What's the truth about maricultured coral?

[elegance coral]

I've heard nothing but bad things about maricultured Corals. I've heard they lose their color, they bring in parasites or unwanted pests, and I've heard their survival rate is poor. So, what's the truth? What's your experience with these corals? Are they all doomed?

If you have any experience with these corals please post. Good or bad, it doesn't matter. If you have pic's that would be GREAT.

 

[Allmost]

most of my corals are wild. and they do fine.

my thinking is, some corals do fine in our tanks, some dont. the ones that do fine, it doesnt matter the origin, it will continue doing fine, for example digitata montis ... they grow fast and somewhat easy to care for. so doesnt matter if you get captive fragged/grown or wild, its same species. now some corals that arent available in aquaculture, do not so well in captive reefs, so buying a wild colony of that, will have less chance of making it. just my opinion though.

about pest, I cant comment, I have red bugs and AEFW ...

color change, I love that part ! Im guessing its due to difference in water chamistry and lighting, but some look alot better in our reefs, I bought a red pocilopora, and its base turned green after about2 months ... not a good pic but ...

this one was a wold coral that was by biggest heat break, couldnt save it from RTNing for no reason. havent build up the gut to try it again yet.

 

[dvanacker]

mostly you have be be cautious of certain acropora. Most other SPS are fairly hardy. This is just in terms of color and survivability.

I liken it to rolling the dice. Sometimes you win...sometimes you lose. After a while of losing you get better at knowing which ones have a better shot. But even trained eyes have problems now and again.

 

[bmhair03]

I have a few Maricultured SPS and all are doing fine. I have seen some color shift ,some for the better ,but like stated above most likely due to changing water,light parameters.One thing I found is that they love light from the beginning. My feeling is that since they mostly come from Lagoons for grow out that they get a lot of light and so need a lot. As for pest all SPS should be treated as if they are infected so no difference there.

 

[salty316]

Most of the maricultured acropora I have bought survived, but changed color. The really bright reds usually shift toward blue. I actually purchased three different color acropora from my LFS shortly after arriving, red, green with blue tips and bright purple. Within a couple months, all were virtually identical - blue. I always dip so there were no pests. Another thing I have noticed, maricultured acros are less tolerant of fragging. I don't know why, just an observation.

 

[MammothReefer]

Give them more light then you would expect, and more flow. Yes you can get pests from them, you can get pests from anywhere. Most of my Tank is Wild/Mari pieces. Yes the colour may shift but it depends on your lighting and the individual piece. They do require very stable tanks until things start growing, but the same can be said for most acropora.

 

[franklypre]

As a person who has bought dozens of Catalina's picks from Blue Zoo it really is hit or miss. I will say I have had better success buying brown acros and coloring them back up than actually buying the WYSIWYG showpieces. As far as bugs yes mari is wild and the bugs will be there, QT is a MUST.

 

[Reefer1225]

Don't mean to hijack thread, but I have a stupid question that's sort of related. When stores/individuals start tagging their name to certain corals (i.e. Vivid's Monti, DFS Acro, Tyree's Chalice, Jason Fox's Zoa, SC's scoly, DC's Mille, Neptune's acan, etc.), don't they obtain the original specimen wild/maricultured? Do they raise/frag it for generations before it becomes aquacultured? Or do they just sell fragged wild/maricultured corals with their name on it? I know ORA's corals are aquacultured, but the original must have been wild/maricultured right that they successfully raised? Sorry for the compound questions. Reading above seems like it is more difficult to do and the success rate of raising wild/mariculture is hit or miss, but it is possible. So, I am assuming people just like buying aquacultured because they have been around longer and have a higher success rates of survival? Please disregard/remove my post if this is too off topic and I am hijacking this thread. Thanks.

 

[franklypre]

Aquacultured pieces tend to be a little easier to manage from the start, they definately ship better. As far as the "chop shops" they are out there and are about as successful as buying maricultured colonies IME, I seem to be able to keep atleast a small frag off most of the acros that don't make it leading me to believe that frags of mari/wild coral are a acclimate better. If you are just starting out with SPS it will probably save you money to spend the extra $$ for aquacultured pieces.

 

[MammothReefer]

Don't mean to hijack thread, but I have a stupid question that's sort of related. When stores/individuals start tagging their name to certain corals (i.e. Vivid's Monti, DFS Acro, Tyree's Chalice, Jason Fox's Zoa, SC's scoly, DC's Mille, Neptune's acan, etc.), don't they obtain the original specimen wild/maricultured? Do they raise/frag it for generations before it becomes aquacultured? Or do they just sell fragged wild/maricultured corals with their name on it? I know ORA's corals are aquacultured, but the original must have been wild/maricultured right that they successfully raised? Sorry for the compound questions. Reading above seems like it is more difficult to do and the success rate of raising wild/mariculture is hit or miss, but it is possible. So, I am assuming people just like buying aquacultured because they have been around longer and have a higher success rates of survival? Please disregard/remove my post if this is too off topic and I am hijacking this thread. Thanks.

It changes on a case by case basis. Some places pick out the creme of the crop, slap a name on it and sell it because they know they can get 50$ a frag instead of 50$ for the whole piece (ie 500$ for a 50$ coral) some places cut up that same place grow them for a while set aside part of it for brude stock and do the same, and some places flop between both. Unless the piece is specifically stated as aquacultured or from a known grower. It's really hit or miss. Neither are a bad thing as long as you are informed and know what you are purchasing. I have no qualms buying a frag of a really nice piece that was just imported for a reasonable price. Sometimes it beats having to wait a year for it to hit circulation and come back at me at 3 times the cost but when you do that you are taking part of the risk instead of it all falling on the coral grower.

 

[dvanacker]

Or do they just sell fragged wild/maricultured corals with their name on it?

Some do but I aint buying that stuff. A wild coral needs time for colour to stablize and wild corals are not as hardy as aquarium grown ones

I know ORA's corals are aquacultured, but the original must have been wild/maricultured right that they successfully raised? Sorry for the compound questions. Reading above seems like it is more difficult to do and the success rate of raising wild/mariculture is hit or miss, but it is possible. So, I am assuming people just like buying aquacultured because they have been around longer and have a higher success rates of survival?

higher rates of survival and stable color....exactly. Basically these corals are proven to be hardy and colorful in many aquariums

If I have to take a risk on a wild coral frag why would I pay as much or more than I would an proven aquarium grown one.?

 

[Reefer1225]

Thanks, everyone. I always wondered how it worked and what exactly I am buying. I just needed confirmation to hear it from others. I look at some mariculture pieces that look amazing and a lot bigger than the typical frags I get, but I don't even try it b/c its already challenging to me keeping the aquacultured ones growing being new to this hobby. Maybe after some experience, I'll venture/risk buying maricultured. I'll stick to the tried and true for now.

 

[peter fumo]

i found this very helpful thanks for all who shared