Buying LPS frag thoughts

[knightnsd]

I'm curious how others feel about buying frags, specifically bower frags. We have all read complaints about the frag not looking like the seller's picture and blame that on the high blue intense photos that are heavily edited, look at lighting or water quality as factors, or camera editing, but I am curious how others choose frags. I know price is a factor but when I am looking at a new bower frag, I always make sure it has the mother colony colors I'm buying it for versus a cheaper side cut that has less of the great colors of the colony, and hope that the other colors grow in. As my frags grow out I have noticed that most of the time, the color of the rim of the large head will dictate the color that baby that grows in as. It seems some sellers cut the lesser colored heads out and sell them as part of the rainbow colony but I doubt that the mother colony's colors will ever grow in from that frag. In fact, as some of mine grow, the craziest heads grow in between the rim of the head most often where two or three colors meet making the baby grow all of those colors. So if there is only a color or two in the mother head, I doubt any new colors will grow in and give me that great rainbow colored bower I thought I bought.

I'd love to hear people's thoughts on this as I think some buyers get screwed on the hope other colors will grow in or they get some morph. I think newbies especially need to learn this versus paying hundreds of dollars for a frag that will never be more than two colors. I really noted this as I made a reverse bleeding apple from my normal bleeding apple simply by a specific cut from a more red side of the bleeding apple colony. Now that mini-colony is a reverse bleeding apple and worth twice the price by some sellers and I have to think that sellers cutting from a weak side of a rainbow colony are pretty much screwing buyers.

Love to hear some senior reefers thoughts??

 

[KrisReef]

I suspect you are correct. I have heard similar issues with "rainbow" chalice frags that only had one of the original colors. Initially i would not expect the rainbow to magically appear. I have seen other frags, as they get larger (many times bigger than the original frag) that the missing colors reappear. Now you have to keep growing your Bowers out and let us know down the road what you get. Maybe frag off a monochrome polyp and grow that out and see how it turns out?

The opposite effect is when brown corals get green, red or orange pigments from other corals in the tank, aka "grafting". I have seen this phenomena in many different corals and across species and it all makes me wonder what the heck is going on in these tanks?

 

[knightnsd]

I think cornbread has been grafting a rainbow bower as the frags look that way on ebay. I'm curious how this works out, I have always wondered if you could pull some "guts" with a syringe and inject them into a different bower and see if it morphed, Im guessing you would pull some of the internal flora that makes the colors in the frag. If it works Id call it a frankenstein frag but Im pretty happy with the frags Ive got but just maybe there will be a day Im up for it.

 

[rogersb]

Any chance this is about that master bower on ebay? I would not buy that frag. I have the ARC master and I cut off heads like that and sell for maybe $30. They do not get all the colors.

 

[Billldg]

I'm curious how others feel about buying frags, specifically bower frags. We have all read complaints about the frag not looking like the seller's picture and blame that on the high blue intense photos that are heavily edited, look at lighting or water quality as factors, or camera editing, but I am curious how others choose frags. I know price is a factor but when I am looking at a new bower frag, I always make sure it has the mother colony colors I'm buying it for versus a cheaper side cut that has less of the great colors of the colony, and hope that the other colors grow in. As my frags grow out I have noticed that most of the time, the color of the rim of the large head will dictate the color that baby that grows in as. It seems some sellers cut the lesser colored heads out and sell them as part of the rainbow colony but I doubt that the mother colony's colors will ever grow in from that frag. In fact, as some of mine grow, the craziest heads grow in between the rim of the head most often where two or three colors meet making the baby grow all of those colors. So if there is only a color or two in the mother head, I doubt any new colors will grow in and give me that great rainbow colored bower I thought I bought.

I'd love to hear people's thoughts on this as I think some buyers get screwed on the hope other colors will grow in or they get some morph. I think newbies especially need to learn this versus paying hundreds of dollars for a frag that will never be more than two colors. I really noted this as I made a reverse bleeding apple from my normal bleeding apple simply by a specific cut from a more red side of the bleeding apple colony. Now that mini-colony is a reverse bleeding apple and worth twice the price by some sellers and I have to think that sellers cutting from a weak side of a rainbow colony are pretty much screwing buyers.

Love to hear some senior reefers thoughts??

Honestly, it comes down to, DO you like it?

I say this because I have purchased and seen the same, AND, I also purchased and was floored by what I saw in my tank. I have never purchased a Bower, BUT, I have purchased several Acans, which I feel are just as guilty of the photo being altered. I recently purchased a Rainbow acan from @Living Reef Orlando, YES, I am plugging them, and thought no way it can look that good. As soon as I added it to my tank after dipping it in Bayer I was proven wrong. IT can look that good sometimes, and maybe, vendors are trying to do the right thing sometimes.

This is, unfortunately, where your gut feeling has to come into play.

 

[afrokobe]

Any chance this is about that master bower on ebay? I would not buy that frag. I have the ARC master and I cut off heads like that and sell for maybe $30. They do not get all the colors.

lol, are you referring to this one?

Here is the mother colony pic they posted:

And here is the frag:

I would not trust this frag to develop the colors of the mother colony or if this is even the same bower. Even the mother colony isn't something to brag about, either its a terrible picture or it just doesnt have all the color, but to me it is nowhere near a "master" or a "rainbow"

 

[TnFishwater98]

I'm curious how others feel about buying frags, specifically bower frags. We have all read complaints about the frag not looking like the seller's picture and blame that on the high blue intense photos that are heavily edited, look at lighting or water quality as factors, or camera editing, but I am curious how others choose frags. I know price is a factor but when I am looking at a new bower frag, I always make sure it has the mother colony colors I'm buying it for versus a cheaper side cut that has less of the great colors of the colony, and hope that the other colors grow in. As my frags grow out I have noticed that most of the time, the color of the rim of the large head will dictate the color that baby that grows in as. It seems some sellers cut the lesser colored heads out and sell them as part of the rainbow colony but I doubt that the mother colony's colors will ever grow in from that frag. In fact, as some of mine grow, the craziest heads grow in between the rim of the head most often where two or three colors meet making the baby grow all of those colors. So if there is only a color or two in the mother head, I doubt any new colors will grow in and give me that great rainbow colored bower I thought I bought.

I'd love to hear people's thoughts on this as I think some buyers get screwed on the hope other colors will grow in or they get some morph. I think newbies especially need to learn this versus paying hundreds of dollars for a frag that will never be more than two colors. I really noted this as I made a reverse bleeding apple from my normal bleeding apple simply by a specific cut from a more red side of the bleeding apple colony. Now that mini-colony is a reverse bleeding apple and worth twice the price by some sellers and I have to think that sellers cutting from a weak side of a rainbow colony are pretty much screwing buyers.

Love to hear some senior reefers thoughts??

Not all vendors do but I’m sure others do.

 

[knightnsd]

There have been several listings from sellers like that one but yes the one you posted screams of misrepresentation as I doubt it will ever have the colors in the mother frag picture. When I am shopping for bowers you find threads of why doesn't my frag look like the seller's picture. I think a lot of lot people getting into bowers think they might grow out like a chalice and see colors come in... I have not really seen that in bowers much. I hope the newbies read the thread to avoid getting burned as that frag for a couple hundred bucks plus shipping is criminal, that is a cheap frag. I could cut my bowers out and screw people like that but instead cut frags with the colony colors as bowers don't just grow the other colors in. My problem is I end up loving the frags I grow out and have another colony I cant sell.

 

[305]

I think cornbread has been grafting a rainbow bower as the frags look that way on ebay. I'm curious how this works out, I have always wondered if you could pull some "guts" with a syringe and inject them into a different bower and see if it morphed, Im guessing you would pull some of the internal flora that makes the colors in the frag. If it works Id call it a frankenstein frag but Im pretty happy with the frags Ive got but just maybe there will be a day Im up for it.

Cb uses the same photo for all his listings..
Corals have come in pale and go up in smoke within weeks
Buyer beware and take photos with a grainof salt
If it doesnt have white / blue photos…
I prolly wouldnt spend more than 40$ on it

 

[knightnsd]

I call those pictures the CB photo app but haven't seen it available for my android. I am baffled that people buy some vendors over-priced blown up frags. That one is an interesting photo and I have wondered how the frag does, but probably like you I'll let someone else try it as I am suspicious of its colors and longevity. The funny thing is many of the vendors import the same colonies but between the naming and photo editing its a $50 frag in one store and $500 in another.

Cb uses the same photo for all his listings..
Corals have come in pale and go up in smoke within weeks
Buyer beware and take photos with a grainof salt
If it doesnt have white / blue photos…
I prolly wouldnt spend more than 40$ on it

 

[Koh23]

I dont buy online, primary for enormous delivery costs, for now, but when i buy frags from adds, i never contact seller if there's no actual picture of frags, or if they use some generic picture from god knows where.....

And "must have" is picture with white lights only, so, line is - take the most cra...y picture u can, and if i like what i see....

And important, what light seller uses...

Never failed...

 

[305]

I call those pictures the CB photo app but haven't seen it available for my android. I am baffled that people buy some vendors over-priced blown up frags. That one is an interesting photo and I have wondered how the frag does, but probably like you I'll let someone else try it as I am suspicious of its colors and longevity. The funny thing is many of the vendors import the same colonies but between the naming and photo editing its a $50 frag in one store and $500 in another.

Im in a local whatsapp chat.. rbta… 200$ when u total the slots and price per slot.
Porcelain crab behind it just a bit smaller than the nem and the crab looks black (edited photo)
And the 20 alots fill up in an hour.
Theres one chik that bought 7 slots….
U can literally buy that for 50$
To some degree, if ur that stupid.. u deserve it.
But a lot has to do with not knowing any better.
This photo manipulation and name game needs to be thrown around more often as do lighting schedules to inform people that theyrs a bunch of grifters out there