JOSE CASAS
New member
Here you go
Captive farmed Tortuosa Acropora have been demanding fairly high prices for quite a few years. Most of the currently available blue and purple colored tortuosa fragments are being farmed from colonies and cultured corals that were originally exported from the Solomon Islands from 1998 to 1999. That time period was just prior to their most recent Civil War. At that time the Solomon Island coral exporter was working with local natives who established a local coral culturing operation. The last wild whole colonies that were exported from the Solomons occurred in mid-1998. By the time of Macna X in Los Angeles (late 1998), Solomons had completely switched to only exporting cultured corals attached to cement disks. Many people who attended Macna X in Los Angeles remember the absolutely incredible Solomons Disks Bob Mankin had on display. Back in spring to mid-1998, Steve Tyree had acquired one of the last Acropora tortuosa wild whole colonies exported from the Solomons. The colony was personnally delivered by Steve to Robert Becker. Robert grew the coral for 3 to 4 years and produced the first mass distribution of captive grown tortuosa fragments within the domestic US market. After Solomons made the switch to only cultured disks, there were some Acropora tortuosa branches that were exported as cultured disks. Many of these were acquired by Bob Mankin of Coral Farms. I believe that Bob Mankin's disks were then distributed up and down the west coast. Offsprings of these cultured Solomons tortuosa corals became known as the Bennet Tort, the Cali Tort, the Oregon Tort and the Seattle Tort. There are now many other corals called torts. The first Tortuosa Reeffarmers has decided to distribute as a Limited Edition coral, is what Steve Tyree believes is the first Acropora tortuosa farmed within the US. The Tort that preceded the tort rage. Right after its importation the original Becker tort colony was colored primarily purple with mostly clear or translucent polyps. This coral has changed its pigment characteristics while maintained within captivity for over 6 years. Polyps have developed a deep blue pigmentation, while the main body is now more blue then purple. Tortuosa corals typically appear more red purple under 10,000 K and 6,500 K bulbs. They appear more blue purple under 20,000 K bulbs. See the image of the original colony below. It was taken in a low kelvin temperature similar to sunlight at the surface. The captive colony can also now develop turquoise pigments on its tips. One can assume that the corals current pigmentation represents its most healthiest state in captivity. We do not know the conditions the coral was originally experiencing within the Solomons Islands. Reeffarmers is distributing and growing fragments of this coral from two seed fragments we acquired from Neal Yahata (Los Angeles) and Scott Berman (Thousand Oaks). Neal originally acquired his fragment from Joe Kelly of North Hollywood around the year 2000. Scott also acquired his Becker Tort fragment from Joe Kelly around 2001. Joe was the keeper of this coral for a few years after Becker left the stony hobby. Neal Yahata and Scott Berman have proven themselves to be some of the most successful stony coral reefers within the US. They have managed to maintain many 'old school' stonies for years. Please note that this Becker Tortuosa has recently developed green pigmentation within its polyps. We began seeing this new pigment within our farming systems around late 2005 and early 2006. Steve Tyree is maintaining two farmed sections of this coral for reeffarmers.com in one of his 125 gallon naturally filtered Tri-Zonal Reef Aquariums. In Steve's captive reef the coral is positoned to recieve moderate to strong light under a 400 watt 20,000 K Radium Metal Halide. It should be noted that this tort is a slower grower then the Oregon Tort. It is also more delicate when transferring it between systems. Price is currently $105 per small sized fragment. The monthly limited edition reservation schedules can be found below. Please note effective November 2008 we have changed the harvesting and reservation schedule to bimonthly. This better matches the corals long term growth rate in captivity.
