“Old School” corals

[3000kelvin]

Been listening to podcasts and reading various things online about the hobby and occasionally when someone has been reefing for awhile I hear/read them make reference to “old school” corals. My understanding is that these are corals that were highly available years ago or were very popular at one time and as the hobby evolved interest in these corals has subsided.

I’d like to know what you’d consider to be an old school coral. What’s something that was once plentiful and is no longer being sold or traded?

As I plan for what corals I’d like to keep, I’d love to have some corals that are oldies but goodies. Will these corals come with a premium price tag or is it an opportunity to get some cool coral at a good price?

 

[blecki]

Blue ridge coral used to be all the rage (at least in Virginia). Now I know of only one tank that still has an ancient and massive colony of it, yet, you can still get it off LiveAquaria. I think it's like a lot of the 'old school corals' from the 90s; easy to keep but crowded out of everyone's tanks by the far more colorful species available today.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

My first coral about 15 years ago was a candy cane - thats old school.

 

[19Mateo83]

The purple rim green Monti cap is one that comes to mind as old school. It used to be everywhere a decade ago. Now Jason fox is one of the few places I can find it.

 

[Troylee]

Lots of old school corals that are classics and hard to come by today.. I have a couple and still on the hunt for more! Couple of ora pieces red planet, pearlberry will always have a place! Tyree pink lemonade, Oregon tort, bpc flamethrower, reef odyssey “rising sun” just to name a few… upscales microcladus, ice fire enchinata I have a huge list of personal favorites lol.. I’d take them over all these “big named” over inflated corals of today.

 

[zoomonster]

As I recall back in the early 90's mostly plain jane green gonipora, pipe organ, green/red wellso's, candy cane, ugly zoas, various leathers and of course typical green/watermelon/red/blue disco shroom.

 

[i cant think]

Old school corals…
I think of these guys as being old school as well as some others.

Duncans (The true OG coral, everyone had Atleast one of these guys in their first reef)
Kenya Trees (These guys are OG but everyone hates them now…)
Ricordea yuma (These guys are never seen anymore but they used to be in most reefers tanks)
Hammers (These still have some popularity but not really the regular green ones)
John Deere Leptastrea (Leptastrea in general just aren’t around anymore)

As for some others here’s ones I think of as being old school but still have some popularity.

Torches (These guys have popularity but they’re overshone by the HG torches - My personal favourite is the Hellfire)
Leathers (Leathers in general we’re everything in the past when SPS was seen as impossible to keep)

My 4’ tank is a tank for the old school reefers who love looking at old school corals. I don’t keep many named corals and I don’t really have rare corals like 24K gold Torches (yet…).

 

[aminals]

I'm a beginner and blastos are my favorite! Looking back at old threads people had some crazy blastos back in 2010. Feels like alot of varieties fell out of interest for fragging/selling.

 

[MrGisonni]

Bubble corals, fox coral, pipe organ, hammers, trachyphyllia, goniopora, toadstool leathers, green star polyps, elegance, colt coral, kenya coral, purple and red mushrooms, ricordea, galaxea, sinularia.....that was about all the diversity that was available.....off of the top of my head....... in the 80s and 90s. Clams were available also.

 

[Opus]

When I think of "old school" I think of when you actually bought a colony and not a frag. I don't consider a coral that is covering a large frag plug as a "colony" like many vendors seem to think. I remember my LFS getting in elegance corals that the skeleton was a foot long and I was amazed that people would actually spend $85 for one. You could buy live rock by the pound for around $3/lb and if you wanted the ones covered in florida ricordea mushrooms it was $7/lb. I also remember the Red Sea Maximas, those were the holy grail clams back in the 90's, at least for me they were.

 

[19Mateo83]

Edit

 

[CoastalTownLayabout]

Bubble corals, fox coral, pipe organ, hammers, trachyphyllia, goniopora, toadstool leathers, green star polyps, elegance, colt coral, kenya coral, purple and red mushrooms, ricordea, galaxea, sinularia.....that was about all the diversity that was available.....off of the top of my head....... in the 80s and 90s. Clams were available also.

Yep, these were the standards in addition to birds nest, the green acro, the brown acro and the highly sought after purple acro.

 

[i cant think]

Old school corals…
I think of these guys as being old school as well as some others.

Duncans (The true OG coral, everyone had Atleast one of these guys in their first reef)
Kenya Trees (These guys are OG but everyone hates them now…)
Ricordea yuma (These guys are never seen anymore but they used to be in most reefers tanks)
Hammers (These still have some popularity but not really the regular green ones)
John Deere Leptastrea (Leptastrea in general just aren’t around anymore)

As for some others here’s ones I think of as being old school but still have some popularity.

Torches (These guys have popularity but they’re overshone by the HG torches - My personal favourite is the Hellfire)
Leathers (Leathers in general we’re everything in the past when SPS was seen as impossible to keep)

My 4’ tank is a tank for the old school reefers who love looking at old school corals. I don’t keep many named corals and I don’t really have rare corals like 24K gold Torches (yet…).

I’ve added another to my oldie collection, you old LPS lovers will love this coral. I picked up an Astreopora but it’s got some… interesting colouring.
Photos to come!!

 

[X-37B]

90's old would be large elegance coral for $30, lol.
Old stags.
Surf and Turf
Green slimer
Blue matrix
Surf and turf stag is one of my favotites.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Blue ridge coral used to be all the rage (at least in Virginia). Now I know of only one tank that still has an ancient and massive colony of it, yet, you can still get it off LiveAquaria. I think it's like a lot of the 'old school corals' from the 90s; easy to keep but crowded out of everyone's tanks by the far more colorful species available today.

I've got a blue ridge. It's not trendy anymore but I keep it for the history alone.

 

[i cant think]

I’ve added another to my oldie collection, you old LPS lovers will love this coral. I picked up an Astreopora but it’s got some… interesting colouring.
Photos to come!!

It’s blue and green, hopefully it’ll plate out nicely