New to LPS...Was this a good deal?

[jadette]

Primarily had zoos and SPS corals in my last two tanks, but I've recently taken a liking to LPS corals. Oh sure, I had my large colony of frogspawn, but Acans, Micros, and Blastos are completely foreign to me. I'm oblivous to what's considered rare or common in the LPS world.

I went to an aquarium convention over the weekend and picked up this mini-colony for $30. Love it because I needed more green and purple in my tank.

My LPS noob question is, what is it and did I pay a reasonable price for it?

Thanks!

 

[kass03]

Looks like a common blasto merletti to me.
Merlettis have small polyps where the welsis have larger polyps.

I'd say thats a fair price for a LFS.

kass

 

[cody6766]

Was it worth it to you? I don't know about that specific type of coral and its pricing, but $30 isn't bad for most nice looking corals. I got a steal on mine. It's purple with blue mouths and about 6" in diameter. I paid $30 for it

 

[dan10342]

that aint a blasto. at least not blasto merletti. either a lord or a micro

 

[dan10342]

snap a pic of it closed up

 

[jadette]

I'll post a close-up picture when I get home tonight. I don't think it's a lord, but my first guess was a micro.

I haven't seen a merletti in person so I wouldn't know.

Was it worth it for $30? Absolutely. I like it so much that it has convinced me to change my 7.5g nano from a sps/zoo tank to an LPS only tank... But since I plan on purchasing many more similar pieces, I would like to get a general feel of what's considered a fair price for a non-elite colony of blastos/micros.

Thanks for the help on the ID and info!

 

[jcp7857]

it is most definitly a micro of some sort, and worth the $30 IMHO.

 

[JUICE!]

looks like a micro.....and that's a fantastic price! Most micros sell for more per polyp than you paid for the colony.

I have a similar piece in my tank that I got as 4 polyps for the same price, and I thought I was doing good!

 

[PL-Reef]

Micro.... yes
Fair price.... yes

 

[Rendos]

Could be Leptastrea...???

 

[ct_vol]

Micro and good price...

 

[jadette]

Micro it is then!

Here's a close up shot. Sorry for the blur, but I'm really bad at taking pics with a macro lens.

I used a different camera this time and the colors are more accurately represented in this close-up.

The polyps look a lot more full after a few days in my tank.

Thanks for all the IDs and reassurances that I got a good deal. Looking forward to picking up more micros but from hearing from you guys, I should be expecting to pay more for them in the future!

 

[chillman]

I paid $50 for a very similar looking micro last month. I'd say you got a good deal.

 

[121ddler]

in the first pic i couldnt tell but in the last one it is a micro imho... nice find

 

[DetectiveTofu]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12280742#post12280742 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kass03
Looks like a common blasto merletti to me.
Merlettis have small polyps where the welsis have larger polyps.

I'd say thats a fair price for a LFS.

kass

mmm, I definitely not Blasto to me. Looks like a micromussa

 

[tunicata]

Lol, nice find.
Looks like the grape slurpee or frosty micro?
Usually when I get micros I look them up on reefdrmicromussa (something like that...I think he's on this) because he has great up close photos.

It's a 'common' micro but generally (like everyone else said) you'd be paying more than $50 for one that size (usually it goes for 10ish per head)

 

[corals b 4 bills]

Here in california that coral would go between $50 - $70.

 

[Justin74]

Ya, micromussa. My LFS is selling that morph right now for $15 a polyp which is avg/fair to LFS standards. Very good deal.

-Justin

 

[jadette]

Okay, this whole micromussa craze is addictive. I just grabbed a couple more frags from fragglereef.

Thanks for the reefdrmicromussa suggestion, tunicata. Searched through his site and the morph I have looks like "Smuckers".

http://www.reefdoctormicromussas.com/view_product.php?product=162