unclenedsfishfactory.com

couple random thoughts on captive raised corals

acropora
at least in my store
they are not popular with the general public anyway
(I am not known as a reef store)
they all ship like garbage
wild collected always die in days
mari-cultured (captive raised in the pacific) I have not tried
farm-raised (from ORA in FL) live usually but don't sell well
local raised (trade in's from my customers) live but don't sell well

pumping Xenia and anthelia types
wild collected always die in days
mari-cultured (captive raised in the pacific) I have not tried
local raised trade-in's live and sell well
(There is a snow-blue-white one I can get wild only and rarely, but so far it has always all died)

open brains and disk corals
I think we are only getting wild collected
sales are excellent usually
but losses are pretty bad 20% plus...higher on the disks (might be something I'm doing or not doing)

Zooanthids, button polyps, green star polyps, almost all Leather types
very popular
near 100% survival
whether wild, sea farmed, commercial farmed, or local raised

Pavona
quite popular
wild usually wind up damaged 50% (usually not fatally)
captive raised no damage
(can't tell if the captive ones I'm getting are mari-cultured or farm raised)

Bubble, Torch, etc.
readily available wild caught but risky
sometimes 70% of the heads will die within 3 weeks
...but the survivor usually thrives
I don't think I get this farm raised at all..
I love getting local raised
extremely popular

Mushrooms
very popular
and near 100% survive whether wild, farmed, or local

Pagoda, Turbinaria?
mostly get wild, quite popular, better than 80% survive nicely

Gorgonians
not very popular anyway
pretty sure we only get wild
long term surviving in the aquarium not good I don't think

Goniopora
I cannot figure this coral out
very popular...
Our customers who do best with this
know nothing about reefs
and do virtually nothing to their aquariums
(probably a little knowledge is more dangerous than no knowledge)
pretty sure they are all wild collected

_______________________________
problem with local raised frags
They are not big enough to be liked by the customers
or me
sometimes they are so small they literally get lost
____________________________________________

as far as economy goes

a typical hobbyist spends $3000 - $5000
for a 75 gallon or bigger reef set up
...so at $10 each selling frags you wouldn't break even 'til you sold your 300th specimen
not counting maintenance (food, salt mix, supplements, electricity)

with a bigger system
and much bigger investment
you could build a laboratory style facility (ORA Farms in FL for example)
...I assume it has been made profitable

Mari-culture
what could be better?
God does the water changes and the metal Halide lighting

wild-collected
same economic benefit as Mari-culture
more labor 'tho (diving, travel in boats, etc.)

biggest problem with anything coming from the Pacific to me
is freight cost
the numbers vary but the landed coral can be $8 to buy and an additional $18 to get here

The freight costs on ALL imported goods
is probably the biggest pressure on the foreign producer
and it is out of his control...
freight and travel can only go up with the price of oil (this could be very bad)
(We need solar powered airplanes)

Better packing methods out of the Pacific would help
I would be less slow to order if I was certain of few losses
(not that I've noticed total failure problems now)
certainly keeping the specimens cool in transport is a big project
...this is why I suspect the 100% failure with wild acroporas
and not that much failure with hardier stuff like mushrooms and leathers
___________________________________________________________

The most important thing to the ornamental aquarium industry
is to keep people in the hobby
and get new people into the hobby

not sure the best way to do that
(publicity from the largest and most profitable manufacturers would help)

there is a lot of pressure on people's time
(multiple jobs are required due to excessive taxation which is caused by wasteful government)
and people's free time
(organized sports, computer games, television)
______________________________________________________________________________

So what are you REALLY trying to say Ned?

nothing in particular
someone asked

just thinking

I think the goniporia (and maybe some elegance corals) actually come from more turbid lagoon type areas - ie lesser water quality than a typical "reef" - and need higher nutrient levels to thrive.

Put them in a typical "neglected" tank - ie high nitrate, high phosphate, maybe elevated salinity -- and its kinda like the inshore lagoon side of a barrier reef, a muddy silty lagoon that gets cut off from fresh clean water for hours and hours at a time. And of course, they don't see much competition from Acros etc in these lagoons...

Put them in a classic "well kept" reef - ie low nitrate, low or no phospate - and now they're getting less nutrients and facing competition from corals better evolved for the fore reef or reef face area...

(which is one reason why I think the elegance don't do as well as they did 15-20 years ago - the other being that we have collected all the inshore ones and are now collecting them from deeper water (or something like that)).

other than tossing in my .02 there - I think you hit the nail on the head here.