I am new to sps, but did purchase a fair amount of frags in the last few days. Some I am sure are run of the mill stuff vs others that were advertised as more premium frags. Now I bought what seemed fairly priced, and what I liked preimarily, but was wondering what corals are considered premium right now?
What qualifies as a premium sps?
- Thread starter bamf25
- Start date
Felixc395
Registered Member
Just remember what you find premium is the ultimate deal-breaker. If you like it, no matter how expensive or cheap, named or not named, just go with what you'll like.
But it you like some of the premium pieces, I'm sure we can help you out. Care to share what you have right now as a baseline or maybe some form of SPS you like? Acros (what type), millepora, montipora, seriatopa hystrix? What do you prefer?
Personally I know red dragon, tiera de fuego, ice fire echinata are all good choices for "premium" frags
But it you like some of the premium pieces, I'm sure we can help you out. Care to share what you have right now as a baseline or maybe some form of SPS you like? Acros (what type), millepora, montipora, seriatopa hystrix? What do you prefer?
Personally I know red dragon, tiera de fuego, ice fire echinata are all good choices for "premium" frags
This is what I have so far
Orange monti cap
pink birdsnest
Aussie war coral
ORA purple stylo
Atlantis rainbow monti
Tyree superman monti
Atlantis meteor shower
ORA red planet
Green cap
Idaho cap
ORA Blue Cali Tort
ORA Brett's Purple Rim cap
ORA Blue Milli
Tyree Pink Lemonade
Orange montipora Digitala
Green Slimer
I know I am new to all this, but I like going all in plus got good deals from some nice people local to me.
Orange monti cap
pink birdsnest
Aussie war coral
ORA purple stylo
Atlantis rainbow monti
Tyree superman monti
Atlantis meteor shower
ORA red planet
Green cap
Idaho cap
ORA Blue Cali Tort
ORA Brett's Purple Rim cap
ORA Blue Milli
Tyree Pink Lemonade
Orange montipora Digitala
Green Slimer
I know I am new to all this, but I like going all in plus got good deals from some nice people local to me.
pimp2daizzo
Active member
+1, i have a bunch of family in nj mostly around Elizabeth
BuckeyeTodd
New member
Those are all mid range fairly common frags, some of which are very good looking. These were the "premium" frags, but now they are readily available so there are now newer more desired "premium frags".
Tyree Pink Lemonade is one of the nicest acros you will find, a year and a half ago a frag would go for $75 or more. People have just moved on to the "newer" acros, doesn't change the fact that it is a great coral. Collect what you like, personally I like milli's and am working on collecting most of the nicer ones.
MammothReefer
Active member
just a marketing term.. doesn't mean anything.
glassterbate
In Memoriam
go with what is pleasing to your eye, dont pay attention to the name.
BuckeyeTodd
New member
absolutely right...especially if you are new to sps, you are likely to have setbacks and lose many of these corals unfortunately. Learn the ropes, and then slowly build based on what you like. There are many frags that are stupidly priced. The "red dragon" is currently going for sick money, it appears to be a decent grower, give it a year or so and that will be a $40 frag(If not sooner) and there will be a new "it" coral
I am learning alot however!!! I have had lps for about 4 months, while not growing super fast, I have not lost anything yet. I do have peices that are growing though. My favia is bigger, an acro has at least 3 new heads, a few chalices are spreading, and my candy cane has just about every head splitting. I was losing a plate coral, but with some water chem ajustments it is actually coming back quickly now. My orange monti is at least double the size I got it at like 4 months ago, and all the new sps is at least partially open in under 1 week.
In addition, I just recieved my dosing pumps today, and will be getting 2 additional powerheads, and a new EB4 to control everything in the next day or 2. Really trying to do things correctly. Thanks for the encuragement.
victornator333
New member
The name is a way for people to help identify what a particularly nice piece is. Sure it is marketing, but how else would you know what to ID a piece you saw that was AWESOME haha. The names usually come with pieces that many people really like, and if the piece is "new" then it is more expensive or "premium" obviously because it hasnt had a chance to grow out hobbyists' tanks yet. Simple supply and demand. Like the pink lemonade, the tierra de fuego and red dragon are incredibly popular now but they too will fall in price as more hobbyists get a hold of them and distribute frags. But at the end of the day....buy what you like, use the names only as identifications rather than a determination of value
red dragon is $200 a frag and usually not even available because it sold out at that price. The price or premiumness of a coral or fish or.....is all relative to your price tolerance. The longer I stay in this hobby the higher my price tolerance gets. Anyone got a frag of red dragon for $150 shipped?
Reeferwill561
New member
How big of a frag do you want? Another reefer from my reef club is selling red dragon frags I can ask if you were really serious lol
-Will P.
A. Grandis
Active member
I think what would qualify a SPS as a premium coral would be how healthy it is and it's particular qualities like color and polyp extension. But again those qualities could change with the physical influences of any system. So when you want to buy you would look for such qualities. Another factor would be price/size.
Grandis.
Grandis.
Hate to say this, but alot of times looking at pictures online, I have problems even telling alot of the corals apart. How many blue acros, or purple millies, etc can there be. Often (again at least in pictures), the differences are so subtle I do not understand how it sometimes warrents a massive price difference.
The one thing I do like about ORA, ATL, Tyree, etc is that these are cultured corals and in my mind if they have been raised in tanks for many generations, then they are likely more adapted to and hardier in tank environments. That holds some value in my mind.
As for the high end frags dropping in price, it is simple economics. As they get distributed and people frag, even if the demand stays constant, the supply goes way up. For the coral growers this does present a problem, because the after market (frag swaps) is so large and uncontrollable. Thus we get new fangled special editions every few months.
But again, just starting out all these corals are new to me.
The one thing I do like about ORA, ATL, Tyree, etc is that these are cultured corals and in my mind if they have been raised in tanks for many generations, then they are likely more adapted to and hardier in tank environments. That holds some value in my mind.
As for the high end frags dropping in price, it is simple economics. As they get distributed and people frag, even if the demand stays constant, the supply goes way up. For the coral growers this does present a problem, because the after market (frag swaps) is so large and uncontrollable. Thus we get new fangled special editions every few months.
But again, just starting out all these corals are new to me.
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montepora
Member of NJRC
Are you familiar with NJRC- New Jersey Reef Club? You will meet a lot of folks who can hook you up with frags too.
Sorta did that through here. One I bought frags from was in Southern Jersey, and the other in Eastern PA. If you have anything good, I work in East Brunswick.
danil
New member
I think it's 100% marketing. Sellers put 'premium' tag on any corals with better color, bigger size, hotter name. Often this 'premium' section has very short "shelf life" once received from wholesale corals start losing colors, PE, rtn etc so they get moved to 'normal' section and then to 'sale' section. Hence so many 'happy' stories when cheap brown frag for few bucks turned into beautiful colony. It's all about your reef. You could get 'happy' story or you can pay for "premium" just to get it brown in few days in your tank.
