeffarmers.com/

This Montipora undata has an incredible pigment coloration pattern that requires some explanation. I first saw this Montipora specimen in of all places, the land locked State of Idaho. We were on the last stop of a local tank tour sponsered by the Idaho Marine Aquarium Society when I spotted this amazing Montipora undata that had acquired an exotic coloration that I had never seen before on a Montipora or photosynthetic stony coral. It was an odd and beautiful shade somewhere between pink and purple. The local aquarist had grown the coral under VHO fluorescent lighting. I was able to barter for a fragment of this exotic coral and hand carried it in a bag of water through the Boise airport, on two planes and all the way back to reeffarmers.com facility in Rancho Cucamonga California. By the time I arrived at my facility the bag water was cold and the coral look very stressed. Luckily it recovered and has now grown into a small colony. The pigmentation changed from its wild pink/purple to a deeper purple that has a grape-like coloration. Coral edges and tops of tuberculae are colored bright blue. This reef has a 400 watt 20,000 K metal halide and a couple of small T5 actinic fluorescents. The reef aqaurist who is farming this coral is Scott Morell of Boise Idaho. Scott acquired the coral from GARF on January 2002. GARF calls this coral a 'Bali Red Bowl'. The coral actually appears to be an undata species as the growth form also looks very much like that shown in Corals of the World Volume 1 Page 87 Image 5 and 8. This morph also has the horizontal plating growth form for this species. Steve Tyree is maintaining this coral for reeffarmers.com in one of his 125 gallon naturally filtered Tri-Zonal EG Reef Aquariums. In Steve's captive reef the coral is positoned at about 16 inches from a 400 watt 20,000 K Radium Metal Halide. This coral can maintain its exotic grape pigmentation in moderate to strong lighting. You might even have success using a maximum amount of VHO fluorescent lights. Water current is moderate. Starting in September 2003 ReefFarmers.com is allowed to distribute 1 farmed fragment of this coral per month. Price is currently $70 per small sized fragment. The monthly limited edition reservation schedule can be found below.
 
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