? on buying WYSIWYG Corals - Acropora

[Ratvan]

Afternoon All, or morning, or night.

So I am starting to shop around for some Acropora frags and other SPS. A lot of the time here (in the UK) Acropora frags are fairly expensive unless you are willing to buy boogers, or nubs. However I have found some sites that are selling browned out Acro's as WYSIWYG.

So ideally I would like to know, what should I be looking at when looking at these Frags? I know obviously about the lighting and parameters but is there anything else to consider?

Here is an example image

 

[loui]

Personally at the start of your SPS journey I would not recommend buying browned out frags, you should be looking for the healthiest frags you can get, which will give you the best chance of success. Once you get SPS figured out you can get a couple of browned out frags and see what happens, who knows you may end up finding a diamond in the rough.

 

[Ratvan]

Personally at the start of your SPS journey I would not recommend buying browned out frags, you should be looking for the healthiest frags you can get, which will give you the best chance of success. Once you get SPS figured out you can get a couple of browned out frags and see what happens, who knows you may end up finding a diamond in the rough.

The issue with that is the price, which is why i was looking into this route. The "coloured" up frags are all ridiculously expensive for the size of frag, compared to these

 

[najer]

Always look for live base flesh, if it is basing out well it is healthy and look for any damage.
I'd buy that!

 

[X-37B]

Look for encrusting on the frag plug. Stay away from freshly cut and mounted frags and you will be ok.
I get the nub issue. All mine have been purchased at lfs so not alot of high end frag nubs.
Takes awhile but some brown wild frags are starting to color up slowly.

 

[Ratvan]

Look for encrusting on the frag plug. Stay away from freshly cut and mounted frags and you will be ok.
I get the nub issue. All mine have been purchased at lfs so not alot of high end frag nubs.
Takes awhile but some brown wild frags are starting to color up slowly.

Yeah that is the next issue, I had 5 LFS within a decent travelling distance (hour each way for me) of my house of those, 2 have confirmed that they are no longer trading, 2 are reducing the amount of Marine they stock (already it's 80/20 in favour of freshwater) even further and one wasn't that great to begin with (Selection of Softies, maybe a Stylo frag once every 3 months) so have more or less been pushed online to continue the hobby which i don't particularly like.


Thanks all for the assistance so far

 

[X-37B]

I have 3 lfs. One is all coral the other 2 are ok but limited.
My tanks not super colorfull but is ok with all store bought frags.
The one gets wild in and I have several for $20.
Most exspensive was WD for $150. All oyhers were $30-$50 max.
The WD was a pencil eraser size nub but is growing nicely now.
If you live local I would give you frags I just fragged my elkhorn monti and have purple digi, orange monti and slimeball.
Heres my 120 only 11 months.

 

[jda]

If buying brownies, I try and buy smoothies, nasuta, plana or tables - they are rarely ever dull and usually are at least two colors and mostly three, but they are a bit harder to keep, which is why they can be brown. I try and stay away from millepora, spaths, valida, tenuis since while they can be totally awesome, some are just brown with purple tips - I do not need to take risks with these.

 

[Ratvan]

I have 3 lfs. One is all coral the other 2 are ok but limited.
My tanks not super colorfull but is ok with all store bought frags.
The one gets wild in and I have several for $20.
Most exspensive was WD for $150. All oyhers were $30-$50 max.
The WD was a pencil eraser size nub but is growing nicely now.
If you live local I would give you frags I just fragged my elkhorn monti and have purple digi, orange monti and slimeball.
Heres my 120 only 11 months.

Very nice looking tank, thank you as well for the offer. Sadly I am not even local to some of the UK Reefers on this site

I'm planning something much smaller in scale, so will be getting some boogers too to keep in budget

If buying brownies, I try and buy smoothies, nasuta, plana or tables - they are rarely ever dull and usually are at least two colors and mostly three, but they are a bit harder to keep, which is why they can be brown. I try and stay away from millepora, spaths, valida, tenuis since while they can be totally awesome, some are just brown with purple tips - I do not need to take risks with these.

Thank you, I am going to need to read a lot more to be able to tell which is which, typically the image above will be how I see the coral along with the title along the lines of "WYSIWYG ACROPORA #11" etc.

 

[jda]

I would buy that smoothie in post one if it was encrusted and healthy. That is probably going to be deep, solid purple with a unique growth form. However, it will be slightly on the more difficult side, but not too bad.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

When looking for corals that could be anything from aquaculture to wild or mariculture, you want to look for corals that have active growth or recent signs of growth. Stay away from anything that has thin or dry looking flesh, areas where the skin has peeled even if it’s not recent (unless it’s growing currently and colored up), small fragments and corals with no polyps showing.
Once you get an idea of what corals are what then it’s easier to pick out ones that might be really nice even when they are brown. I have found that often the extremely colorful wild stuff will often brown out much easier than the boring corals. There are boring corals that brown out easily too though so it’s tough to get it right when your first collecting. I wish more reefers were interested in collecting from wild or Mari shipments instead of just buying the most expensive and popular corals. There is a huge difference between what’s expensive and what’s actually hard to find or rare. Learning how to tell the difference between each type of acropora, and what colors of each are common, is time consuming but it’s what keeps me interested in the hobby these days and I think it’s good to start learning sooner than later.
Another thing to look out for is the way the corals are photographed. If the corals in natural looking light it’s much easier to tell what it is and how healthy it is. When the coral pictured is dark and filters are used then I normally stay away from buying anything. Like the picture you posted of the deepwater everything looks fine but I can’t see the encrusted part or the underside of the frag because it’s too dark. It’s easy to hide ugly or unhealthy fragments in dark filtered blue pics.

 

[92Miata]

Yeah that is the next issue, I had 5 LFS within a decent travelling distance (hour each way for me) of my house of those, 2 have confirmed that they are no longer trading, 2 are reducing the amount of Marine they stock (already it's 80/20 in favour of freshwater) even further and one wasn't that great to begin with (Selection of Softies, maybe a Stylo frag once every 3 months) so have more or less been pushed online to continue the hobby which i don't particularly like.


Thanks all for the assistance so far

Do you have a local reef club/facebook group/whatever?

What you really should be looking for right now are the corals that are common locally, because they do well with local water/etc, and are relatively easy to keep. In some places that stuff like Green Slimers and ORA validas and stuff like that - but there's usually some sort of acro that other hobbiests are basically giving away because everyone has it and it grows.

 

[Ratvan]

Do you have a local reef club/facebook group/whatever?

What you really should be looking for right now are the corals that are common locally, because they do well with local water/etc, and are relatively easy to keep. In some places that stuff like Green Slimers and ORA validas and stuff like that - but there's usually some sort of acro that other hobbiests are basically giving away because everyone has it and it grows.

Not really no, well there is a group but it's all Zoas and RFAs and stuff I don't want or is far too big for the tank

 

[jsvand5]

My advice would be to not buy expensive named pieces based on a photo unless you have seen that coral in person before. You will almost always be disappointed when you see what they look like in person (compared to the pics at least). I like buying some cheap maricultured frags that are encrusted and just seeing which ones turn out nice. Most of the time you can see at least some color peaking out even if they are not looking their best when you buy them.

 

[fcmatt]

that coral in post 1 is barely grown to the plug, looks weak. Your tank has to be in tip top stable shape to make it bounce back strongly after it hopefully handles shipping/transport reasonably well.

 

[hikermike]

I wouldn't buy browned corals for the first 2 or so but rather some good growers to start. The reason is is that you need experience to judge how your corals are growing. Got some good ones that go south...then you know it's your lack of talent. You get 2 or 3 to grow well then you know you've got the touch and if some of those brownies you subsequently buy go south then you know it's the dealers fault and not you. I'm still with softies and LPS (and happy with those). All have been tiny frags and brokens and the first did poorly (although my fist 2 are still with me) but now I know I can do it. The few SPS I have are very slow and I know it's my tank and since I don't have the wherewithall or desire for a higher tech tank I don't moarn the lack of SPS and happy with succeeding with what I've got.

 

[Ratvan]

My advice would be to not buy expensive named pieces based on a photo unless you have seen that coral in person before. You will almost always be disappointed when you see what they look like in person (compared to the pics at least). I like buying some cheap maricultured frags that are encrusted and just seeing which ones turn out nice. Most of the time you can see at least some color peaking out even if they are not looking their best when you buy them.

Thanks, all my tanks have a budget (except my Euphyllia Reef) of roughly £10 per frag. I have some Montis, Pavonas, Psamacoras and a nub of Garf Bonsai. I dont really want to spend that much more on Acropora if I can help it but also I dont want the tank full of Barely visable frags. And again i'm pretty much stuck with buying online, unless the UK forums lift the ban on coral trades soon

I wouldn't buy browned corals for the first 2 or so but rather some good growers to start. The reason is is that you need experience to judge how your corals are growing. Got some good ones that go south...then you know it's your lack of talent. You get 2 or 3 to grow well then you know you've got the touch and if some of those brownies you subsequently buy go south then you know it's the dealers fault and not you. I'm still with softies and LPS (and happy with those). All have been tiny frags and brokens and the first did poorly (although my fist 2 are still with me) but now I know I can do it. The few SPS I have are very slow and I know it's my tank and since I don't have the wherewithall or desire for a higher tech tank I don't moarn the lack of SPS and happy with succeeding with what I've got.

Fair enough, besides things like Montis, Pavonas, Psamacoras. I really have a hard time in finding SPS frags that fit the budget, I like and are available. Apart from Acro's obviously