You are not so special anymore........but we still love you?

[lmm1967]

Oh and a photo please?

hit me up next time you drive through Acworth - I give smaller pieces (1" roughly) of it, along with pulsing xenia, away for free

 

[Zionas]

I’d be more than happy kicking the door open with corals once I have my tank. xD Going to start with easy to maintain corals rather than being a coral collector. Tank’s only going to be medium sized anyway.

 

[Indytraveler83]

I think it tends to ebb and flow on availability mostly. I don't own anything I paid a boatload for, as I'm a "poor" reefer, but I do have a hammer colony I paid $85 for a couple years ago that would likely go for $200-300 at my lfs right now. It seems like LPS is suddenly in rage, and I can't get ahold of it like I did when I started.

 

[One Reefing Boi]

cries in the crazy prices of torches rn

 

[Tyrone]

I always liked the Jedi Mind Trick and rainbow montipora. Today the torch corals, scolymia corals and O.G bounce mushroom are a must have some way overpriced.

 

[DennisRoach]

Miami Hurricane chalice. Still has great contrasting colors. I almost gotta give frags/mini colonies away!

pic 1 - My main colony
pic 2 - Frags of what I sell/give away

I like this one as well! I haven't seen it around my area in a bit

 

[andrewkw]

So I wouldn't exactly consider myself an "old salt" because I've only been doing this thing for about 16 years while others have been in reefing for far longer! I'm looking at you @Paul B! Anyway I remember back in the day there were certain corals that were super special to be able to have in your possession but not so much anymore! Sadly some of the greats have lost their "rarity" and "luster" due to various reasons yet they are still just as beautiful and still can make for wonderful additions to a reef aquarium.

Today's QOTD is dedicated to the "not so special anymore but we still love you" coral! So let's talk about it and I would love to hear your feedback and of course photos are always welcome!

1. What coral do you remember being the super hot, must have addition to a reef tank, that is no longer popular?

2. Why do you think that these "once hot corals" are no longer so sought after anymore?

3. What coral would you call a TIMELESS Coral that will never lose it's mass appeal?


These PPE (purple people eater) palys used to be very popular and could fetch up to $300 per polyp at one time.

I still don't have any purple people eaters! I remember seeing them at Reef Raft for $50 per polyp and they had wild multi coloured rocks filled with polyps for $40 at the same time. I also recall a friend "smuggling" 2 polyps in paper towel a long time ago. Technically there was nothing illegal about bringing them back since there was no rock, but didn't know any better. I never ended up getting a frag. I believe they were pretty slow growers but if I ever actually see them in person again I'll drop $50 on a polyp now that giant colonies are a thing of the past...

I've only been in the hobby about 15 years but when Australia first opened up everything changed. We got both different colour morphs of corals we knew, but also new species we never saw before. Duncans are the first one that come to mind, paying a higher PP price for 1 or 2 heads. The hardness of the skeleton was a big surprise.

vargus cespitularia is one coral that I could have fly out the door at $50 to $100 per frag (again colonies were cheaper back then) no problem, but of course they were real easy to grow so market quickly flooded. I am surprised they are not as popular as standard pom pom xenia today though. They may not pulse but the colour is like nothing else. Of course they are one of the few corals that look better in white light so that may also play a factor.

Grandis palys is another that were quite pricey. Orange Crush Acan enchinata never became super expensive but it was quite in demand for a while. Red frogspawn was once a rare colour morph. Some other obvious ones Oregon Tort, some of the encrusting montiporas superman, pokerstar, sunset ect. Now people name everything, but 10+ years ago I would guess only 10% of corals were named.

Anything rainbow will always be in demand, in fact prices now are higher than they ever were then for most things even if they are less in demand, due to increases in freight, exchange rate, aquaculture, shipping limitations and inflation plus many more reasons.

 

[John Bolden]

bruh a smal colony of a hammer at my lfs if 250

 

[DennisRoach]

Going with other, most new “it” corals are so photoshopped or overhyped the appeal dies when people realize no one can get the colors.

YES!!!! THIS 1000% People turn the saturation up to 100 and most people are expecting that and are soo disappointed when they can not get theirs to look similar. You see the same post in the fb groups... "I think something is wrong with my so&so, why does it look like this?"

 

[John Bolden]

lol im so pooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooor

 

[MightyMO]

lol im so pooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooor

Me too bud...

 

[John Bolden]

lol

 

[John Bolden]

Johns first Nuvo 20

OK i getting the Nuvo 20 in October-November .

www.reef2reef.com

 

[MightyMO]

bruh a smal colony of a hammer at my lfs if 250

Where do you live???

 

[MightyMO]

Where do you live???

I have a multiple head colony of neon green splatter hammer I would be willing to do a head of it for a frag for a trade...

 

[Brew12]

I'm thinking there are different dynamics for different corals.

For corals that are almost exclusively collected in the wild the prices tend to fluctuate with availability and to a lesser extent, changes is consumer taste.

For designer frags like some zoas and SPS the popularity drops when the price drops. When a new "hot" acro or zoa is introduced into the hobby it can demand a high price because of its rarity. Some people will buy it because of it's looks. There will also be a huge demand from people who want to buy a frag to grow out and resell. The price will experience its first drop when the majority of growers get a frag of it. The 2nd and much larger price drop will occur when these coral growers start being able to market their own frags of the coral. The large increase in supply and resulting price drop will discourage anyone who is tempted to buy a frag to grow for resale and prices normalize with other similar corals of its type.

 

[mell0w]

I think the real answer is supply and demand. Some new coral is introduced, it's super rare and no one has really seen it before. People purchase, it propagates, they frag, someone purchases, it propagates, they frag, ad infinitum. Not only does it become less and less rare, and in turn less and less expensive, it loses hobbyist's interest because of that.

I also feel in the hobby, there's some unnatural selection. The ugly corals don't get propagated and fragged and sold to go on to make many more colonies nearly as much as the brightly colored designer corals do over extended periods of time. So what we will eventually end up with is more brightly colored, exotic reefs than would ever been commonplace in the ocean anywhere, or at anytime in the hobby previously.

 

[shred5]

I remember the purple monster acro being highly sought after. I rarely see it around anymore. The ORA pieces don’t seem to be talked about much either, and some of those are my favorite.

Tyree purple monster is still sought after and commands a pretty good price.

One reasons you do not see it much is it is a slow grower and hard to get.

Also just because something is not a trendy type coral which seems so popular on FB or R2R does not mean it is not still popular. The purple monster is still sought after by most sps people off these places. There are allot of non trendy corals that still are sought after that are not the flavor of the day.

 

[SMB]

Tulip Mania.

Personally I'll take any coral that thrives in my tank. Healthy is always in style.

 

[Paul B]

I haven't bought a coral in so many years that I totally forgot the last time I got one. Whatever I have just keeps growing and except for maybe the Montipora's and acropora's I have no idea what the names of my corals are.
I do like LPS and Gorgs much better than SPS although I realize most people think you need a tank of sticks, but I find those boring like tangs and goldfish. It's just me.

I have SPS but only so people don't beat me up.
Gorgonians have so much movement and grow up the walls which makes a mess so I have to keep trimming them or my wife would get the horrors and divorce me for someone with a Koi Pond. ;Yuck

But I like these so much better. So does my Copperband.
If you keep a tank long enough, you won't be able to fit any new corals so it doesn't matter what kind they are.