where do ppe's come from?
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Peter Eichler
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Anything to back that up? The PPE color morph seems quite rare in my years of going to wholesalers I never saw one, and several people I've spoken to that deal largely in zoanthids have never seen them at a wholesaler. If they were all over the place they would not be $50 a polyp and there would be more wild colonies available.
Some things in this hobby are overly hyped and the high price is due to a fad <cough*micros*cough> , but PPEs seem to be legitimately rare.
musty baby
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Fixed.
Peter Eichler
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<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9433236#post9433236 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ryansholl
Fixed.
I agree to a certain degree. But many of those you listed have leveled off in price a bit. Some palys that were going for 30-50 a polyp a year ago can be had for much less now. Acans have come down a lot in price in the last year or so, Duncans seem to be getting more common and going down in price by the month. Soon Micros will be doing the same. Many online retailers have Ducans, Micros, and "rare" Acans now. How many online retailers have you seen offering up wild colonies of PPEs or even aquacultered PPEs? In addition the price of PPEs hasn't really budged in since they started being offered up by hobbyists.
All I'm saying is there is some legitimacy to the price of PPEs since they really do seem to be a rare color morph.
gflat65
New member
I'll have to do some searching for back up details, but I haven;t seen PPE's selling for more than $20 anywhere but ebay in a while. You don't see them for sale all that often (people are trading them like mad), but when you do, the price seems to have come down. I got mine from a guy who bought a wild colony from a LFS in Orlando (of course, when I fragged them out to trade to someone else, my other three polyps died within three days for some reason-same with my true RPE's). He paid $25 for the colony. Someone on the boards split a colony of about 200 polyps last year some time that they paid $50 for. There was a thread in this forum within the last year where someone posted a bunch of pics of PE's from St Maartin that they had taken with an underwater camera while they were diving. I'll see what I can dig up on them for proof.
gflat65
New member
These may not be the solid proof you're looking for, but seeing enough of these types of threads leads me to believe they are found in the Caribbean by people who collect themsleves (and the fact that the guy I got mine from got his from a LFS in Orlando for $25 for a colony of about 40 and they got them from a diver in FL).
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=826630&highlight=PPEs
This is the thread where someone got 500+ for $30 (had my numbers wrong initially). They started selling for around $20-25 a polyp with this load (someone
was trying to lower the price a bit for everyone).
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=879174&highlight=PPEs
This one is from December. There are a few people who still paid $50, but many are showing a much lower trend (like Marvin said $25-40 or Blitz's response ($90 for 4 polyps)). Alot of people still sell them for $50, but only because people will still pay it. Many are finding them a lot cheaper... You just got to know where to look. It seems like most people in Club Zoa have them and trade them regularly. Things typically go for less over there than other places, though.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=826630&highlight=PPEs
This is the thread where someone got 500+ for $30 (had my numbers wrong initially). They started selling for around $20-25 a polyp with this load (someone
was trying to lower the price a bit for everyone).http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=879174&highlight=PPEs
This one is from December. There are a few people who still paid $50, but many are showing a much lower trend (like Marvin said $25-40 or Blitz's response ($90 for 4 polyps)). Alot of people still sell them for $50, but only because people will still pay it. Many are finding them a lot cheaper... You just got to know where to look. It seems like most people in Club Zoa have them and trade them regularly. Things typically go for less over there than other places, though.
gflat65
New member
Here's the thread of the guy with the Florida collected items in his nano that Azurel was talking about from the first thread I posted. The PPE's (collected by the guy who is posting the pics) came from the Keys area, I think.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=814208&highlight=Caribbean
Last pic in the first post aren't PPE's, but nice PE's, nonetheless.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=853502&highlight=St+Martin
Wasn't sure if your point of contention were that they weren't Caribbean or that they were so hard to find that only a few have been pulled from the ocean. They really aren't all that uncommon any more. Theey may still sell for more in some places, but potato chips and ghosts sell for thousands on ebay. Besides, there are a lot cooler PE's out there now (I'm not saying I don't like PPE's, but they have certainly fallen down on my list of wants, replaced by some of the much cooler and more colorful PE's that have popped up lately).
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=814208&highlight=Caribbean
Last pic in the first post aren't PPE's, but nice PE's, nonetheless.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=853502&highlight=St+Martin
Wasn't sure if your point of contention were that they weren't Caribbean or that they were so hard to find that only a few have been pulled from the ocean. They really aren't all that uncommon any more. Theey may still sell for more in some places, but potato chips and ghosts sell for thousands on ebay
. Besides, there are a lot cooler PE's out there now (I'm not saying I don't like PPE's, but they have certainly fallen down on my list of wants, replaced by some of the much cooler and more colorful PE's that have popped up lately).
gflat65
New member
I'm not one to worry about whether or not it came from Blane... If it's a PPE, to me it's a PPE. Some collectors may ask for lineage, but there are sooo many out there that didn't come from Blane that tracking a lineage would be difficult (as I said, they are collected by a number of people in Fl, which may even be where Blane got his and there is no genetic difference). I do follow lineage on some things, but primarily on SPS (maybe because I only have a few lineaged zoas).
).
Peter Eichler
New member
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9439214#post9439214 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by gflat65
Here's the thread of the guy with the Florida collected items in his nano that Azurel was talking about from the first thread I posted. The PPE's (collected by the guy who is posting the pics) came from the Keys area, I think.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=814208&highlight=Caribbean
Last pic in the first post aren't PPE's, but nice PE's, nonetheless.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=853502&highlight=St+Martin
Wasn't sure if your point of contention were that they weren't Caribbean or that they were so hard to find that only a few have been pulled from the ocean. They really aren't all that uncommon any more. Theey may still sell for more in some places, but potato chips and ghosts sell for thousands on ebay
Sorry about the confusion but I was not contesting they were from the Caribean. You did a lot of work to prove me wrong on something I wasn'ty even contesting you on, sorry about that
I also wasn't claiming wild colonies don't come in from time to time. However, as far as color morphs go I still say they're not common by any means.I have no doubt that other more cheaply price zoanthids are just as rare or even more rare. But there still seems to be more demand than supply of PPEs and until that supply catches up with demand a little better people will still be able to get $40-50 a polyp for them. Even at that price they sell rather quickly around here from what I've seen.
zeppelin
www.corareef.org
Blane's original PPE colony was from the Caribbean. If I remember right, he got them from Bryan Kile when he first started 'The Logical Reef' years back. They were one of the first 'named' zoanthids back then, if I recall right. I think Bryan was also naming a few on his site back then, just to be a little silly and different. 
That was way before every zoo/paly had to have a name.
I do seem to be seeing them f/s more often than in years past. I see the price leveling off also. $40-$50 a polyp for most any zoanthid/palythoa seems out of hand to me though. I think the 'folklore' of the PPE helps keep the price up a bit.
That was way before every zoo/paly had to have a name. I do seem to be seeing them f/s more often than in years past. I see the price leveling off also. $40-$50 a polyp for most any zoanthid/palythoa seems out of hand to me though. I think the 'folklore' of the PPE helps keep the price up a bit.
gflat65
New member
Oh I had fun with that. Searching and trying to find the threads I remembered (even if only vaguley-esp. the complete Caribbean tank that the person collected himself) was kind of a trip through nostalgia lane. I'm not saying it's not commonf for them to still go for higher prices, but if you are lcuky, you can find havens where they are lower (or can trade for less than a kidney and left arm).
Thanks for the added info, zepp. I didn't even know Bryan was involved. He's a good guy.
. Searching and trying to find the threads I remembered (even if only vaguley-esp. the complete Caribbean tank that the person collected himself) was kind of a trip through nostalgia lane. I'm not saying it's not commonf for them to still go for higher prices, but if you are lcuky, you can find havens where they are lower (or can trade for less than a kidney and left arm).Thanks for the added info, zepp. I didn't even know Bryan was involved. He's a good guy.
