Large to XL Specimens?

[madequity]

For all you large reef keepers I was curious how you come by these large specimens to house in your tanks? In my experience which is with smaller more nano sized tanks <30 gallons I have just never come by any large specimens in the trade and I am contemplating a larger ~ 400 gallon tank.

While I understand things grow over time I see a few tanks posted here that are "newly" setup with no mention of upgrading from a smaller tank and I see for example sarcophyton that is easily 24 inches in diameter!

I'm simply curious and jealous is all!

 

[CMReefer]

The Sarcophyton's can grow very fast. I have one that is about 20" across that I bought 1.5 years ago and it was only 4" across at the time.

Some importers bring in large colonies, but the number of customers for these "show" colonies is much lower than the volume of customers looking for smaller ones. Also, importers pay fees based on size so large specimens are less often collected because they cost A LOT more.

I have had success getting larger colonies here in Socal through an importer that I have worked with for years so let me know if you're interested.

Hope that's helpful.

Danny