Real Tonga Branch Rock

[S_orourke21]

How rare is this rock? And what is it worth? I have a couple pieces and was looking for info. Thanks

 

[Bacon505]

They are completely banned for years now so its hard to come by. However there are the man made one that are available in most SW fish store.

 

[Joeg]

I'd guess that you'd have a hard time getting someone to pay substantially more than the similar man-made product. Maybe there's someone out there who would want the bragging rights of pointing at their tank and telling a guest that its filled with wild collected rock that's no longer allowed but I'd guess that buyer is pretty rare if they exist at all.

On the plus side, those are some nice shapes and I can certainly see how 3 of them could be cemented together to form a tree shape that some people dig. I don't think you'll have trouble finding someone who will be interested.

 

[jda]

Most real live rock that is now dead is worth a buck a pound. That might be worth 4 or 5 if if was still truly alive.

It looks cool, but try and do something with it. I was all excited once to get a 80lb box (which is a lot) and I ended up not using most of it.

 

[S_orourke21]

Decided to use it in my new tank.

 

[Rjmul]

I'd guess that you'd have a hard time getting someone to pay substantially more than the similar man-made product. Maybe there's someone out there who would want the bragging rights of pointing at their tank and telling a guest that its filled with wild collected rock that's no longer allowed but I'd guess that buyer is pretty rare if they exist at all.

On the plus side, those are some nice shapes and I can certainly see how 3 of them could be cemented together to form a tree shape that some people dig. I don't think you'll have trouble finding someone who will be interested.

I'm that buyer. I always look through rock bins at dirty mom and pop shops for stuff like this

 

[LOVEROCK]

Most real live rock that is now dead is worth a buck a pound. That might be worth 4 or 5 if if was still truly alive.

It looks cool, but try and do something with it. I was all excited once to get a 80lb box (which is a lot) and I ended up not using most of it.

You still have ?

 

[jda]

I have most of it. I give it away sometimes with corals on it. I love the looks, but it is not all that helpful in a rock pile in my tanks. I mostly use it to fill in holes and stuff. I have a bunch of it still in my 150g rubbermade with my extra rock. I use some of it in baskets with my CSBs since if I need to remove them, I can just grab the other long end and gently pull.

Had a friend buy $4-500 of the real/life reef stuff - man made. He made a pile that looked like pile of branches and twigs ready to get burned. None of them would go in it. They preferred to hide behind the power heads or behind the real rock where they could get totally out of sight.