Oregon Tort(s?) Lineage Questions
- Thread starter SDguy
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luther1200
Premium Member
What would you call this, a Cali Tort?
The funny thing is I had this coral for over 3 years. And I had a pretty nice sized colony at 1 point, definitely my center piece. It was over 1/2" thick and about 12"-14" tall. But back then it had no green color at all. It was blue and purple. Then I was fragging it 1 day and accidentally broke off a 1/2" piece of 1 tip. So I mounted it. Then a month or 2 later I had a massive bleaching accident and only the tiny frag survived. But once it started growing out it got really green, then the blue tips came back. And this is how it looks now. I think its going to be great once it gets big again.
The funny thing is I had this coral for over 3 years. And I had a pretty nice sized colony at 1 point, definitely my center piece. It was over 1/2" thick and about 12"-14" tall. But back then it had no green color at all. It was blue and purple. Then I was fragging it 1 day and accidentally broke off a 1/2" piece of 1 tip. So I mounted it. Then a month or 2 later I had a massive bleaching accident and only the tiny frag survived. But once it started growing out it got really green, then the blue tips came back. And this is how it looks now. I think its going to be great once it gets big again.
Bax
Premium Member
These are the two I have.
This one is definitly the ORA tort I only just removed the ORA frag plug when I mounted it in this holding system in July. Definitely a deeper blue with thicker growth.
This one was sold to me privately as a Shaun Bennett tort this pic is just before moving it to the holding system. A lighter blue more slender growth.
I don't have a good recent pic of the SBT, but they really look much more similar of late but still have these subtle basic differences. Based upon many of the posts here seems like they may have originated from the same source but have followed two seperate paths.
This one is definitly the ORA tort I only just removed the ORA frag plug when I mounted it in this holding system in July. Definitely a deeper blue with thicker growth.
This one was sold to me privately as a Shaun Bennett tort this pic is just before moving it to the holding system. A lighter blue more slender growth.
I don't have a good recent pic of the SBT, but they really look much more similar of late but still have these subtle basic differences. Based upon many of the posts here seems like they may have originated from the same source but have followed two seperate paths.
hogan400
New member
the original oregon torte,
came in a box of acros trans-shipped in to a shop called gateway tropicals in portland, or. ran by a man named bob and his daughter out of his garage based shop. was almost completely a brown out, with 3 purple tips. one tip being a inch and a half and the other two were about a half inch ea......a gentleman i used to go to the shop with when shipments arrived was dwight guss. he and i would take turns picking out the nicest acros from the packing containers before they were acclimatized, so we could grab em before they were stressed any further, on my turn i scooped this 1.5" "mini" colony.(like a med frag)....almost put it back, it was ugly and dwight insisted i keep it for the 40.00 price back then, it would be worth it. i kinda hesitated but did....once it was under my actinics i realized this thing was gonna be really nice though it was only tip color. shaun monahan owned waves at this time. my 1.5" mini colony started base up rtn, this was in dec 98, i gave him the left over mini colony which was basically 3 tips. i had a pretty average tank, but his tank was a larger in store display, sps dominated and he was supposed to frag it, heal it, grow it out, get me a piece back later. shaun ended up putting it in this stupid lagoon style tank in his shop that had a homemade kalk reactor that went crazy every couple weeks and it started the base up rtn again a few months later to my dismay. finally travis and i convinced him to give it to travis for a try. by this time the only thing left was about a brown and blue half inch tip!!! at which point it took off and grew well. i was out of the industry in vegas for several yrs, when i came back i was surprised to see how much attention this thing had garnered! truthfully the person to heal and keep this alive and healthy was travis at upscales in portland, or. if it were not for his amazing display it wouldnt be here now. upscales deserves the credit and this part has been the great discussion for yrs now.....travis gave several frags to shaun later and a frag to tyree along with several others in 01/02 and thats when this thing really got moving. shaun sold his shop. at the last moment out from under the new owner sold many many nice cultured acro colonies to a different retailer here and they have it in unlimited quantities.
+1 dejavu on your knowledge of this.
now that yrs have gone by and i have seen/heard all the stories and tales of this i laugh, i figured i would offer mine. this is how the "original" oregon torte came about "up here". not the other variations. sad thing is shaun and i used to be really good friends. i had a home built in jan 2000. my tank was to be transferred to my new home, during this transfer things were hectic. shaun at waves housed my livestock during this move and many many pieces were sold and fragged up for his profit. a couple millis were sent to tyree and have been traded as well.by then our friendship was damaged and as a result i shut my tank down giving the remaining livestock to travis at upscales. i restarted another reef yrs back and have 3 variations currently.
1. original oregon torte solid blue with no other shadows, sheens or polyps colors. slooow grower. straight blue a touch lighter that the others!
2. std oregon torte which has same everything with some dark metallic blue sheen. med grower.
3. cali torte which is same in color with a green metallic base/body sheen and green polyps on tips. at least in my tank. and a fast grower.
i remember when i grabbed this mini colony it was obviously a jagged broken tip. the way tips grow with space, not the same as a frag directly under light. my belief is that it was wild and came off of something that was sold or dying. also that up here in the northwest what most people sell is variation#2. upscales has #1, soutas #1 and west side #1 (via upscales). what i mostly see is #2 and #3. rarely do i see #1.
#1 grows so slow you couldnt take a frag from mine for at least several months.
#2 looks so similar that if your tank was average thy would look the same except the growth rate
you can now see why the story never had been complete? when i tore down i had no idea the story was so unfinished. i was angry with shaun and we still have not talked. he tried to contact me when i came back from vegas but i figured when he sold his store and pulled shady stuff what was the point of being cool with him if thats how he is. what next ya know?? several people up here know the full story. travis sent it to tyree and shaun had it first in the store. soutas bought up his remaining exceptional acro stock and then tyree got busy with reef farmers. tyree knew the story and think he tried to post what he could without creating static between the two.
the now finished saga.
will j
came in a box of acros trans-shipped in to a shop called gateway tropicals in portland, or. ran by a man named bob and his daughter out of his garage based shop. was almost completely a brown out, with 3 purple tips. one tip being a inch and a half and the other two were about a half inch ea......a gentleman i used to go to the shop with when shipments arrived was dwight guss. he and i would take turns picking out the nicest acros from the packing containers before they were acclimatized, so we could grab em before they were stressed any further, on my turn i scooped this 1.5" "mini" colony.(like a med frag)....almost put it back, it was ugly and dwight insisted i keep it for the 40.00 price back then, it would be worth it. i kinda hesitated but did....once it was under my actinics i realized this thing was gonna be really nice though it was only tip color. shaun monahan owned waves at this time. my 1.5" mini colony started base up rtn, this was in dec 98, i gave him the left over mini colony which was basically 3 tips. i had a pretty average tank, but his tank was a larger in store display, sps dominated and he was supposed to frag it, heal it, grow it out, get me a piece back later. shaun ended up putting it in this stupid lagoon style tank in his shop that had a homemade kalk reactor that went crazy every couple weeks and it started the base up rtn again a few months later to my dismay. finally travis and i convinced him to give it to travis for a try. by this time the only thing left was about a brown and blue half inch tip!!! at which point it took off and grew well. i was out of the industry in vegas for several yrs, when i came back i was surprised to see how much attention this thing had garnered! truthfully the person to heal and keep this alive and healthy was travis at upscales in portland, or. if it were not for his amazing display it wouldnt be here now. upscales deserves the credit and this part has been the great discussion for yrs now.....travis gave several frags to shaun later and a frag to tyree along with several others in 01/02 and thats when this thing really got moving. shaun sold his shop. at the last moment out from under the new owner sold many many nice cultured acro colonies to a different retailer here and they have it in unlimited quantities.
+1 dejavu on your knowledge of this.
now that yrs have gone by and i have seen/heard all the stories and tales of this i laugh, i figured i would offer mine. this is how the "original" oregon torte came about "up here". not the other variations. sad thing is shaun and i used to be really good friends. i had a home built in jan 2000. my tank was to be transferred to my new home, during this transfer things were hectic. shaun at waves housed my livestock during this move and many many pieces were sold and fragged up for his profit. a couple millis were sent to tyree and have been traded as well.by then our friendship was damaged and as a result i shut my tank down giving the remaining livestock to travis at upscales. i restarted another reef yrs back and have 3 variations currently.
1. original oregon torte solid blue with no other shadows, sheens or polyps colors. slooow grower. straight blue a touch lighter that the others!
2. std oregon torte which has same everything with some dark metallic blue sheen. med grower.
3. cali torte which is same in color with a green metallic base/body sheen and green polyps on tips. at least in my tank. and a fast grower.
i remember when i grabbed this mini colony it was obviously a jagged broken tip. the way tips grow with space, not the same as a frag directly under light. my belief is that it was wild and came off of something that was sold or dying. also that up here in the northwest what most people sell is variation#2. upscales has #1, soutas #1 and west side #1 (via upscales). what i mostly see is #2 and #3. rarely do i see #1.
#1 grows so slow you couldnt take a frag from mine for at least several months.
#2 looks so similar that if your tank was average thy would look the same except the growth rate
you can now see why the story never had been complete? when i tore down i had no idea the story was so unfinished. i was angry with shaun and we still have not talked. he tried to contact me when i came back from vegas but i figured when he sold his store and pulled shady stuff what was the point of being cool with him if thats how he is. what next ya know?? several people up here know the full story. travis sent it to tyree and shaun had it first in the store. soutas bought up his remaining exceptional acro stock and then tyree got busy with reef farmers. tyree knew the story and think he tried to post what he could without creating static between the two.
the now finished saga.
will j
Last edited:
hogan400
New member
travis did used to sell the only supply, and thats one reason why the static between him and shaun. rick soutas used to hate it and had to send his customers over cuz that guy had none. we used to laugh about it all the time. he finally gave a few pieces back to shaun monahan and thats how he ended up getting it "back" and growing it out. when shaun sold his store, he sold all his colonies of the original torte to rick soutas(a other competitor in portland is rick soutas) to **** travis off. also travis "never" had it first.... shaun had it first but it was dying for both him and myself. lol.... basically i said give it to travis, your display lagoon is killing whats left.... i know he is your competitor but its worth a try. you see what most people dont know behind the story and why its so chopped up is this.
shaun monahan worked for travis before he ever opened his own shop. shaun left to become the competitor and tried stealing customers. which you cant really steal, and thats why the hard... cold.. bloody.... static. they actually tried to be friends a few times but i think customers played against one another. shaun had a very small part but made it his ultimate destiny.
shaun monahan worked for travis before he ever opened his own shop. shaun left to become the competitor and tried stealing customers. which you cant really steal, and thats why the hard... cold.. bloody.... static. they actually tried to be friends a few times but i think customers played against one another. shaun had a very small part but made it his ultimate destiny.
mischief nite
New member
^^Wow!......do I smell a "sitcom"?
Thanks for all the info!
So, if upscales has #1, then according to other posts in this thread, that is the same as the ORA OT.If so, then how on earth could ORA market and sell such a slow growing coral?
Where did #2 come from?
hogan400
New member
drama torte is right, thats funny, and honestly if you look at what tyree and travis wrote its really pretty basic. so very basic. not the big story every one wants.. and also why no one ever truly told the real origination and who had it first from the box....no one wants to step on a good paying customer but i could have cared less and had no idea in 99 that reef farmers and people were gonna go crazy naming corals. 98/99 was different. it was modified wet drys and a turbo floater skimmer along with two retail reactors i knew of....p.m and mrc. both well over 600. vho actinics and halide 10k. i think it was also this yr the radium 20k hit. it exploded. we didnt like em at first, too blue with the original actinics.
the funny thing is i never did hear travis say he gave one to ora? yes to tyree, and also shaun hooked up garf, dwight guss also gave garf a purple acro now know as the purple monster. also i coughed up some true all cranberry milli to garf as well. on that same day at a local club meet they visited and had started using gel super glue for fragging.they gave us a little training session, i remember i was blown away! super glue in the reef tank. wow. funny how things have changed
in my pic there are two small colonies in front of a tyree birds nest, these are the original.
in the middle is the cali, looks like a stick to the left of my larger tyree birds nest.
on the rght is my lrg colony of oregon torte #2 variation. touch darker no green. heres a funny thing, almost all are the same age. the original was bigger but fragged in three and one traded the cali is faster with the lg one on the right only being about 6 months older.
sorry my pics suck, i will be getting a new camera soon.
i think #2 is the real mystery
for me i have no idea where it originated from. i believe its the imported one shipped over the west coast. if i remember right, both sean and travis got back some acros later from tyree.....i could be wrong on the year. i will ask travis next time i see him. travis had both about 2 yrs later. he still has both, i know the #2 variation came couple yrs after the original. i stayed up here in pdx til 02 and went to vegas, came back in 04. travis had a lg colony of both when i visited in 03.
the one thing i would like to point out is it seems to me that this would also confirm some of the questions about the authenticity and lineage of what ora has released and why some are different. there have been many debates about ora corals, authenticity, originality what have you for yrs now. excluding the torte. i will get some clearer pics soon.
the funny thing is i never did hear travis say he gave one to ora? yes to tyree, and also shaun hooked up garf, dwight guss also gave garf a purple acro now know as the purple monster. also i coughed up some true all cranberry milli to garf as well. on that same day at a local club meet they visited and had started using gel super glue for fragging.they gave us a little training session, i remember i was blown away! super glue in the reef tank. wow. funny how things have changed
in my pic there are two small colonies in front of a tyree birds nest, these are the original.
in the middle is the cali, looks like a stick to the left of my larger tyree birds nest.
on the rght is my lrg colony of oregon torte #2 variation. touch darker no green. heres a funny thing, almost all are the same age. the original was bigger but fragged in three and one traded the cali is faster with the lg one on the right only being about 6 months older.
sorry my pics suck, i will be getting a new camera soon.
i think #2 is the real mystery
for me i have no idea where it originated from. i believe its the imported one shipped over the west coast. if i remember right, both sean and travis got back some acros later from tyree.....i could be wrong on the year. i will ask travis next time i see him. travis had both about 2 yrs later. he still has both, i know the #2 variation came couple yrs after the original. i stayed up here in pdx til 02 and went to vegas, came back in 04. travis had a lg colony of both when i visited in 03.
the one thing i would like to point out is it seems to me that this would also confirm some of the questions about the authenticity and lineage of what ora has released and why some are different. there have been many debates about ora corals, authenticity, originality what have you for yrs now. excluding the torte. i will get some clearer pics soon.
Attachments
I spoke with Eric from FragFarmer, and this is what he had to say about the OT I got from him...
"Hello Peter, I got it from this guy who used to run a company called spsfrags.com or something like that from Oregon back in 2003. His name was Sean Monaghan. Nice piece huh
"
"Hello Peter, I got it from this guy who used to run a company called spsfrags.com or something like that from Oregon back in 2003. His name was Sean Monaghan. Nice piece huh
"
hogan400
New member
thats the one sdguy. shaun ownd that web site and another at the same time he owned waves. exotic reef corals or something like it. like many others. there are also a few threads one here with negative reports about him regarding frag dying in shipping and not even shipping stuff around the time he sold waves. the guy who bought it ended up getting stuck handling the complaints losing money but really made good of it and was the best thing to happen to waves. unfortunately waves is now out of biz as of last yr. glad to see you have it, the og torte. ha ha. :dance:
saltyreefguy
New member
wow, these are real nice torts, are these frags affordable? or are they too pricey? thanks.
spsfrags
spsfrags
Hey All,
Just to clarify, I owned spsfrags.com. My name is Patrick Monaghan, but no relation to Sean Monahan. Sean owned Waves.
The post Travis (Upscales) made above correctly describes the origin of the coral. Travis keeps an amazing tank and I highly recommend his store for corals.
Patrick
spsfrags
Hey All,
Just to clarify, I owned spsfrags.com. My name is Patrick Monaghan, but no relation to Sean Monahan. Sean owned Waves.
The post Travis (Upscales) made above correctly describes the origin of the coral. Travis keeps an amazing tank and I highly recommend his store for corals.
Patrick
So where did you get your OT from that you sold through spsfrags.com?
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