wild colonies vs frags

[coral_killer37]

In my return to the hobby i have noticed that the hobby has moved to frags from show pieces and wild caught colonies. My problem is; with all the frags I have purchased, I have a tank full of nubz, and its really nothing to look at except the fish and rocks. until the frags grow out this seems to be the dilemma. I am curious to know if there are any vendors who sell aquacultured colonies? Does the only hope of balancing the look of my tank risking include adding wild colonies? Come on guys, school me.

 

[eric mac]

U can still find aquacultured pieces at some LFS but fare and few between and the no big selection. I seen some at AIM a few weeks ago. Also the prices have almost doubled. Back in the days they were around $40-$50. Now $80.

But I completely agree with u. Buying a softball size colony is rare. And if u are lucky enough to find one it's going to cost u a arm and a leg. Maybe first born also.

 

[lowbudget]

wild die if the parameter are not correct. colonies has a harder time to acclimate in the fish tank. some survive and thrive but some can live for couple months and just rtn or stn on you for no real reason. i know a few guys that bought like 5 of the same coral the 5th one was the one that survive. good luck check out amazing aquariums and reef i know ali gets some from time to time
forgot when you first put them in and the brown out, sometimes the colors come back sometime they dont. when they do they are pretty nice.

 

[BeanMachine]

wild die if the parameter are not correct. colonies has a harder time to acclimate in the fish tank. some survive and thrive but some can live for couple months and just rtn or stn on you for no real reason. i know a few guys that bought like 5 of the same coral the 5th one was the one that survive. good luck check out amazing aquariums and reef i know ali gets some from time to time
forgot when you first put them in and the brown out, sometimes the colors come back sometime they dont. when they do they are pretty nice.

Yeah amazing aquariums has a few larger colonies.

So does Capistrano Reef in San Juan... I got s big aquacultured acro that was brownish red, now red and teal with pink tips and growing. Got lucky with this one I guess.

 

[cocoaandme]

Yeah the wild colonies can be really temperamental. If you want good sized captive raised frags/mini colonies I suggest checking out Garrett's Acropolis. He has one of the best grow out systems I have ever seen and he always sells the cheapest SPS corals at frag swaps. You can ask him to make the frag/colony whatever size you want and he will give you an awesome price for it. I pretty much only buy my sps from him now since he has such an amazing selection and his frags are huge for the price.

 

[coral_killer37]

What city is amazing aquariums in? What's is garrots website address? I will look into those options but I guess I'm just gonna have to be patient. I'm getting growth that's is very fast on the base and sluggish on the branches. At this rate, my frags could take years to grow out.

 

[DreamMachine]

What city is amazing aquariums in? What's is garrots website address? I will look into those options but I guess I'm just gonna have to be patient. I'm getting growth that's is very fast on the base and sluggish on the branches. At this rate, my frags could take years to grow out.

Yes, that's how long it takes EVERYONE'S corals to grow out, even in the great big ocean.

 

[DreamMachine]

Yeah the wild colonies can be really temperamental. If you want good sized captive raised frags/mini colonies I suggest checking out Garrett's Acropolis. He has one of the best grow out systems I have ever seen and he always sells the cheapest SPS corals at frag swaps. You can ask him to make the frag/colony whatever size you want and he will give you an awesome price for it. I pretty much only buy my sps from him now since he has such an amazing selection and his frags are huge for the price.

Cheapest? Maybe you haven't dealt with me. He gets some of his corals from me and last I checked I've sold stuff 30% cheaper. He's making a living, I just want to be able to pay my electric bill. I also sold a bunch of blue stag colonies 3"+ with more than 3 branches each for $15-$20 at the last scmas meeting, I'm sure many would vouch for that. Anyway, it's not a competition, Steve's got great stuff, I'm just pointing out that saying Steve Garrett sells the cheapest is not necessarily true.

 

[coral_killer37]

I bought a few frags from garrott back in 2003 when I was in scmas. He was reasonable but in those days I really wasn't into sps. I am planning on coming to the scmas meeting this month so I will see what if he's willing to part with. Back then I would hit every store from strckly fish in long beach and work my way thru the OC looking for big torches and leathers. I remember when you had a green leather you had something. I just realized sps sucks in the frag stage.