Is this an $800 coral?

[Cichlid Dad]

What makes an expensive coral expensive? Or rather what makes you want that coral?
Green smoothie with reddish PE and pink coralites.

Before I answer, did you purchase this?

 

[exnisstech]

Not a chance. But then again I’m not into sticks.

I have paid $500 for some of my Acanthophyllia though.

Acanthophylia was my most expensive coral. I watched one in the lfs for a year and I think they were asking $900 I got it for $490 cash OTD. It did great for a couple of years and the skeleton is over the hill with the rest of my failure

 

[Red_Beard]

Hobbyist. Social media, influencers, instagram, and the marketing machine. Those are probably the driving force behind the price. Some will say lineage but one could argue that is difficult to prove as we don't have any registry (think AKC) for proof. ORA used to provide certificates with some corals is the closest I've personally experienced.

If we look at say a Acropora coral. Brief example of recognized species:

• Acropora abrolhosensis Veron, 1985
• Acropora abrotanoides (Lamarck, 1816)
• Acropora acervata (Dana, 1846)
• Acropora aculeus (Dana, 1846)
• Acropora acuminata (Verrill, 1864)
• Acropora alvarezi† Wallace, 2008
• Acropora anglica† (Duncan, 1866)
• Acropora anthocercis (Brook, 1893)
• Acropora arabensis Hodgson and Carpenter, 1995
• Acropora arafura Wallace, Done & Muir, 2012
• Acropora aspera (Dana, 1846)
• Acropora austera (Dana, 1846)

I don't see Home Wrecker or Walt Disney listed although both are Acropora tenuis I believe. Point being is that both are considered to be some of the best looking Acropora with articles and vendor/sellers promoting it as such. Color morph probably the driving factor.

To put this into perspective there is a rather long thread here asking if a particular coral is a ORA Pearlberry. As you can imagine there are lots of guesses, pictures, and jokes that shed light on the subject. How does one justify the price and trace it back to the actual parent colony and/or lineage without a registry of sorts.

Quite the conundrum if we are being honest.

Note 1: these are just my opinions
Note 2: what is remarkable to me may not be to you
Note 3: color morph or name doesn't give me satisfaction, growing a frag into a colony does (hobbyist are different)
Note 4: vendor/seller or coral in question source of origin may be a factor


Note 5: most important note of all - hope your day and evening is well.

AKC is dogwater, JHV or bust! Lol, i jest. My chessie was AKC papered. Awesome breeder and he was a fantastic dog.

But, that is an interesting topic for a side conversation, 2 part question. 1, Would documented lineage be a value add to our hobby? I think it would be really neat to see how the 'same coral' would change structure or color both over time and conditions, all questions of coral value aside. 2, If 1, then how do we best implement that and standardize it? I have seen some RFID frag plugs that look really neat that could help a ton with documentation, way cool concept. But, as with any system that involves money, there will be those that try to game it to their advantage. How do we best implement safeguards both to system/standard integrity as well as consumer trust? Hard to implement something like that without adding a ton of overhead to costs that are already a little crazy.

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

Who told you that my moms name is Coral?

Your mom....

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

I wouldnt spend that much on anything that wasnt a colony size to be honest.

Also would want to see it full size, in an established tank - see so many fancy looking frags, that look amazing. But rarely see the same one's full colony size.

Right... Thirsty reef does a nice job of that.

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

Wait…is this actually for sale somewhere for 8 hundo?

Sure is Adam... but it will cost you another $100 for it's secret location and I don't think there is free shipping.

 

[VintageReefer]

This is my c.c. insanity plate, 3.5-4” depending on how it’s inflating, which is depending on when the last meal was

This is what coral collectors charges for a 1” baby of it

Isanity Plate | Coral Collectors

Super hot plate coral! Grown here at CoralCollectors.com. Fairly easy to keep and does well on the floor of the reef using lower light.

coralcollectors.com

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

Before I answer, did you purchase this?

Yes and No

 

[Cichlid Dad]

Yes and No

Ok , then it's absolutely worth it!

 

[VintageReefer]

Now. Is it worth 1000 for a baby of this? Who knows. Depends on the buyer. But I can see this having more appeal than the stick in post 1.

This is super unique for a plate.
It glows like crazy. Big tentacles that flow and add movement to the tank
You can feed it and get responses and watch it grab food and pull it in and eat. Crazy contrasting colors.

And…this species of plate is very difficult to get to reproduce. A stick you can just snip branches. This…reproduces by budding. And the only way to make it bud, is to take a risk, and nearly kill the plate, to the point all flesh and tissue is gone, and hope it has enough survival instinct and fight in it to be able to make buds a few months later. Otherwise, you just threw your money in the trash. So most people that do end up with one of these, are not creating frags - which keeps supply low and demand high, contributing to the price

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

Now. Is it worth 1000 for a baby of this? Who knows. Depends on the buyer. But I can see this having more appeal than the stick in post 1.

This is super unique for a plate.
It glows like crazy. Big tentacles that flow and add movement to the tank
You can feed it and get responses and watch it grab food and pull it in and eat. Crazy contrasting colors.

And…this species of plate is very difficult to get to reproduce. A stick you can just snip branches. This…reproduces by budding. And the only way to make it bud, is to take a risk, and nearly kill the plate, to the point all flesh and tissue is gone, and hope it has enough survival instinct and fight in it to be able to make buds a few months later. Otherwise, you just threw your money in the trash. So most people that do end up with one of these, are not creating frags - which keeps supply low and demand high, contributing to the price

But this is about what makes certain sticks high dollar...

 

[klc]

I enjoy a good acro just like everyone, but my limit is about $40-50. I just don't see the value in the high dollar acros. There are a lot of coral farmers who specialize in that niche market but I gotta say that my dollars are too hard to come by to spend hundreds on a 1" coral with a fancy name. I don't care where it came from or if some famous reefer grew it previously, it ain't worth what they are asking for them. Give me a nice healthy green slimer and I'm a happy camper.

This isn't any different than going to the pet store in the mall and buying a $3000 puppy when you'd get just as much love from one you got at the animal shelter for $50. There's a butt for every seat. (stupid profanity filter )

 

[Jimbo327]

They can charge what they want, but doesn't mean anyone is going to buy it.

Personally, $100 max is where I draw the line on sticks. $50 is where I like to hang.

 

[VintageReefer]

But this is about what makes certain sticks high dollar...

I’ll retract from the thread if wanted

I did see it was in the sps section and has a sps shown, but the first post said

What makes an expensive coral expensive? Or rather what makes you want that coral?

And I thought that was more of a general question open to all coral. And people mentioned acantho’s so I thought it would be ok to add into the convo. Apologies if I’m derailing !

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

I’ll retract from the thread if wanted

I did see it was in the sps section and has a sps shown, but the first post said

What makes an expensive coral expensive? Or rather what makes you want that coral?

And I thought that was more of a general question open to all coral. And people mentioned acantho’s so I thought it would be ok to add into the convo. Apologies if I’m derailing !

No, perspective is good. It is important. Not wanting to give to much away, but I was looking at some online coral vendors today and was surprised or disappointed at what a high dollar stick was. Personally for $800 bucks I would expect a colony the size of a softball. But I see a lot of "cut to order" 3/4 inch frags...

 

[VintageReefer]

No, perspective is good. It is important. Not wanting to give to much away, but I was looking at some online coral vendors today and was surprised or disappointed at what a high dollar stick was. Personally for $800 bucks I would expect a colony the size of a softball. But I see a lot of "cut to order" 3/4 inch frags...

I mean. If it was a 6+ inch colony of healthy WD or rainbow splice sure. Something that took a lot of time and work to grow and is an item that’s already in high demand with known growth colors and what to expect

 

[EliMelly]

AKC is dogwater, JHV or bust! Lol, i jest. My chessie was AKC papered. Awesome breeder and he was a fantastic dog.

But, that is an interesting topic for a side conversation, 2 part question. 1, Would documented lineage be a value add to our hobby? I think it would be really neat to see how the 'same coral' would change structure or color both over time and conditions, all questions of coral value aside. 2, If 1, then how do we best implement that and standardize it? I have seen some RFID frag plugs that look really neat that could help a ton with documentation, way cool concept. But, as with any system that involves money, there will be those that try to game it to their advantage. How do we best implement safeguards both to system/standard integrity as well as consumer trust? Hard to implement something like that without adding a ton of overhead to costs that are already a little crazy.

As someone who works with dogs for a living I promise you that AKC doesn’t mean much. Even FCI is eh.