Tyree SPS corals

There are many color variations of corals of the same scientific name. We in the hobby usually only see the best of a given species because collectors won't collect the mundane for lack of saleability. Survivability of aquacultured corals is significantly better than wild caught or even maricultured. As such the named corals that are one or more generations from wild caught have a different market value by nature of their survivability. Certain color morphs also have a far greater value because of their desirability or perceived desirability. To dismiss this as "Thats an ignorant theory... How is it any harder to learn the proper name instead of a trendy "common" name?" ignores at least these two aspects of coral selection.
 
On a side note it is much easier to find usefull information on a Echinophyllia aspera opposed to a Bubble gum monster :D Or an Acropora echinata than an Ice fire..Go ahead google them :D

-Justin
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12600329#post12600329 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by shred5
It has been debated if they are different several times and as far as I know no conclusion has been made.

Dave
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I assume you don't have the forest fire? Debated or not, I have or had all three together at one point or another, in the same area of the tank and they are not the same.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12600776#post12600776 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by flyyyguy
ignorant theory??

ok. I have frags of 2 different types monitpora danae, both blue/purple with multicolors of polyps i want to trade you for something.

One is a wild colony I just picked up for dirt cheap and I dont know how well this specimen will hold its colors over time......the other is a many generations aquacultured that has proven it holds its brilliant colors under good conditions.

Trading amongst fgriends...one is worth much less in money or trading value, and one I dont even need to post a pic of. My good reputation and sayign the word is enough. Most people knopw exactly what I am talking about.

A danae by any other name is not necessarily, nor usually the same...even if the scientific name is

its how collectors distinguish amongst corals of the same species, and know exactly what it is we are adding to our tank



and your thepory as far as it being easy learning the scientific names.........really?? I disagree. many scientific names you do see labeledc are wrong, and poitive scientific ID is very difficult in most cases at best
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Bill, i would trade with you in a heartbeat !!
 
I have five different variations and if they were the same i would not keep them. People around my neck of the woods that have seen those pieces will begg to differ but only after they have seen them all. HTH.
 
Whatever the original intentions were are irrelevant now, and the hobby is different from what it was even a couple of years ago. I assume it will change again, which can be seen by the regularity of this topic.

The greenest of newbies has more insight and access to information keeping SPS than those did in the past. They have the benefit of the success of those people early in the hobby. What is "boring" or "common" today could have easily been the most exotic colored piece they have seen. Keep that in mind when asking "Why is this an LE?'.

The explosive growth of the hobby, the emergence of the industry and the money that can be made, has tweaked our perception and understanding of an LE.

Ask yourself, why does it matter to you? What are your motivations for buying, or not, these "named" pieces? Does everyone have your same point of view or motivations? These questions will help you start to realize, there is more to the issue.

Most will agree a "named" piece is different because of some point in its captivity it has transcended from being just an Acropora Echinata to a part of the culture, obtaining an individual identity that sets it apart from the rest of the "Acropora Echinata" out there. This goes above and beyond whatever the "unique"......I repeat "unique", traits that set it apart.

One of the things I enjoy the most is hearing about the stories about how this piece was discovered, or how it was thought to be lost and resurfaced, etc.

Its these things that differentiate pieces from even the same specie, that are often times overlooked and need to be considered as well.




Big topic, lots of things to consider
 
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dots, bravo for a great post! This topic has given me a lot of ammo to blog about. Oh the controvercies.... lol
 
Thank you, this is a subject I am very passionate about and have tried to put a lot of thought into the bigger picture of things.

To be quite honest, the money part of it (which always seems to be the topic du jour) doesn't bother me half as bad as the divisions and sides being taken within our SPS family, between those who do and who don't collect LE's. It seems to me that each groups interests seem to be genuine and at thier lowest common demoninator the same, both groups claim to be "hobbiest".

Again, another thing to consider and why its a big topic.
 
Reverse sunset/sunrise are the same corals. The Forest Fire is a completely different coral.
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It has been debated if they are different several times and as far as I know no conclusion has been made
Click to expand...

I assume you don't have the forest fire? Debated or not, I have or had all three together at one point or another, in the same area of the tank and they are not the same.
Click to expand...

Oh my!! These are EXACTLY why silly nickname common names are a terrible thing for the hobby. There is no peer erview or calibration. Its whatever you wanna call it, whenever you wanna call it. Furthermore, with no unfirom complaince to any of these names, it is ripe for corruption. How does anyone know what is what? Scientific names were created hunderds of years ago to defeat these exact problems.

Regarding different color morphs of the same species, what ever happened to describing colors. Would someone not know what a blue Acropora yongei is vs. a green Acropora yongei? Does saying "green slimer" vs. "blue slimer" do anything more to assist this?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12601458#post12601458 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by neyugn0w01
I assume you don't have the forest fire? Debated or not, I have or had all three together at one point or another, in the same area of the tank and they are not the same.
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Actually I do but I do not have all three. I have one from cherry corals. Mine does not look anything like the one he had in the pick. his was emerald green with orange polyps and mine turned more of a light green with orange polyps.

As far a naming corals I do not think it is bad thing to do. Reason is it is almost impossible to id most acros and monipora other than a hand full esp in a aquaria where they can grow very different than in the wild. Allot of the named corals are not even what they are supposed to be, you see it all the time. Someone gets a coral and says hey this look like so or so coral and then names it that. Honestly I do not care, I am not into rare corals or exotics. I buy what I like, I do not care if it is 100.00 or 10.00. Honestly I do not like what has happened because of coral collecting. It has led to dishonesty, greed and people have way to many corals in their tanks. Tanks are starting to look more like frag tanks than tank with nice huge colonies. Very few people let their colonies grow out anymore. They say I need to get my money back someohow because I spent so much money and start fragging. I think it hit its peak during the acan craze, I am so sick of acans that I do not care if I see another one ever.

Dave
 
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2nd Dots! I too fall into the rut that wants to spend 100 on a named 1/2" frag becuase I have seen it and know it will be awesome and very tradable when it grows out. That part of me gets torn knowing that when I see a light blue Lokani colony that comes into the local shop I should buy it for 70, but will it be nice looking in a few months? I have never seen one like it, so it's now a Dougs LE! It's a gamble. I am more likely to trade a nice "named" frag for another "LE."
 
hey again...finally got some pics of the frag pack. not GOOD ones, not pics that show the colors of the coral, but im using a crappy camera i guess. plus im sure there are settings i should play with to get pics of the corals...just not sure which ones.

here they are in no particular order and i couldnt get pics of ALL of them as some are deeper and farther back. they are all TEMPORARILY sitting around waiting for me to set up the big tank, so yes some are close to each other etc but will not grow together because they are not finished being situated.

as far as being 'named corals' and all of that...as one person put it earlier, i should keep trakc of the names cus they are expensive or whatever..my take is that i dont really care. just my opinion. i bought 20 sps frags and will place them accordingly in my tank and let them grow. if i take a pic of one and you recognize it, great. if you ask ME for the name, youre out of luck. i dont now and not in the future plan on breaking up all of my corals to ship them all over gods green earth. i spend a lot of time and energy making sure they are healthy and NOT breaking them, let alone breaking them for $$. if a friend wants a piece of something for his tank, or a piece breaks cus of a fish or something then fine. but im not in this to be a business. i want to buy my corals and let them grow as big as they can get. this is a hobby to me, unlike everyone else in this 'hobby' that i know personally. someone mentioned the business aspect earlier, especially in regards to acans...i will add MICROS to that list. yes the australian stuff looks nice and has nice colors and all of that, but im not paying $100 or whatever for ONE polyp of anything. i dont care what its name is, if its a LE or not. lol I buy what i like, and let em grow. no store here. and as far as people having 'too many corals in their tank and it looking like a 'frag tank' and not letting corals grow out or whatever, thats each persons choice. if someone like me decides to buy a 20 pack of sps frags and wait 5 years for them to be huge, given the space and attention to detial, THEY WILL. who cares that they only cost $8 a piece and i dont know their names. ill make up my own names. like I do with my zoo's! lol I have some VERY RARE atomic incredible hulk emerald city zoos for sale, $400 a polyp. it cracks me up. most of the time i feel like hobbyists just make up their own names anyways. a guy i know gave me a couple bubble gum palys. haha, im sure thats their real name. the high end stuff gets tricky as well because i think you can get scammed. especially if you dont know what you are looking at. i was given some purple people eaters in a frag pack once upon a time by a hobbyist saying that they are like $30 a polyp or whatever it was and come to find out down the road they werent ppe's, but RED people eaters. that boils down to people in the 'hobby' trying to make money and taking advantage of people like me that dont know the HIGH end stuff. the trust factor in this hobby is not what it once was. seems everyone wants to make a quick buck

just my 2 cents worth.

frags1.jpg
 
this outta turn out well...

yesterday i bought ANOTHER frag pack. i think that should do it for a 220 sps tank. 50 frags plus what i already have. lol I got it from REEFER MADNESS. couldnt pass it up. THIRTY sps pieces for $250. thats an even better deal than yourreef.com as the ones from reefer madness are $8.30 a piece. hehe plus i got a nice big piece of acropora valida. (for all you that love names) ;) i dont normally spend $100 on a coral, but when i saw it, my heart fluttered...thats when i know I HAVE to have it. plus its not a frag, and i loved it so...

# 1 Monty's Pick: 30 Pack of SPS Frags $250.00 $250.00

# 2 Solomon Cultured A. valida 1 $101.16 $101.16

Order Subtotal: $351.16
Order Total: $366.16

So for $366 i got 31 sps pieces to my door...one being $100 by itself. and also they allowed me to request certain ones not be included etc. pretty cool of them.
 
Its worth what ever someone will pay.

If they price it like that, name it, and someone with lots of funds buys it then the market calls for the high price. If no one ver bought them at these high prices they would be forced to sell them for less. Just the way it is, can you find the exact pieces for less somewhere else? Maybe, good luck I perfer knowing what I buy will hold its color and grow well in captivity. That being said my LFS gets in aquacultured pieces and frags them out and mounts them, then sells the frags for $25 a pop, and I buy these all the time. Yet I also buy lots of collector pieces...
 
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