Maricultured and Aquacultured Corals

[aquadonkey]

Can anyone tell me about these?
What's the difference between maricultured and aquacultured?
Is there anything I should watch out for when buying these corals?
The appeal is that they help with sustainability - anything to contradict this?
Thanks!

 

[RyanEG]

From what I gather both are responsible reefkeeping choices. Aquacultered are grown in large vats that act as a large aquarium basically and maricultured are grown in protected lagoons in the ocean.

 

[mr.maroonsalty]

Aquaculture is what fraggers do, we aren't yet generating corals reproductively in captive housing, so generally aquaculture corals are frags from established tank raised colonies. Mariculture corals are wild corals that are suppose to be grown out or taken from colonies that are being hand cared for in the ocean. Mariculture corals are usually small colony size pieces, whereas aquaculture corals are almost always frags of varying sizes. With mariculture pieces you are still getting a wild coral, so its tank hardiness in terms of health and colour is not proven. Reputable mariculture stuff is often multi-generations old, and has a proven track record of doing well in our synthetic environments.

 

[dan10342]

I believe Aquacultured corals are those that are captive grown and raised. Size really isnt a factor. I've seen many aquacultured corals for sale at minicolony/colony size.

Maricultured corals are those that are grown in the ocean. They are "frags" taken from wild colonies, and grown in the ocean. by the time the frags are ready to be shipped out... the mother colony they were taken from has already grown back. it is NOT the same as just taking a coral from the wild and shipping it.