Rare???? What is truly rare?

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Rare????

Ok we hear the word a lot and even use it on the occasion, but what corals are truly rare? I mean what are some of the names of the more "rare" zoas/palys, lps, sps, fish etc..?

Is it a black tang, envy orange paly, dendro, pink lemonade chalice, or none of the above? What is really rare in this hobby?

Just a little something to provoke your thoughts!

 

[I-K@ndY]

The only Rare I know is when I eat my T-Bone Steak lol.. j/k...

 

[Teeka]

That is a hard question, To me rare would have to be the one that nobody has. Once someone has it, it is no longer rare because you frag after it grows out that frag gets fragged. so on and on. So the rare ones would have to be the one that hasn't been found yet.

 

[MarvinsReef]

this should be a good topic.. good post Rev.. I'll chime in a little bit..

 

[reef-lover]

If you take the princeton dictionary definition, then I would say that it is rare to find a truly rare coral.

rare




1. not widely known; especially valued for its uncommonness; 2. recurring only at long intervals; "a rare appearance"; "total eclipses are rare events" 3. not widely distributed; "rare patches of green in the desert"

I think that alot of people confuse the word desirable for rare.IMO

 

[MarvinsReef]

If you take the princeton dictionary definition, then I would say that it is rare to find a truly rare coral.

rare




1. not widely known; especially valued for its uncommonness; 2. recurring only at long intervals; "a rare appearance"; "total eclipses are rare events" 3. not widely distributed; "rare patches of green in the desert"

I think that alot of people confuse the word desirable for rare.IMO

very nice....

 

[Azurel]

I think there is confusion between the term rare and what should be called hobby rare. Rare is something that is not very often encountered in the wild as the definition would suggest. While the term hobby rare is what we should term things that are not widely distributed in the hobby. I think there are some corals that could be termed hobby rare, such as the one time Purple Death, probably certain color morphs of Ricordea, certain color morphs of palys and zoanthids, some fish. The reason that some fish are hobby rare is most likely due to A. location, B. environmental circumstances due to civil strife, continuous bad weather or just the location doesn't present itself with a easy way to collect said fish such as the black tang......There are many fish off Oman that would be hobby rare just because the Prince or what ever of Oman doesn't allow for collection in "his" waters.

 

[Reef Goddess]

I usually use the term "rare" to describe corals that don't come in very often like Red sanctithomae mushrooms, red fungias, green w/ orange polyp undata.
Doesn't mean they are rare in the wild, just that they aren't seen in the hobby so much. I also think certain color morphs are "rare" like yellow ricordia or PPE blastomussa, etc
.
But really I think rare is defined by who is buying the coral. Black/white saddleback clown fish are not rare in my area, but according to some of my auctions in the past they must be very "rare" in the midwest. I think rare belongs in the same category as "beauty is in the eye of the beholder."
I don't really agree with how a lot of stores have severely jacked up the price on certain palythoa and other corals just because they call them "rare". Like RPE's didn't used to be rare, I used to sell whole rocks of them for less than $60 last year and now people are charging $15 per polyp on these and other zoos. I think its a bit outrageous, esp from a hobbyist's point of view. Now PD's I can understand the price on because they are pretty rare and they are a PITA to get going.
Like any other market, its up to the hobbyists to determine what we should be paying for corals. If everyone is willing to pay a lot for certain corals, then the price def isn't going to go down. ;]

 

[gflat65]

I think there is confusion between the term rare and what should be called hobby rare. Rare is something that is not very often encountered in the wild as the definition would suggest. While the term hobby rare is what we should term things that are not widely distributed in the hobby. I think there are some corals that could be termed hobby rare, such as the one time Purple Death, probably certain color morphs of Ricordea, certain color morphs of palys and zoanthids, some fish. The reason that some fish are hobby rare is most likely due to A. location, B. environmental circumstances due to civil strife, continuous bad weather or just the location doesn't present itself with a easy way to collect said fish such as the black tang......There are many fish off Oman that would be hobby rare just because the Prince or what ever of Oman doesn't allow for collection in "his" waters.

Agreed. Hobby rare and rare are two different things (though they can be the same).

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Ok so name me some "rare" stuff.

 

[kevin]

A lot of times a certain coral is very common (collection) but a healthy one is rare, such as an elegance. I see them all the time at my fish stores.

 

[Reef Goddess]

rare

I think these are some pretty "rare" corals:

 

[Azurel]

Like I said there is a difference between rare and hobby rare......I also think that there are spme people that use it as a marketing ploy as well.....

Hey Morgan....What is the Red anemone? E. crucifier?

 

[Reef Goddess]

Yep, rock anemone. ;]

 

[msman825]

very nice blastos

 

[Patwa]

rare to me means so many things....is it hard-to-find?? does that denote a small/remote wild population?? does that mean rarely collected because of the (lack of) permits? what's rare in one area of the country might not be that rare in another...it can go on and on, right?

to me, when simply thinking in hobbyist terms, rare means simply having something not many people have.....whatever that amount of people is, well, that's the issue..it's very subjective....that's my cue to stop thinking, focus on cleaning my skimmer and ignore the distractions...ha! LOL

that being said, i think "rare" is more a retail thing...god knows we have folks running reef businesses up here throwing that word around left, right and centre....some of us are just a bit too naive to buy into it....

...but, I do have ONE coral I know not many people have.....hehehehe ....

Zach

 

[NapoliNewJersey]

I think this mushroom is rare... noone has this that I know of.

 

[mkman]

patwa -please show pic of the coral you have that not many people have!!

napolinewjersey -nice shroom, got more pics of it? Are you using 20k lights?

 

[anomie]

That is a sick shroom. Uhhh, Can I be put on your frag list for it? Somewhere near the top? LOL Seriously.

To me, if I see a post that says "rare" on ebay or like places it normally isnt. Most people who are selling rare corals don't need to say that they are...we just know. For example, I rarely, pun intended, see a sell thread with the title "Rare PPE's" or "rare tyree watermelon chalice." Now to seperate the rare from the rare, I've noticed "ultra rare" being used a lot.

The truly rare to me is a coral that most have not seen in the trade nor have had the opportunity to own.

 

[mvite]

^I don't mean to steal your words--but x2!

When I sell coral and use the word "rare"--I laugh every time I type it. I try to never use the word. (It's easy cuz my stuff isn't rare!) But if I do--it's tongue-in-cheek with myself.

It really is funny though because you can start a whole buzz about your own coral that is or isn't really that rare.


PPE is an example. I know lots of people who have them but you can still sell one in about 23 seconds in the classifieds.