What you see is what you get, sometimes

[grwilson]

I am starting this thread to show the result of my online polyp purchases. I’m not a marine biology PHD nor do I have any expertise acquired outside of being a reef nut. To feed my addiction, I have spent countless hours and plenty of hard earned cash learning from mistakes.

Buying online has its advantages. I am fortunate to have a number of good LFS in my area which I frequent on a regular basis. However, the selection that can be found online far exceeds what can be found locally. My thread will be objective, and hopefully, will expose the advantages and pitfalls of ordering Zoas online.

Vivid Aquariums

10/9 Purchase - 7 frags, 5 WYSIWYG and 2 Polyps - Total $234
10/11 Acclimation 30 min drip and 5 min Revive (note: order arrived without a heat pack)
11/12 Condition after 24 hours (LEFT is WYSIWYG - RIGHT is after 24 hours)

WYSIWYG Pink Panther Zoos-#1128 - Size: .75" - Happy with this frag! Popped open and is large for a Zoa.

WYSIWYG Blue Rhino Palys-#1677 - Size: .5" - Like this one too, great color! A little small to be called paly, about .25". Most BR are labelled Zoas.

WYSIWYG Blue Rhino Palys-#1677 - Size: .5" - I might have gotten the wrong frag here. After 24 hours they are less than .25". Looking immature for a $50 frag.

WYSIWYG Joker's Revenge Paly-#1837 - Size: .5" - This has been slow to open. Small (.25") and some green on stem. We'll see.

WYSIWYG Green Raptor Palys-#8787 - Size: 2 polyps - Poor substitution! After arrival, I was told the this frag was dead so the sent something in its place. I'm not a big fan of this practice.

Rainbow Palys-1 polyp frag - Some damage to the skirt, and on the immature side. Time will tell.

Darth Maul Palys-1 polyp frag - Small <.25". too immature to tell what it is.

I contacted Vivid to let them know that there were some issues with the order. Although it was too soon to really know, I suspected some travel damage, or mistakes with the order. They were very responsive and credited me right away for the Green Raptors that had died before shipment They also credited me for the Maul and the Rainbow which I said were immature, I did not ask for credit. I know, sometimes it take a while for polyps to recover from travel stress. I'll follow up with some more photos in a week or two.

 

[grwilson]

#rd caption should read - Captain America Palys-#1097 - Size: 1"

 

[RichieT]

Were these wysiwyg or cut to order?

 

[tuna_bullet]

i like this thread...its a good place to post side by sides......just keeping honest people honest

 

[Ninjapotamus]

Fastest way to judge zoa/paly health is the skirt length. If it has full, long, curly skirts you can be 100% sure its healthy. If the skirts look crappy, you are not buying a perfect specimen!

Those are not the healthiest looking... I wouldn't be surprised if a few of those fade away. The rainbow looks particuarly bleak since its polyp is deflated(Likely not to survive unless it plumps up quickly). Those blue rhinos/mauls/jokers are mid bleach and will need some special tlc as well.


Unfortunately 90% of the packs I have bought from vendors came in looking like yours. Always a sweet photo on the site.... but then you open the bag and frown.

Really it pays to get healthy frags. Some members on here have much healthier polyps than the vendors. The best pack I have ever bought was from Emoney on this site. I dont know if he sells zoas/palys anymore but you should buy from him if you can. His standards are very high. You will lose so many buying fresh frags/poor frags! Just do what I do, ignore hype and just buy it if it looks healthy. A healthy polyp, even if its a common variety, is so much more impressive than a weak looking LE polyp!

I have not sold any packs in a while, but this is what a proper WYSIWYG pack should look like =) If you look to buy zoas in this condition they are open within 20 minutes and you will have ZERO buyers remorse when you open the bag and see your frags for the first time. Healthy polyps are the best! Buy health not LE!!!

 

[grwilson]

Were these wysiwyg or cut to order?

First 5 are wysiwyg. The last two were single polyp orders.

 

[Steveowhits]

Sometimes color and health come back with stable water. Hopefully your stuff is just a little stressed from shipping. I think you should be just fine. Good luck

 

[kacrocorals581]

Iv never got ZOA's online that looked right when I got them but they allways turned out looking right over a little time

 

[joshporksandwich]

Unless you have a good expensive camera you will not be able to get the same pictures as most sites. But besides that it takes at least a few weeks for corals to get acclimated to a tank. I've bought a lot online and 75% of the stuff doesn't look as good.

 

[grwilson]

Iv never got ZOA's online that looked right when I got them but they allways turned out looking right over a little time

I'll follow up with more pics in a week or two.

 

[mike007]

Unless you have a good expensive camera you will not be able to get the same pictures as most sites. But besides that it takes at least a few weeks for corals to get acclimated to a tank. I've bought a lot online and 75% of the stuff doesn't look as good.

+ 1 on what he is saying but give them the proper envirement and they should pop.

 

[grwilson]

Unless you have a good expensive camera you will not be able to get the same pictures as most sites. But besides that it takes at least a few weeks for corals to get acclimated to a tank. I've bought a lot online and 75% of the stuff doesn't look as good.

I have a good expensive camera, just left out some of the post processing. Notice the white frag rack? I have software that I can to crop and over saturate too.

 

[Ninjapotamus]

from my experience if the zoas/palys are 100% healthy and they are packaged well they will arrive in near the same condition.

 

[grwilson]

from my experience if the zoas/palys are 100% healthy and they are packaged well they will arrive in near the same condition.

This has been my experience too, and you can see that the Pink Panthers are full and healthy right out of the bag.

 

[tuna_bullet]

when i look for wysiwyg i always look to see if the plug has algea good sign its had time to heal, if on a new plug i am looking to see ot the polyp is just flesh or if there is rock attached..if it is just flesh it is going to release off the plug in shipping or when you put it in your tank...even if you reglue when you get home it will release again if the flesh doesnt attach in a few days..(alway keep a eye on these) or even worse if you use too much it burns your polyp...as far as pictures some people have unbelieveble camera skills..and i can see similarities in 98% of the zoas i have bought....i have bought a few that i was like what the heck....thats no where near the pic..(will not mention names)but a very reputable seller....they will take care of you if you are not happy...lastly shop around, there are tons of sellers with the same if not better looking zoas with different names (but the same zoa)...i have bought from $.99 upto $500 online with very little regret.... Grwilson i really like this thread.....great job

 

[grwilson]

when i look for wysiwyg i always look to see if the plug has algea good sign its had time to heal, if on a new plug i am looking to see ot the polyp is just flesh or if there is rock attached..if it is just flesh it is going to release off the plug in shipping or when you put it in your tank...even if you reglue when you get home it will release again if the flesh doesnt attach in a few days..(alway keep a eye on these) or even worse if you use too much it burns your polyp...as far as pictures some people have unbelieveble camera skills..and i can see similarities in 98% of the zoas i have bought....i have bought a few that i was like what the heck....thats no where near the pic..(will not mention names)but a very reputable seller....they will take care of you if you are not happy...lastly shop around, there are tons of sellers with the same if not better looking zoas with different names (but the same zoa)...i have bought from $.99 upto $500 online with very little regret.... Grwilson i really like this thread.....great job

Good points - Healed is the way to go and I will focus on that more now. This is hard when you can see much of the plug on the top down shots. A couple of the frags fooled me on scale more than anything. I read Paly and 1" I'm not expecting .25" polyps. Agree too that some have expensive cameras, and skill to go with. You and Josh for example. I have spent hours in the past 4 or 5 days looking at the photos in your two threads. Incredible and inspiring stuff. Having said, I found Vivid's photos to be fair representation of the true colors under 20k ish lightning. No blue thumbs.

Planning some more purchases and will share what I get. Maybe I can add some value to the forum and will try not to ruffle too many feathers. I realize that selling livestock has its challenges.

Again, can't say enough about Vivid's customer service. When notified of a potential issue, Vivid credited before asked.

 

[tuna_bullet]

Vivid has always been stand up.........even some of the local lfs buy frags from them.............they remind me of the old Oculus store

 

[Reef Pets]

Fellas it's amazing what different lighting will do... I hand pick most of the coral that I have. I will get coral from wholesalers (I hand pick myself) that I see in person under LED's or T5 and when I get them to the shop sometimes I don't even recognize the coral once I place it under metal halides. Technology has come a long way when it comes to lighting. Spectrums and colors can be changes with the turn of a dial or the flip of a switch making it nearly impossible to get the same colors from my reef to another unless the exact lighting, brightness and spectrum is used.
I saw coral under AI Hydras last week at a wholesalers location and was amazed at how those lights make coral glow compared to other lighting in the same facility. Lighting plays a huge part when it comes to coloration and as we know there is a large selection of lighting on the market today.

 

[grwilson]

Fellas it's amazing what different lighting will do... I hand pick most of the coral that I have. I will get coral from wholesalers (I hand pick myself) that I see in person under LED's or T5 and when I get them to the shop sometimes I don't even recognize the coral once I place it under metal halides. Technology has come a long way when it comes to lighting. Spectrums and colors can be changes with the turn of a dial or the flip of a switch making it nearly impossible to get the same colors from my reef to another unless the exact lighting, brightness and spectrum is used.
I saw coral under AI Hydras last week at a wholesalers location and was amazed at how those lights make coral glow compared to other lighting in the same facility. Lighting plays a huge part when it comes to coloration and as we know there is a large selection of lighting on the market today.

You are right, lightning is a big part. These were shot under - ATI 48 Inch 54W T5 (4) Blue Plus, (2) Aquablue Special and (2) Purple Plus

 

[Lilmatty5dimes]

when i look for wysiwyg i always look to see if the plug has algea good sign its had time to heal, if on a new plug i am looking to see ot the polyp is just flesh or if there is rock attached..if it is just flesh it is going to release off the plug in shipping or when you put it in your tank...even if you reglue when you get home it will release again if the flesh doesnt attach in a few days..(alway keep a eye on these) or even worse if you use too much it burns your polyp...as far as pictures some people have unbelieveble camera skills..and i can see similarities in 98% of the zoas i have bought....i have bought a few that i was like what the heck....thats no where near the pic..(will not mention names)but a very reputable seller....they will take care of you if you are not happy...lastly shop around, there are tons of sellers with the same if not better looking zoas with different names (but the same zoa)...i have bought from $.99 upto $500 online with very little regret.... Grwilson i really like this thread.....great job

this is really great advise. just learned something good. thanks this is a great thread. thanks for sharing your experience. waiting for the post pics.