Haven't seen many bright orange small colonies of millepora as vivid as this...are they very common elsewhere? Curious...

[livinlifeinBKK]

As title says just curious as to whether this is considered a fairly unusual shade of vivid orange for an SPS (belived to be a monti). I haven't seen them quite this vivid so before purchasing I wanted to make if they're simply not sent here for whatever reason commonly. Price isnt bad considering the size of the colony at all. Have you guys seen these often? No. This is not aquaculture, Nor photoshopped into something that does really exist. It was either wild or maricultured.

Thought I'd include a couple others as well just to show the crazy natural colors out there as well sin-the are aquacultured either.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

The top one might be sold out but the bottom two are still there!

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

I may not be able to resist one or two... @Reefkeepers Archive give it to us straight.

 

[Troylee]

Asd rainbow Millie is about as orange as it gets! Not my picture but I have one and it’s getting that bright.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Asd rainbow Millie is about as orange as it gets! Not my picture but I have one and it’s getting that bright.

Id almost venture to say those might actually be the same species! I think the environmental conditions were slightly different imo. I bet those are same!

With that said, Id assume you actually could brighten the color (although yours is almost certainly aquacultured and actually isnt genotypic but phenotypic. I like the middle one as well and like I said, topstone is sold I think. Hey, not loosing mich by buying all 3 if you wanna go that route and make a bet they are the same species.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

The potential of some of those small colonies to grow out is incredible to me! Id be curious what the cost analysis would look like after only 1 year...I'd expect it to be insane

 

[billyocean]

This is actually colored down since I moved it

 

[chipchipbro]

well the first two pics arent even millepora. the second is most likely a tenuis.
Most of the maricultures pieces come in very vibrant and almost bleached usually.

thats how we receive them from bali as import colonies.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

well the first two pics arent even millepora. the second is most likely a tenuis.
Most of the maricultures pieces come in very vibrant and almost bleached usually.

thats how we receive them from bali as import colonies.

Thanks for pointing that out because the actual mistake I made was not rewriting the title. I assumed everyone knew that if only one was orange I was most likely referring to the orange one. I actually mentioned that I'd Go ahead an include two more colonies (not specified as anything) simply to show the colors. But for those who may not understood the orange one was the particularly vivi one and is Montipora.
The bleaching would be caused by something completely different than slight varying Shades of orange. I would stand by environmental conditions here.

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

I may not be able to resist one or two... @Reefkeepers Archive give it to us straight.

I usually don't pay much attention to SPS, though orange is something I don't see often!

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

I usually don't pay much attention to SPS, though orange is something I don't see often!

I was asking on here thinking perhaps it's just not commonly imported here for whatever reason.big frag of it and I won't say the equivalent cost in dollars because people hate that...haha...if you're curious do the conversation on a phone or something...

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

@Reefkeepers Archive btw, I'll try to take a picture of the black sun coral while feeding it tomorrow... they're so amazing to me to watch

 

[Troylee]

I also have this one which is a peachy orange color.. came green but is coloring up.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

I also have this one which is a peachy orange color.. came green but is coloring up.

Very beautiful! I can't say we would see them as uncommon here but I think the beauty is worth more! Some of the corals and many variations among the same species are quite interesting in all honesty!

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Ive always found it really incredible how nature itself favors some of the insanely beauty and outlandish color variations.

I've been called all sorts of names here for that simple statement of appreciation/preference. Honestly they were jealous.

 

[Troylee]

Ive always found it really incredible how nature itself favors some of the insanely beauty and outlandish color variations.

I've been called all sorts of names here for that simple statement of appreciation/preference. Honestly they were jealous.

A local buddy of mine gets a lot of Bali imports in and the colors are insane but they don’t hold in captivity.. I’m having better luck than anyone else in my town as I run halides and they run leds.. I’m getting some colors to hold but not the intensity where the led guys run heavy blue and they morph. Either way the pieces are cool!

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

A local buddy of mine gets a lot of Bali imports in and the colors are insane but they don’t hold in captivity.. I’m having better luck than anyone else in my town as I run halides and they run leds.. I’m getting some colors to hold but not the intensity where the led guys run heavy blue and they morph. Either way the pieces are cool!

The lighting probably plays a BIG factor, I agree! The vast majority of our corals here are wild collected or maricultured, however and although it takes a little longer to find the sweet spot for placement, people seem to have some pretty good success. I'm not disagreeing honestly, just mentioning what I've personally observed.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

A local buddy of mine gets a lot of Bali imports in and the colors are insane but they don’t hold in captivity.. I’m having better luck than anyone else in my town as I run halides and they run leds.. I’m getting some colors to hold but not the intensity where the led guys run heavy blue and they morph. Either way the pieces are cool!

I have nothing against aquacultured corals and support the practice as an environmental science student in college with a good GPA. I'm not going to detail my personal opinions about everything since nobody wants to read all that but from living here, after working in one of top shop in America, I strongly prefer buying corals and fish as well due to the higher immunity generally speaking. Of course I love the color variations and irreplaceable hues corals occur in naturally as well as aquacultured pieces. Yes, through genetic breeding some aren't very close to natural at all. Some color variations might as well be synthetic generated in a lab since over time the genetic expression, which was the goal of some aquaculture facilities, changes so greatly it in my opinion other organisms may not even recognize it as a native species of that reef. That's not good. Once again, it is a big step forward in environmental conservation.

However, I can't explain how exciting it is to check back in the shop right after a new shipment because the livestock is wild including most coral and the fish are not ordered simply because that's what sales figures indicate should be stocked. One thing they've realize here (it's no secret) is that when you put a wild fish looking like a pile of dirt on a tank a lot of attention will be drawn and customers will take a look though the rest of the shop.
I'm going to go on too farther unless someone DMs me but I love the fact that you have no clue what will be I'm the next coral shipment! And they're not cut in frags of equal size and lined up in rows of 20. I'm not a market expert but people don't generally want something they take a lot of pride in to appear like the nextdoor neighbors tank. The corals don't arrive in dozens of the same species even. That adds to the excitement of getting there early! Even in the case that that weeks shipment didn't bring anything particularly incredible, due to this one shipment just happening to not wow you, certainly you wouldn't notice unique and interesting growth of the corals (not to mention some nice sized colonies for a more than fair price). And there's only of of those in the entire shipment which you've never seen grow as it did previously.

This is my opinion. Part of my passion for the hobby is feeling as if I'm making own art which is different than anyone's. I would try to do that with little in x inch square of cyphastra lined up in a row. I'll stop here I don't want to drag on. If I didn't care about the environment, I'd probably buy far more wild and maricultured corals.