Question: Maricultured Colonies

[oshanickreef]

I have been reading and i keep running into people talking about how maricultured colonies do not last very long. I have bought a few and they seem fine but i had one just randomly die on me. I know there could be many reasons for a coral to die but I just wanted to hear others' opinions on if they think maricultured colonies dont last as long in our tanks..

 

[rovster]

Its not that they don't last, its that they are not necessarily "proven" to do well in captivity. The stuff that's been in the hobby for a while has been proven to grow well and color well if the reefer does X Y Z........

Its not to say mari's won't do well, but they are a bit more of a gamble due to the "unknown"....

 

[cleverbs]

I always have good luck with them. I havent ever lost one and I have bought quite a few.

 

[toothman]

They are just more problematic compared to aquacultured. Once established no problem, like past the three month mark. Larger water changes really help wild/maricultured corals and +++ on stability. I have quite a few, about 10 and about 40 wild corals.

 

[acrohead500ppm]

They should pretty much be regarded as wild colonies in most aspects, only advantages that maricultured vs "wild collected" is that there wont be any open wound from recently being chisled off the reef, also maricultured corals on racks in the ocean are typically used to more moderate currents, as opposed to a wild colony that was just popped off a reefcrest that was exposed to heavy surge.

There is one thing I can't stand about mariculture corals.......sponges. The concrete "plugs" they are on can have different types of sponges that are even bored into the actual plug, these don't fare well during the shipping, they die, they slowly rot in your tank and kill the coral.

Have a maricultured dying??? take it out of the tank and start smelling the concrete growout plug its on, 9/10 you will smell funk.

For all you who have professionally worked in the hobby, I am sure you know exactly what I am talking about.

 

[zchauvin]

They should pretty much be regarded as wild colonies in most aspects, only advantages that maricultured vs "wild collected" is that there wont be any open wound from recently being chisled off the reef, also maricultured corals on racks in the ocean are typically used to more moderate currents, as opposed to a wild colony that was just popped off a reefcrest that was exposed to heavy surge.

There is one thing I can't stand about mariculture corals.......sponges. The concrete "plugs" they are on can have different types of sponges that are even bored into the actual plug, these don't fare well during the shipping, they die, they slowly rot in your tank and kill the coral.

Have a maricultured dying??? take it out of the tank and start smelling the concrete growout plug its on, 9/10 you will smell funk.

For all you who have professionally worked in the hobby, I am sure you know exactly what I am talking about.

Yes they stink but that is mostly due to the putty used to attach coral to the base, use a stick of rock putty from lfs and then take some out of water. It smells terrible. This is why it won't really stink unless you pull the acro off of the base.

 

[oshanickreef]

They should pretty much be regarded as wild colonies in most aspects, only advantages that maricultured vs "wild collected" is that there wont be any open wound from recently being chisled off the reef, also maricultured corals on racks in the ocean are typically used to more moderate currents, as opposed to a wild colony that was just popped off a reefcrest that was exposed to heavy surge.

There is one thing I can't stand about mariculture corals.......sponges. The concrete "plugs" they are on can have different types of sponges that are even bored into the actual plug, these don't fare well during the shipping, they die, they slowly rot in your tank and kill the coral.

Have a maricultured dying??? take it out of the tank and start smelling the concrete growout plug its on, 9/10 you will smell funk.

For all you who have professionally worked in the hobby, I am sure you know exactly what I am talking about.

To avoid any issues with this... and with random hitchhikers, etc i just use my band saw to pop them off. also most LFS will have a band saw. i pop all of my corals off of their plugs unless its a frag and then i will scrub the plug/base with a toothbrush to get anything i can possibly get off of it. then i dip them lol

 

[acrohead500ppm]

Yes they stink but that is mostly due to the putty used to attach coral to the base, use a stick of rock putty from lfs and then take some out of water. It smells terrible. This is why it won't really stink unless you pull the acro off of the base.

No, not the stink I am talking about at all.

Personally, definitely chop them off before I would place them, but the LFS I have worked for in the past refused to do this as they thought having it on that plug proves to the customer it was "cultured" so it will be more hardy.

But, just like wild harvested colonies they are still making a jump from the ocean to captivity.

 

[oshanickreef]

yes. and man are there some beautiful colonies coming in! i have some amazing looking acros

 

[acrohead500ppm]

There definitely are and I feel better about buying maricultured rather than a wild clump that was just severed from the reef,
However I learned from working in a reefstore and unpacking many many shipments- you can get lucky on those wild non-cultured shipments and possibly get some really cool color morphs/species combos never seen before, but only really happens if you have a good relationship with the wholesaler who can communicate with the "bone in nose" people LOL.

Eitherway, bottom line , your chi should feel better buying maricultured, but just don't let that fool you into thinking they are a whole lot hardier than wild collected colonies, they are not.

However the other thing to consider when getting wilds in is they are usually quite large and can be quite dense depending on species/ wild environment, this can really create issues trying to keep up with flow requirements.

 

[oshanickreef]

I am hoping you mean that they need a lot of flow... i have a LOT of flow. lol

it is almost to the point where my fish cant handle it. but they have adapted and will just be in really good shape! lol

 

[acrohead500ppm]

Im just saying certain species of Acropora, esp large wild colonies can really be picky when it comes to flow, its not the matter of having enough, its the matter of producing the right type and intermittance of flow / flushing actions that they love.

 

[Piper27]

My only problem with maricultured are finding ones that are different. Each box comes with one or two nice ones, but thoes nice ones sometimes aren't anything unique at all. Some change colors very durastically as well. For the good and bad.