<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11393779#post11393779 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by MUCHO REEF
Just my opinion and I force it on no one.
I've been reefing for about 16 plus years. I think 14 of that is in Zoanthid and Palythoas collecting, propagating and outright giving frags away. I use to sell frags all over the country from 2001 to 2006 for $ 15 to $ 20 per frag, but I soon stopped. That's right, just 2 years ago, you could buy an entire colony for what 1 or 2 polyps cost today. I don't care how blue, red, yellow, speckled or rainbowed they were, you could buy an entire colony for $ 25 to $ 60 depending on the size of the rock. Do you know why I stopped selling? When more reefers were concerned with names, lineage and the dramatic price hikes that came along with it, I decided the real focus was no longer on true reefing. By that I mean, husbandry, bio diversity, water chemistry, creative aquascaping most conducive for coral growth and so much more.
Two years ago, I never heard the word lineage being mentioned as it relates to zoanthids and palythoas. I have never asked nor will I ever ask about lineage when purchasing polyps, I don't knock anyone who does, I just don't bother. I take great pride in studying the characteristics of a polyp and remembering what to look for and not who had it first and if they were the first to obtain it. If I find something extremely stunning in a LFS, the last thing I'm going to inquire about is lineage. In my opinion, lineage is important for only two things, resale credibility and resale value as the reefer mentioned above. This craze of attaching a person's name to a polyp is completely out of hand IMHO. Joe's PPV's, Skip Jack's HMO's and the like is not proof of lineage. I have seen polyps that have been named and ownership taken, and they are the exact same polyps that I have had for many years before names were mainstream or before they were even named. As stated above, I can take a polyp, which someone can prove its lineage, and place it in a completely different system than it has acclimated to, and I can change the appearance of that polyp and sometimes specks or other pigments can/will appear/disappear. The polyp has now changed in appearance, but its lineage has remained the same. The same holds true for photographing a polyp. I can change the lighting and completely alter the appearance of a polyp, yet the lineage stays the same yet the polyp is different.
I have the craziest most stunning big deep bright blue palys that I have ever seen. People drop their jaw when they see them. I have never seen them anywhere that I have looked, and I check weekly. I was offered money you wouldn't believe for them. I'm talking some very big money that a certain orange paly fetches, but I turned down the offer. Nothing is worth that much. Since I'm not into names, and I'm not knocking anyone who is, I'd be a fool to think or say that I am the only one who has them and I dare not name them Mucho's Blue Dragons or something.
In my opinion, and my opinion alone, lineage is a complete waste of time, again, just my opinion. I have spoken with young reefers who can tell me where every single polyp in their system came from, the name and what they can sell them for. What troubles me the most, is many of them didn't know what cyano was. They didn't know Hypersalinity from Hyposalinity. They had hundreds if not thousands of dollars in polyps, but didn't own a single test kit. They couldn't explain why their zoas and plays kept dying, only to go out and buy more to keep up with what everyone else was buying. Yet they knew every name, lineage and price of every polyp they owned.
Longevity in this hobby is achieved with reefing because it's fun, relaxing, enjoyable and fulfilling. This is done by listening, reading, learning, asking questions and giving back. If someone enjoys the knowledge of lineage, I'm NOT going to bash them for it. There is simply far more important things for me to be concerned with if one wants to develop a blue thumb in reefing.
Mucho Reef
