Wild SPS any vendors?

speedstar · Mar 26, 2021

Can anyone suggest some vendors for wild SPS, yes i love to roll the dice once and again. Seems like most place I find are acting like chop shops even with the mariculture.

Thanks

T-J · Mar 27, 2021

What is it about wild colonies that you like?
Most vendors/consumers prefer aqua/mariacultured as it's less of an impact on the natural reefs and a much higher chance of survival.
Having said that, I personally can't remember seeing anyone advertising "wild" SPS in a long time.

speedstar · Mar 27, 2021

T-J said:
What is it about wild colonies that you like?
Most vendors/consumers prefer aqua/mariacultured as it's less of an impact on the natural reefs and a much higher chance of survival.
Having said that, I personally can't remember seeing anyone advertising "wild" SPS in a long time.

The unknown of how they will color up and shift in the tank mostly. I also have a joy in seeing my husbandry skills in the process. I was heaviest into the hobby 2 decades ago and had the most amazing pieces color up from wilds. Back then there were many vendor, though I believe walt smith was the base of most of them coming in to LA and being re-ox'd trans-shipped, but there were also great pieces from tonga and solomon islands back then.

speedstar · Mar 27, 2021

The only place I have seen them lately is live aquaria for sale but those are mostly aussie. I do know for fact there are a couple chop shops on the west coast with some amazing wilds coming in though, but they all get fragged.

T-J · Mar 27, 2021

speedstar said:
The unknown of how they will color up and shift in the tank mostly. I also have a joy in seeing my husbandry skills in the process. I was heaviest into the hobby 2 decades ago and had the most amazing pieces color up from wilds. Back then there were many vendor, though I believe walt smith was the base of most of them coming in to LA and being re-ox'd trans-shipped, but there were also great pieces from tonga and solomon islands back then.

A lot has happened in the last 20 years. The lack of live rock and colonies from Fiji being one of the biggest changes. Which I don't have any issues with. With the advances the hobby has made in aquaculture, and with the amount of amazing looking corals that are on the market that have zero impact to our oceans, I don't think these are bad changes.

RussiReef · Mar 27, 2021

Try Unique Corals. They get wild colonies pretty often

X-37B · Mar 27, 2021

I have had a few nice wild ones in the last 2 years but do not see many anymore in my area.
In the past the lfs would buy them
and then make 20+ frags as soon as they arrive.
Most of them did not make it.
I will stick to aquacultured frags now.
Here is one I got over a year ago.
When it got to the lfs it was black as could be and the size of a baseball.
It did not make it but I got a frag of it.
It did not do anything but encrust for a little for over a year. It did go from black to brown in about 6 months though, lol.
The tips are turning purple now with white polyps.
Anyone have an idea what it may be?
This is with daylight and no tank lights on so you can see what it looks like from my phone pick.