Question about coral lingo

[ridgeviewreefs]

Hi everyone! I'm new here so this may be a stupid question but could someone explain how the term OG is used when buying coral? I know it means original grower but I'm curious about the definition. I'll make something up here....let's say there is coral named "awesome zoa" that was originally grown by "joe's aquarium" for instance. So, a bunch of people buy "awesome zoa", grow it for awhile and then sell frags from it. Can they refer to that frag as OG awesome zoa? At what point does is lose it's OG status? I'm just curious about all this lingo as I am a greenhouse plant grower and have to deal with all kinds of patents, and licenses to grow certain plants and it seems like it's a little different in the coral world. I see coral sites selling frags with other companies names and I'm just curious to know if they have to get permission to do this or if there is just a wonderful respect for growers in this hobby that they give credit where credit is due? Thanks in advance for any info. This site is great and I've gotten tons of good info helping me with my tanks!

 

[lapin]

Howdy and welcome.

Its a mess in the coral world. Corals respond to different conditions. Thus 1 coral frag from so and so can look exactly like its parents. Move it to a new tank with different conditions and it can look different. We dont have a pure bred registry like dogs so its hard to verify anyones claims that its its parents were a Tye Super Duper or not. I have never heard of anyone getting sued using a name for a coral.

 

[Reefnman2]

Welcome to R2R and very good question, I'm gonna follow along.

 

[motortrendz]

Welcome to reef to reef.. and it's funny OG has always meant something else to me. But in similar fashion it's a respect to the original "gangsta" where it all started. Its definitly a respect thing. And usually a way to define a "lineage" but honestly for the most part it doesnt really mean anything. This hobby has become a mess with lineage. And alot of people find the same coral which looks like a named piece so they name it such and then the lineage is no more.

Lol. So buy what you like and feel.comfortable with what you pay. That's my best advice.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Welcome to R2R!

To be perfectly honest, I've never heard of anybody selling coral say 'OG' about it. Now I haven't been buying any for a couple of years as my 40g tank was stuffed to overflowing. But now that I'm setting up a new 90g tank and some on my old corals didn't make it through the holding process between tearing the old tank down and setting the new one up, I'll be back in the market.

And I pay very little attention to the names people give corals. And as lapin said, corals do morph with changing environments. I collect a mostly green zoa in the Florida Keys and under strong leds in my tank, they turn sky blue and look totally different. I've even had offers to buy some of the sky blue zoas and needed to explain that if they got less light, they would go back to looking green!

 

[Hermie]

+1 on "original gangster"
it's just a hype term to make a coral sound edgy and "old" (ie established, long-lived)

 

[Auquanut]

Welcome to the party! Great question. Coral names and naming is often a popular topic for discussion around here. One note of caution: If you delve too deeply into coral names, you will go completely and utterly MAD! Just kidding. Maybe.

 

[motortrendz]

Welcome to the party! Great question. Coral names and naming is often a popular topic for discussion around here. One note of caution: If you delve too deeply into coral names, you will go completely and utterly MAD! Just kidding. Maybe.

Oh no you'll definitly go as mad as a hatter, but dont be late, or you'll miss out on some tea and frags, uh I mean crackers! Or did o mean corals. Ah whatever im late!

 

[Seanislav]

Welcome to R2R! As stated earlier, pick up whatever you like and are comfortable paying the price for. A name is just a name--it doesn't change what a specimen is...and a lot of names seem pretty arbitrary, anyway. I don't think I could give you a name for half of the corals I have in my tank.

 

[ridgeviewreefs]

Thank you all for your answers and the kind welcomes! This is certainly an addictive hobby! I've been at this about a year now, started with a 55gal and have recently upgraded to a 125gal. I've spent many days and nights not getting out of pajamas, eating nachos while tinkering with things and just love every minute of it! All this coral lingo is definitely mind boggling. I do love the challenge with all the science involved with these corals. It's amazing how similar it is in a lot of ways to the plant world I'm used to. Many named plants will take on entirely new characteristics when grown in different soils, climate, etc. So cool! Thank you all again!

 

[Seanislav]

Thank you all for your answers and the kind welcomes! This is certainly an addictive hobby! I've been at this about a year now, started with a 55gal and have recently upgraded to a 125gal. I've spent many days and nights not getting out of pajamas, eating nachos while tinkering with things and just love every minute of it! All this coral lingo is definitely mind boggling. I do love the challenge with all the science involved with these corals. It's amazing how similar it is in a lot of ways to the plant world I'm used to. Many named plants will take on entirely new characteristics when grown in different soils, climate, etc. So cool! Thank you all again!

I breed Irises and daylilies...I can definitely relate to horticultural lingo.

 

[ridgeviewreefs]

I breed Irises and daylilies...I can definitely relate to horticultural lingo.

I breed iris too!!!

 

[krash7172]

Very cool. I had a small greenhouse with mostly orchids and herbs. I can't have a greenhouse where I live now so I grow coral To satisfy my green thumb, I got an all in one "play tank" for fragging to keep my hands out of the display tank.

 

[C. Eymann]

OG, as in old school, mostly corals that were super hot 10-15 years ago, like OG purple monster, OG superman montipora, OG Oregon tort, OG chips acro etc etc.

 

[Seanislav]

Very cool. I had a small greenhouse with mostly orchids and herbs. I can't have a greenhouse where I live now so I grow coral To satisfy my green thumb, I got an all in one "play tank" for fragging to keep my hands out of the display tank.

I have to split my nursery time and my reefing time...and I'm an arborist full time, so my system runs, but doesn't grow enough for me to frag corals. (I also have two greenhouses to play in, so I stay occupied)

 

[ridgeviewreefs]

I have to split my nursery time and my reefing time...and I'm an arborist full time, so my system runs, but doesn't grow enough for me to frag corals. (I also have two greenhouses to play in, so I stay occupied)

Oh that's too funny, I've got a couple of greenhouses too, I run a small garden center so this time of year I really get into the coral stuff! Until it's time to order seeds!