Why WYSIWYG is so important (especially with chalices)

mnat · Dec 13, 2013

Saw some more of the splatter rainbow chalices pop up again and figured it was a good time to remind why WYSIWYG is so important. These chalices are coming in as colonies and depending on where you cut and what part you are looking at, the frags can be worlds apart. It is also important to note that the colors will probably come in eventually, but not until the frag has grown into a nice mini colony. Another reason why WYSIWYG is so important is that you do not want a booger frag as it could take years before you see any color out of it.

So why type when you have pictures that do the talking:

This is a vendor on ebay who is also a sponsor here so hopefully I am not breaking any rules. This vendor is one of the good guys and I have bought several times from him and can't wait to order again.

Here is the WYSIWYG frag:

Very nice frag, healed and WYSIWYG and you can see the colors on it. Why would you want to see the colony? Here is why:

Mind blowing right? These rainbow splatter types can have colors all over them so it is really important to see the frag and see the colony. I know some vendors get upset when you ask for both, but this is the reason why you do that. (BTW the opening bid on this was $80 and it sold for $140).

casey187 · Dec 13, 2013

OMG. that is sick.

Mattiejay6 · Dec 13, 2013

Good info! Thank you!

buddythelion · Dec 13, 2013

Great point mnat. I find colony photos very important for SPS and chalices. WYSIWYG is a large factor in many frags, even in trades. I've had my fair share of trades where the sizes and corals were not what I expected. Was told I'd be getting 1"+ SPS frags, they were mostly 1/2" nubs.

Stock photos for zoas I don't find as big a deal since most zoa polyps look the same anyways.

larangcon · Dec 13, 2013

I agree, the hard part is when a frag pack is offered and you have to wait for 2 weeks for fresh cut frags, all you see is the mother colony, once its paid you get booger size frags.

mnat · Dec 13, 2013

Yeah vendors will do that or just say trust me which is not good. See the frag and see the colony, if the vendor won't show it they are trying to hide something.

Zack · Dec 14, 2013

That chalice is SICK

Braves Fan · Dec 14, 2013

I have always thought, and am surprised that there isn't, a rule against this in the Forums.You put up a coral in the For Sale section, you have to post a price. To me it goes without saying, you should also have to post a picture of the coral frag, no matter the type of coral it is. Pretty much what the seller is doing IMO, is trolling to gauge interest in the coral he wants to frag and to see if he can get his/her price for the frag. The greater good to the members of the Forum should be to require that the corals to be fraged and pics posted. You shouldn't be allowed to post a pic of just the mother colony and a price for the soon to be frags. A rule like this would pretty much put an end to booger frags being sold on the Forums, at the very least, the buyer would know he is getting a booger frag. Let's be honest here, some of these reefers are subsidizing their income pretty good selling corals in the forums, to have them post up a pic of the frags would/should be no big deal to them. Yes it would be a pain, a little more time consuming, but we are putting out our hard earned $$$ here, we want and should be entitled to see what we are getting for our money.Until we start to require more from the sellers in the Forums, the coral selling industry as a whole will never change. Pay me $1,000 for a frag of this coral and be happy with what I send you, I think not. There is no down side to a Forum rule like this for the members, or the sellers that are on the up and up. Only the reefers that are wanting to sell booger frags will be put out by a rule like this, and for them, I pretty much don't care what they think.

Zero Nitrates · Dec 14, 2013

Great post!
That chalice is sick!

jt17 · Dec 14, 2013

I hope Luke and Poncho have some more frags of that one. I'll have to pay them a visit next week.

Steveowhits · Dec 14, 2013

larangcon said:
I agree, the hard part is when a frag pack is offered and you have to wait for 2 weeks for fresh cut frags, all you see is the mother colony, once its paid you get booger size frags.

Great point!

People who sell stuff before it is cut are not doing everything they can to supply healthy Aquacultured frags. To me a great frag is atleast 4-6 weeks old and encrusted on the plug or rock. Fully healed stuff will also endure the shipping process better.

If I meet a local reefer who tries to offer fresh stuff I walk away. Just my 2 cents

jokerman826 · Dec 14, 2013

The WYSIWYG is very important to me. I have ordered coral (and fish) online and got far from what i expected. For example the size should have been 1-2 inches and it would be around 1/2 inch. So i will only buy locally or WYSIWYG items now.

JMSKI333 · Dec 14, 2013

As long as suckers keep paying top dollar for boogers that they never see, things will never change. All we can do is educate each other to be smart when buying frags. For awhile there, I thought booger size chalice frags was the norm. I wouldn't even know what the thing looked like until I had it for a month or two.

CoralShack · Dec 14, 2013

The only downside if requiring a picture of the frag is your camera might suck. A bad pic of a frag could be as harmful to the sell as not even having a picture.

JMSKI333 · Dec 14, 2013

CoralShack said:
The only downside if requiring a picture of the frag is your camera might suck. A bad pic of a frag could be as harmful to the sell as not even having a picture.

At least you can see that the frag is encrusted and is remotely close to what you think you're buying. The forum is pretty understanding that we all don't have $2,000 macro cameras.

mainereefer · Dec 14, 2013

the problem is the frag you buy might not ever look like the colony. there is no guarantee it will ever get all the colors or that it wont take 10 years to get the colors
this is the reason I dont have a jawbreaker shroom 2-4 years to get color if it ever does.....

wysiwyg is important, but buy because you like the frag not because it "might" get some cool colors in the next 10 years......

tuna_bullet · Dec 14, 2013

++100 i will not buy any frags that are not wysiwyg, you never get what you exspect..from baby polyps that look nothing like the adult to polyps the size of a point on a pen, to booger tiny chalice frgas that were cut the day before shipping................its all karma...those guys do get the thousands i spend on corals anymore..........

Pappy · Dec 14, 2013

Also ALWAYS ask for pics with whites! Stores get when i do that! There are lots and lots and lots of "rainbow" chalices out there floating around but the real trick is what do they look like under whites?!

Cornbreds rainbow crush looks just as good if not better under whites as it does blues where 98% of "rainbows" don't. The difference between a $500 bugger versus $500 colony ime.

Very few "real rainbows" out there!

Pappy · Dec 14, 2013

For example:.....
Bunch of wanna be's versus the real deal!

Wanna be's I see floating around (no disrespect to vendor if this is your pic) just because it has more than 2 colors or one stripe doesn't make it a real rainbow IMO.