Coral IDs for the upcoming swap
- Thread starter Srt4eric
- Start date
The first one looks like a Merlin's Staff to me.
andyman
Supporting Member
Route66 Marlin Staff ? Thats one of the names I got in the list for the frag pack I bought.
Yes that's the one
andyman
Supporting Member
never got the identification for this but I noticed something that popped up on the ultra list and this coral looks an aweful lot like TGC orange creamsicle.
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that's not how it works. cause it looks like something on the ultra list, you cant just assume its that and just put a name on it. do you know what TGC means ? how can you prove its from twoguyscorals if someone asks? personally, TGC orange creamsicle shouldnt even be an ultra coral.
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Mike Yasin
Supporting Member
Nothing wrong with making a comparison visually, but I’d be wary of applying it a name unless you bought it as a named piece from a reputable source. If you did purchase it as something named, look for your email or purchase order to see, otherwise, it’s not, no matter how badly you want it to be. Just my opinion. Are there judges to determine what is/isn’t an ultra qualifier?
For the first time we had a committee and people submitted via Google doc.
@Mike Yasin
Featured - Ultra Coral Submissions for 6/22 Frag Swap
The committee is locked in and submissions are open! https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1IjnYqyp4FT09SaDfYQG2wClmlJbXP-EqNPgjItzyGfo/edit?gid=1554167020#gid=1554167020 Everyone should have access to edit columns A/B/C to add your submissions OR you can submit in this thread directly if you...
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Mike Yasin
Supporting Member
I remember John and I did something several years ago… I’m sure some of become more common since and others have emerged due to new morphs or rarity
as the OG's, things changed. ive noticed a lot of corals being distributed around the club is more common and not distinguished as being a bonus/ultra. there are no rarity in this club as in corals since they are all cheap and don't want to spend the money. there is less than 1% of the members that will buy a proven lineage coral to share on the dtbc. to all the members here, marjority of you are only here only to try to bank on the stupid DTBC that will not work. thanks but this jaded old fart is out.
andyman
Supporting Member
Sorry but for those that are this uptight about naming corals, sorry to break it to you but unless theres some kind of certification, DNA, whatever, you just have no clue what you got unless you personally got it straight from the source. I've got a fairly grown out coral and I'd just like to get some ID on it. I've generally been buying from some reputable people but honestly I don't keep track of the names. I've even stopped by Vivid aquariums to buy corals in the past. I've personally been to Tyree's place to buy corals way back in the day. But I promise you I didn't keep track of any of his corals either. So far I've only been buying corals from reef raft retail store when they use to have one in Socal, vivids, and 2 who I think are reputable on reef2reef, and GSC. Anyway i'm just trying to ID what I bought, I don't expect anyone to be able to ceritfiy what I got but atleast I can get a general sense once the coral grows out into a full colony.
Coral names don't mean much to me but buying corals based on what the main colony looks like means much more to me. Maybe next Frag swap we post pictures of mother colonies and ditch the names. Thats really what matters anyway.
Coral names don't mean much to me but buying corals based on what the main colony looks like means much more to me. Maybe next Frag swap we post pictures of mother colonies and ditch the names. Thats really what matters anyway.
Mike Yasin
Supporting Member
Yeah, no judgement here. Just a personal opinion as someone who buys based on lineage (and reputation if not from the naming source; e.g. WWC, Vivid, TSA, etc.). Just don’t expect me to trade you a verified lineaged piece for your guess as to what you thought it was when you bought it.
Trades are always welcome outside of the swap proper for super special or verfied peices. I would say over 90% of corals even from our lfs, names are what they tell us they are (sold to us as in otherwords)
These are far from AKC dog breeds with papers to prove it. Is the system perfect absolutely not. Yet today overall was a great day. It was fun meeting new and old members. In addtion to a few seldom seen reefing gurus that decided to make surprise appearances.
Hopefully everyone had a great time as well. Huge thanks to all the volunteers that made it happen.
These are far from AKC dog breeds with papers to prove it. Is the system perfect absolutely not. Yet today overall was a great day. It was fun meeting new and old members. In addtion to a few seldom seen reefing gurus that decided to make surprise appearances.
Hopefully everyone had a great time as well. Huge thanks to all the volunteers that made it happen.
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Names mean much more than just a name when treated properly. Yes a lot of what we buy is word of mouth. Integrity comes to mind here and is what it should be about. Trust by vetting/word of mouth/reputation in either the vendor you are buying from or a fellow hobbyist that what they are selling/giving you is actually what they say. The idea of old school lineage corals is that they are hardier as they've been aqua cultured for a long time through their lineage.
While DNA tracing would be nice, there are people who do the next best thing and they will keep their receipts to show "proof of lineage" if anyone has any doubts. Not everyone has to treat it to this extent but should have integrity to not claim lineage just because it looks like it. Hence the name means more than just a name/high value.
Example, many fresh indo tenuis colonies look identical to some name brand high end tenuis. But I guarantee that majority of fresh indo wild caught acro colonies are no where near as hardy as something that has been aquacultured for many years.
The industry has changed a lot over time. And there are a lot of companies (some even the exact same company as OG lineage pieces) that throw a name on anything they get and flip. But the known OG pieces purchased from a reputable vendor/hobbyists *Big R walt Disney, TSA fruity pebbles, ARC Master Yoda just to name a few have been in closed captivity for a long time and originate from a vendor who took the time to care for their original colony and tank condition it, color it up and then sell it with a name.
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It’s so fun to see the exact same impossible to resolve argument come up over and over and over.
The people who take the lineage (as opposed to the coral) super seriously are the ones who either overpay because of the lineage, or overprice because of it. Since the lineage and name increase the value several fold over the exact same coral without the name. Very understandable that they would care.
The people who use the names to describe corals that seem like exactly the same thing, or where they are pretty sure (without papers) that’s what it is, have a different perspective. They use the names as ways to communicate with other reefers what they are talking about. Also very understandable to want to be able to do that.
Ok so you have these groups of people who each see it their reasonable way and think the other group is just wrong. Some people are at least able to understand the other’s point of view even if they don’t agree. And some people aren’t. Hence the never ending super fun argument. Sometimes some name calling.
The people who take the lineage (as opposed to the coral) super seriously are the ones who either overpay because of the lineage, or overprice because of it. Since the lineage and name increase the value several fold over the exact same coral without the name. Very understandable that they would care.
The people who use the names to describe corals that seem like exactly the same thing, or where they are pretty sure (without papers) that’s what it is, have a different perspective. They use the names as ways to communicate with other reefers what they are talking about. Also very understandable to want to be able to do that.
Ok so you have these groups of people who each see it their reasonable way and think the other group is just wrong. Some people are at least able to understand the other’s point of view even if they don’t agree. And some people aren’t. Hence the never ending super fun argument. Sometimes some name calling.
But we have lots of beautiful coral that’s been growing in tanks and being widely shared for many years, with very little value. In fact it is the easy growing and generous sharing that makes them have very little value. I myself have locally devalued coral by growing and sharing it widely. Named and lineaged corals predictably lose value the longer they have been out, if they do well in captivity. So the argument that the value of a fancy name is that you know it does well in tanks is quite frankly wrong. What creates the high prices is scarcity, exclusivity, and the collector thing. All of which are fine if that’s what the hobby is to a person. But not hardiness.
It’s true that wild caught sometimes don’t do as well or don’t keep their colors, that they take a while to settle. An important but separate issue when we are talking about corals growing in the club and being shared at swaps or DBTC, since by definition none of those are direct wild collected.
I see hardiness as applying to a specific species and not as the same scale for all types of corals. This for some reason specifically applies more toward acropora and SPS where there are some types that are easier to keep alive than others. This doesn't happen as much with torches for example, generally if you can keep a basic yellow tip purple tenticle torch alive, you can keep a holy grail alive.
From there within sps and acropora, you definitely have the collectors who want the nicely colors acros. That usually falls within the lineaged more expensive corals which when comparing those to nicely colored wild caught is no real comparison on hardiness level.
I've personally brought in a direct indo shipment of acro colonies, had them in the same tank as lineaged pieces I had and saw all the wild caught colonies slowly die. After about 6 months, I maybe had 2 colonies left out of 40. While the lineage pieces in that tank were still thriving. So given the statement that these are expensive due to exclusivity, I'd say they're expensive because they will survive in the right tank parameters. (Not loosing their colors is a nice bonus). My money would've been better spent on the equivalent dollar value of lineage pieces.
Trying to compare those to a green stag, stylos and digis or other coral species we trade and can withstand a wide variety of tank parameters just doesn't work because their on a different level in my opinion. Those corals (along with almost all corals) are great, don't get me wrong. But it's the part of taking a hobby and wanting to get as good as you can in it. And for some, that means keeping harder to keep corals and the satisfaction of actually being able to do it.
It's not for everyone and it's fine that not everyone feels the same, but we should all respect each other's opinions. It should be a discussion and not an argument.