Caribbean stony corals...

[damsels are not mean]

So it seems lots of people who order maricultured gulf/keys rock from the various vendors end up with some otherwise illegal hard corals. My question is what can somebody do and not do with said corals?

I know that it is normally illegal to collect and sell these corals, but somehow these vendors are allowed to legally collect rock with protected corals on it from their own artificial reefs on plots of land.

From the perspective of the hobbyist buying the rock and getting, say, some occulina diffusa, what are they legally allowed to do? Can they frag and trade it? Sell it? GIve it away? Not do anything with it? What if they had two and got a successful spawn? If they decided to leave the hobby and sell all their rock do they have to destroy the rock with corals on it? Do the live rock harvesters (kpa, glr, tbs, etc.) Have special licenses that allow them to do this or is it simply the captive collection methods? Is there something written somewhere about all the laws and regulations around this?

 

[blaxsun]

Pretty sure you're allowed to keep it. but fragging and reselling would be a definite no-go. Even giving them away might be problematic.

If you're winding down your tank and selling everything you could probably include any rock or corals as part of the sale (free) and be fine. But I wouldn't attempt to sell any questionable corals separately.

In short, if used for your own personal use - most likely fine. Trying to make any money off it - wouldn't risk it.

 

[Chrisv.]

I would never advertise the corals as part of a tank for sale thread. I've not seen people have years long success with occulina though, so maybe it's a non issue for that species

 

[Nano sapiens]

I've not seen people have years long success with occulina though, so maybe it's a non issue for that species

That's good question about this genus and all the other Carribbean coral. Since relatively few people have them it's hard to get a handle on how successful people have been with them over the long term.

I do remember seeing a few build threads over the years where people had bought lease grown live rock specifically in the hopes of getting stony corals for a Carribbean build, but they tended to disappear in a few months to a year.

 

[Chrisv.]

That's good question about this genus and all the other Carribbean coral. Since relatively few people have them it's hard to get a handle on how successful people have been with them over the long term.

I do remember seeing a few build threads over the years where people had bought lease grown live rock specifically in the hopes of getting stony corals for a Carribbean build, but they tended to disappear in a few months to a year.

The rose corals seem to be much easier to keep long term.

I could be mistaken, but if I remember correctly occulina straddles the nps/photosynthetic border more than most, with some specimens nearly relying on external food for energy. I would really love to know more about this, as I have no first hand experience with the genus.

Anyone out there with long term success with occulina? If so, please share your story!