Oregon Tort pics?
- Thread starter Mchava
- Start date
jay24k
Active member
In all reality, if you have an oregon tort, you will definetly know it. Seeing it in person is the most amazing tort IMO. It is completely different then a regular tort. From the first picture sonofgaladriel, it looks like a reg. tort. However the 3rd picture does give it the appearance of an oregon. It the blue is so intense, then most likely it is.
steveweast
Active member
The subject tort looks like a cali tort to me too. The Oregon torts are much more uniform blue in color....even in an extremely nutrient poor tank....it will be a solid, uniform blue...just lighter.
Oregon torts also have a strange growth pattern....they sprout branches....then fatten up....then grow more branches....then fatten up. The only OBT's that have not exhibited this pattern are ones that are frequently pruned.....if pruned....they tend to keep branching to some extent; but, they will still fatten up to a degree.
I also agree that the OBT is not a true tort....due to the growth pattern. This coral has been domesticated for over 7 years now (it came in a small wild colony back in 1999)....... perhaps it has mutated into something that doesn't exist in nature. The oiginal owner (Shaun from Waves Marine in Oregon) didn't think it was a tort either...but, he too...couldn't find a better match. It doesn't really matter though...we all know what someone is talking about when they say Oregon tort.
I have NOT lost my colonies.....but....I did come close. It has been a horrible last 8 months for me.....I've battled unexplained tip recession, AEFWs, another 5 foot enucid worm, long extended personal absences (weeks at a time), the unexpected passing of my father, and a general apathy. Needless to say, my tank degraded quite a bit......but, in the last month or so I've come out of my funk. The tank is recovering nicely and should return to its former glory in a few months. At that time, I'll update my site. This is what the tank looks like today.... pictured are two of my larger OBT colonies....one in the bottom left...one in the middle right. Notice the growth pattern and how they can thicken up.
Oregon torts also have a strange growth pattern....they sprout branches....then fatten up....then grow more branches....then fatten up. The only OBT's that have not exhibited this pattern are ones that are frequently pruned.....if pruned....they tend to keep branching to some extent; but, they will still fatten up to a degree.
I also agree that the OBT is not a true tort....due to the growth pattern. This coral has been domesticated for over 7 years now (it came in a small wild colony back in 1999)....... perhaps it has mutated into something that doesn't exist in nature. The oiginal owner (Shaun from Waves Marine in Oregon) didn't think it was a tort either...but, he too...couldn't find a better match. It doesn't really matter though...we all know what someone is talking about when they say Oregon tort.
I have NOT lost my colonies.....but....I did come close. It has been a horrible last 8 months for me.....I've battled unexplained tip recession, AEFWs, another 5 foot enucid worm, long extended personal absences (weeks at a time), the unexpected passing of my father, and a general apathy. Needless to say, my tank degraded quite a bit......but, in the last month or so I've come out of my funk. The tank is recovering nicely and should return to its former glory in a few months. At that time, I'll update my site. This is what the tank looks like today.... pictured are two of my larger OBT colonies....one in the bottom left...one in the middle right. Notice the growth pattern and how they can thicken up.
sonofgaladriel
Shiny!
WOW!!! I love the new aquascaping!!! It is the best I've ever seen! Looks kind of familiar though 
I love that mountain of rose BTAs in the back!!!
Sorry to hear about your problems with personal life and the tank. I've gone through a few downers myself and almost dropped out. But, like you, I got my mojo back and I'm ready to go forward again and enjoy myself.
Thanks for sharing that pic and your tort experience.
I love that mountain of rose BTAs in the back!!!
Sorry to hear about your problems with personal life and the tank. I've gone through a few downers myself and almost dropped out. But, like you, I got my mojo back and I'm ready to go forward again and enjoy myself.
Thanks for sharing that pic and your tort experience.
dippin61
New member
i dont fully agree.. my tort.. which i know for a fact is an oregon tort, because i got it directly from travis over at upscales, from the mother colony, the one that started this all
i love living 20 minutes from them 
. well.. mine has a greenish tint to it atm near the base, although which is starting to go away, due to the fact that ive gone BB now, and my tank is doing much much much much better.so actually in my situation the no green is not true, but my situation, and how it is reacting now, lends me to believe i had a huge nutrient problem in my former tank, which is now clearing up in my BB.
just thought id throw this in.
steveweast
Active member
Actually Travis did not start it all......the original colony came in on a wild Bali shipment (if I remember right) around 1999 to Waves Marine. Waves propagted it and sold a piece to Rick over at Soutas Saltwater....who then got a piece over to Travis. Waves' original colony RTN'd early on....but, they got a piece back from Travis. So.....all the pieces here locally can thank Shaun Monahan from Waves for discovering a great coral....and thank Travis and Rick for distributing it. Funny thing though....Shaun stated that when it first came in...it was baby blue.....maybe just severe bleaching.
I have seen on a few OBT colonies....a few hints of green here and there....but, nothing like the amount of green on the cali tort. Each tank is different...so we are forced to use generalities....your mileage may vary. Travis probably sells around 10 frags a month....Rick has row after row after row of OBT colonies under cultivation and sells much more per month than Travis (If you believe his statistics)....it really doesn't matter though....they all came from the same piece years ago.
I have seen on a few OBT colonies....a few hints of green here and there....but, nothing like the amount of green on the cali tort. Each tank is different...so we are forced to use generalities....your mileage may vary. Travis probably sells around 10 frags a month....Rick has row after row after row of OBT colonies under cultivation and sells much more per month than Travis (If you believe his statistics)....it really doesn't matter though....they all came from the same piece years ago.
David Lo pan
New member
here's mine
dippin61
New member
sorry.. should of clarified.. shauns over at waves lost his colony, therefore travis' is the only "true" mother colony left. seeing as how shaun got a frag again from travis. and if i remember correctly, rick lost his original colony as well.
and travis almost lost his a few months back, when he had that terrible accident that happened to his cube show tank. but all is well again, and looks better then ever.
and yeh, it came in on a bali shipment on a piece of live rock.
steveweast
Active member
You know.....I don't know if that colony is from that original frag or not....I'll have to ask. Travis just snaps a frag off it here and there....so, it is possible that his colony is from the original frag. Rick, on the other hand, produces rows and rows of new colonies....so, I have no idea where his original frag is today. You'd think that Travis would have started a few back-up colonies over the years for protection against a crash......I guess he can always get it back from us though.
steveweast
Active member
Ahhhh.... that's right....I forgot that it was a hitchhiker on Bali live rock. Funny how that little hitchhiker started such a sensation so many years later.
dippin61
New member
indeed.. something that wasnt even known, came in as a hitchhiker, and look at it now.. who'd of thunk it
i'll try and put up a recent pic of mine, the green is slowly fading, not that there was much in the first place, kind of a green sheen then anything, and that nice deep blue is returning, and its kind of a cool frag now, because i attached it laying down on its side, so i dont have a lot of upward growth, but it has encrusted nicely, and still moving outwards, kinda weird looking because none of the corralites are growing up yet.
and the frag i had left on the plug was completely grown over the broken part, but.... the little frag fell into my live rock before i switched tanks, and was inaccesible, so when i pulled it out, i totally expected nothing to be there. but to my suprise, it was still alive.
granted, it was completely bleached and had scrapes on all the corralites, but now color is returning, and the polyps are slowly extending again. there might be hope yet for it.
E-A-G-L-E-S
New member
hey guys...if a sponsor vendor of R.C. has frags listed as Oregon Tort...are they for real? I can never tell with photocropping?
UPSCALES REEF
New member
Here it comes from one of two people that know the real story(me and shaun). Shaun received two frags of this coral around '93 atached to a piece of live rock. He kept one and gave one to me. He killed his. EVERY piece of Oregon tort out there is a daughter colony off of my coral. Soutas got his frags from me. He would actually send customers of his in to buy frags for him. My mother colony is about 9" x 6" and has probably been fragged three or four hundred times that is why it is not bigger or why I don't have a fleet of torts. I sell them as fast as I can frag them.
I have always told shaun that is good thing he gave me a piece of this coral or the Oregon blue tort would have never come about.
The real story.
Travis
Upscales
I have always told shaun that is good thing he gave me a piece of this coral or the Oregon blue tort would have never come about.
The real story.
Travis
Upscales
sonofgaladriel
Shiny!
Travis,
Can I get/buy a frag of this? I'm beginning to think that mine is not afterall a true Oregon tort. I'd sure like one though
Similar threads
