Is my friend right or wrong?

The way I see it, the difference between maricultured and aqua cultured corals are very similar to commercial farming versus a guy growing a garden in his back yard; one has a finely selected set of traits and one has a higher variance. I know I'm beating a dead horse but that's the way I understand it and would explain it to him. I would also tell him that if his skills were up to par then he wouldn't rely on corals that have proven track records and should be able to grow anything. That should hurt his pride enough! ;-)
 
Ok, i'm hearing alot of negative comments. Which is cool. But I also see alot of experienced reefers in this thread (based on post counts), that seem to kinda agree with him. So I'm thinking he is kinda right.
 
I would also tell him that if his skills were up to par then he wouldn't rely on corals that have proven track records and should be able to grow anything. That should hurt his pride enough! ;-)

Ya but you would be wrong. Some acropora just to not seem to thrive (grow and/or colour up nicely) in an aquarium no matter how healthy that aquarium seems and great the skill level of the aquarist.

Part of the issue is definitely in the shipping/handling and stress of the journey of being pulled from the ocean and shipped around the world. Part of the issue is (especially larger wild colonies) is that the coral has grown and is used to a certain amount/type of light/flow etc. and our captive systems are different. And part of the issue is truely that some acropora are more adaptable. Point blank.

IMO it would be smart of any aquarist to stalk his/her tank mostly with PROVEN aquarium grown frags. Sure try your hand at wild or maricultured too but it really is more of a gamble. You could end up with a coral that is mind blowing, or you could end up with a dead, fugly stagnant coral.

The highest indication of future success is past success. This holds true in so many ways in this hobby.

Its not really about the name, don't get too caught up in that. For me its just that this hobby is hard enough as it is, do you want to start with a higher chance of success or make it harder on yourself. Also many aquarium grown frags can be found locally for really good deals around here. They arent the newest kid on the block (torts, setosa, different montis, hawkins, pink lemonade, stags etc) but even there are lots of named corals that are not proven too so watch out for those. people are starting to pay big bucks for frags from wild corals that aren't proven. You gotta take all this into consideration.
 
Ya but you would be wrong. Some acropora just to not seem to thrive (grow and/or colour up nicely) in an aquarium no matter how healthy that aquarium seems and great the skill level of the aquarist.

Part of the issue is definitely in the shipping/handling and stress of the journey of being pulled from the ocean and shipped around the world. Part of the issue is (especially larger wild colonies) is that the coral has grown and is used to a certain amount/type of light/flow etc. and our captive systems are different. And part of the issue is truely that some acropora are more adaptable. Point blank.

IMO it would be smart of any aquarist to stalk his/her tank mostly with PROVEN aquarium grown frags. Sure try your hand at wild or maricultured too but it really is more of a gamble. You could end up with a coral that is mind blowing, or you could end up with a dead, fugly stagnant coral.

The highest indication of future success is past success. This holds true in so many ways in this hobby.

Its not really about the name, don't get too caught up in that. For me its just that this hobby is hard enough as it is, do you want to start with a higher chance of success or make it harder on yourself. Also many aquarium grown frags can be found locally for really good deals around here. They arent the newest kid on the block (torts, setosa, different montis, hawkins, pink lemonade, stags etc) but even there are lots of named corals that are not proven too so watch out for those. people are starting to pay big bucks for frags from wild corals that aren't proven. You gotta take all this into consideration.

Agree 100%. You absolutely can find a brown acro at the LFS, and have it turn into something really crazy...or you could end up with a brown acro. So there is something to be said about buying named corals because you have an idea of how they'll color up. Of course, different tanks/ different lights, and named corals can color up differently.

As far as the the OP that no-name corals don't color up, that is just flat out wrong.
 
Ya but you would be wrong. Some acropora just to not seem to thrive (grow and/or colour up nicely) in an aquarium no matter how healthy that aquarium seems and great the skill level of the aquarist.

Part of the issue is definitely in the shipping/handling and stress of the journey of being pulled from the ocean and shipped around the world. Part of the issue is (especially larger wild colonies) is that the coral has grown and is used to a certain amount/type of light/flow etc. and our captive systems are different. And part of the issue is truely that some acropora are more adaptable. Point blank.

IMO it would be smart of any aquarist to stalk his/her tank mostly with PROVEN aquarium grown frags. Sure try your hand at wild or maricultured too but it really is more of a gamble. You could end up with a coral that is mind blowing, or you could end up with a dead, fugly stagnant coral.

The highest indication of future success is past success. This holds true in so many ways in this hobby.

Its not really about the name, don't get too caught up in that. For me its just that this hobby is hard enough as it is, do you want to start with a higher chance of success or make it harder on yourself. Also many aquarium grown frags can be found locally for really good deals around here. They arent the newest kid on the block (torts, setosa, different montis, hawkins, pink lemonade, stags etc) but even there are lots of named corals that are not proven too so watch out for those. people are starting to pay big bucks for frags from wild corals that aren't proven. You gotta take all this into consideration.

Oh I know. I would still say it ruffle his feathers though. After all, what are friends for?!
 
Back
Top