My first corals!!

Jedi1199 · Mar 28, 2021

Today I placed an order for my first corals. I got a 7 pc "starter pack" from Ebay. The pack is listed to include the following:

Pulsing xenia
Trumpet (candy cane) LPS
Zoanthid (Sellers choice)
Green Star Polyp
Acan LPS (sellers choice)
Kenya Tree
and one mystery coral

I am super excited to get started with my first corals.

As a side note, when I placed my order, the confirmation said that they package would arrive on Tuesday April 6th. I work a very long shift and typically am gone from 11 am till 3 or 4 am. I contacted the seller and he was absolutely outstanding... arranged shipment for delivery on Friday the 2nd (my day off). I am so very happy to see that there are still people in the world who are interested in customer satisfaction!

davidcalgary29 · Mar 29, 2021

Jedi1199 said:
Pulsing xenia

Green Star Polyp

Kenya Tree

I suggest that you put these on individual rocks on your tank with putty -- not glue -- so you can take them out and put them in a pest jar if they spread too much. I bought a pulsing xenia frag a month ago, and let it rest on the live rock in my Evo, and it shed two new colonies. Quickly.

The KT is going to drop branches frequently, and you can harvest those if you want to do that. And if you have a "dirty" tank, look out: those thing literally grow like weeds.

Some use GSP to carpet the glass on their builds: that's great if it's a look if you're into it, but I'd want to confine it to a discrete space in case it gets out of hand.

krash7172 · Mar 29, 2021

Seems like a good kit. Don't be discouraged if they don't spread or thrive at first. It can take a couple of weeks for even GSP to wake up. They may not all survive. Above advice is all good. Be patient and hopefully, you will have a few corals you can grow

Jedi1199 · Apr 2, 2021

So its 8:30pm right now.. still no corals... They were supposed to be here today!! Ebay site still shows delivery on Tuesday... Uggghhh I hate to waste a sick day, or take no points no pay.. but I also hate to lose over a hundred bucks on dead corals if I am not home to receive them...

Do I sacrifice $350 in pay, or take my chances that I can have them delivered on Tuesday and they live till I can get them in the tank?

mdb_talon · Apr 3, 2021

Jedi1199 said:
So its 8:30pm right now.. still no corals... They were supposed to be here today!! Ebay site still shows delivery on Tuesday... Uggghhh I hate to waste a sick day, or take no points no pay.. but I also hate to lose over a hundred bucks on dead corals if I am not home to receive them...

Do I sacrifice $350 in pay, or take my chances that I can have them delivered on Tuesday and they live till I can get them in the tank?

You should have a tracking number and can see if really in transit. If you dont then they have not shipped or the seller is lazy or screwed up your info. My bet is if you have no tracking information they have not shipped.

In any case $350>$100 would be my thoughts

Jedi1199 · Apr 3, 2021

mdb_talon said:
In any case $350>$100 would be my thoughts

Yeah, I agree.. But these are live animals who don't know human schedules... It's not their fault the shipper dropped the ball.. I am not as concerned about losing the money as I am about keeping my commitments.

I have a responsibility to the animals in my care and a responsibility to the company that employs me. If I don't go to work, someone else has to cover my job.. If I take a chance, all of the new corals my be dead or at the very least suffer greatly at my hand. I am not happy with either option...

CanuckReefer · Apr 3, 2021

Jedi1199 said:
Yeah, I agree.. But these are live animals who don't know human schedules... It's not their fault the shipper dropped the ball.. I am not as concerned about losing the money as I am about keeping my commitments.

I have a responsibility to the animals in my care and a responsibility to the company that employs me. If I don't go to work, someone else has to cover my job.. If I take a chance, all of the new corals my be dead or at the very least suffer greatly at my hand. I am not happy with either option...

This is a good starter pack, as others have mentioned, some may spread. I have several of those you listed. And keep them in check. As for the shipment. Go to work. My bet says they either haven't shipped at all yet, or the shipping company likely Fed Ex dropped the ball and they are already suffering a slow death unfortunately....

Jedi1199 · Apr 3, 2021

CanuckReefer said:
This is a good starter pack, as others have mentioned, some may spread. I have several of those you listed. And keep them in check. As for the shipment. Go to work. My bet says they either haven't shipped at all yet, or the shipping company likely Fed Ex dropped the ball and they are already suffering a slow death unfortunately....

I don't have a tracking number as of yet, so I am assuming its the shipper who dropped the ball.

As for going to work, I will not have someone be forced to cover my 15 hour shift. My job, MY responsibility Been talking to a friend who says she will at least come over on make sure the box is inside the house. My biggest worry has been they will sit on the porch in full sunlight for hours on end...

ctnguye3 · Apr 3, 2021

Jedi1199 said:
I don't have a tracking number as of yet, so I am assuming its the shipper who dropped the ball.

As for going to work, I will not have someone be forced to cover my 15 hour shift. My job, MY responsibility Been talking to a friend who says she will at least come over on make sure the box is inside the house. My biggest worry has been they will sit on the porch in full sunlight for hours on end...

Have they contacted you? They should have provided you with a tracking number after it's been shipped. My guess is they didn't ship it. If it's UPS/FedEx, you can create an account to see if you have any incoming packages to your address and even arrange to hold at a shipping facility for you to pick up during lunch break. In any case, That's a good starter kit, hopefully everything arrives soon and healthy!

Billys_reef · Apr 3, 2021

Why don't you just contact seller and double check with him to arrange for delivery on a day that you're free? Most likely the seller forgot to ship it out

monkeyCmonkeyDo · Apr 3, 2021

Can your friend at least open up your box and float the bags?
D

monkeyCmonkeyDo · Apr 3, 2021

Starter pack!!!! Wohooooo congrats hope all works out for you
D

Mrtakeoff53 · Apr 8, 2021

Did your coral ever show up? I hope they did! I had fish get delayed once. They spend 48 hours in their bags. They were stressed when they got to me but they all survived.

Jedi1199 · Apr 9, 2021

Ugghhhh... No, not yet. I contacted the seller today and was told that he thought I wanted delivery "after" the 9th. What I had asked for originally was delivery ON the 9th... lol.. So I hopefully have it all squared away now for delivery next Friday the 16th.

At least they aren't lost in the mail somewhere. I'll take delayed shipment over DOA anytime...

Mrtakeoff53 · Apr 9, 2021

Glad it was a mix up and not a bag of dead coral. I just ordered some myself for a delivery on the 15th. I hope it all arrives quickly without delays. It’s always stressful until you have your hands on them.

Jedi1199 · Apr 16, 2021

Mrtakeoff53 said:
Glad it was a mix up and not a bag of dead coral. I just ordered some myself for a delivery on the 15th. I hope it all arrives quickly without delays. It’s always stressful until you have your hands on them.

I hope your corals arrived ok.

My order arrived today about an hour ago... They are VERY small!! I am wondering if I should just push the frag plugs directly into the sand for a while to let them grow out enough to place them permanently, or would it be better to buy a plug rack so I can get them closer to the light?

Anyone have any ideas?