Designer corals.... are they man made or engineered?

[b4tn]

Probably a stupid question. I been in the hobby for 5+ years and it suddenly dawned on me... Are corals such as Jason Fox or any of the other big names genetically engineered? Where do all these crazy color combos come from? Are they found in the natural reefs, clipped, and then aquacultured to sell for big bucks? Are corals cross bread like dogs have been for years to make designer breeds?

 

[flsalty]

They are not genetically engineered. Basically, they either go to the source and handpick corals or go into an importer and handpick coral when it comes in. It's a combination of good luck and a good eye. But those corals are all wild. You could order a box of wild corals and hope for the best, but I suspect they would be picked over by the time they got to you.

Spawning corals in captivity is in it's infancy. I do see a future where corals will be bred like fish to get different colors. It will probably start out like clowns where there is no rhyme or reason. Just breed them and hope for the best. I don't see future coral breeders being responsible enough to actually document the different species and crosses. It's going to be a big money grab.

 

[ca1ore]

Man made and engineered are largely the same thing. Prior post is correct. About the only thing the coral sellers can do is manipulate the chemical and physical environment to encourage coloration .... and then photograph them in the most advantageous ways.

 

[User1]

Well, if I google Homewrecker I'm going to be directed to several sites that are not R2R friendly. There is also no zoa scientifically named zombie killer or L A Lakers. So.....they are man made in the sense of names applied to them to try and distinguish them from others (source and color).

The ironic part is that in most cases once it leaves the boutique shop and placed in buyers system it doesn't look the same due to tank husbandry and lighting.