Experiences w/transitioning maricultured acros?

[Gregg @ ADP]

So, I was able to grab a bunch of small Indonesian maricultured colonies for essentially pennies. I haven’t gone through the trouble of trying to key out exactly what kind of acros they are, but a couple are on the pinkish side, and one has (had) some purplish hues.

None were what I would call spectacularly colored when I got them, and since going under my AIs, they have gotten a bit more dull (although the tank does get about 3hrs direct sun on days when it’s sunny, and they seem to appreciate that). Had them down low in the tank (24”) on the edge of the highest PAR for the first 2 weeks, and then moved them up. None have bleached, which is kind of a shock.

They look healthy otherwise…good PE when there is food in the water, no TN of any kind, etc. Knowing they were maricultured, I figured it would take them a while to acclimate, but I wanted to find out what others’ experiences have been with the maricultured colonies. How long do they typically take to acclimate and color up? Any surprises that turned into real stunners?

Best light settings? Thanks.

 

[ryanjohn1]

No experience here. But wanna see what others have to say. My lfs usually has them. I’ve heard you should remove from the base that they are cultured on. Supposedly a type of boring algae can get in them.

 

[X-37B]

It may take 6-12 months to see a change, ime.
Any quality reef light will work.
I will find a few old examples and post them.

 

[Epic Aquaculture]

Maricultured and wild colonies are the same in regards to transitioning to captivity. They usually carry lots of pests including, but not limited to, AEFW, Red, White, and Black bugs, Aiptasia, bubble algae, etc. We occasionally import to add to our broodstock. The new colonies immediately go into QT for observation. Once we feel they have settled a bit (usually a couple of days to a week), the colonies are dipped In KCL, then Interceptor, then returned to QT. We do this for 8 weeks in order to make sure that anything hatching from eggs gets killed. The corals then remain in QT for an additional 4 months before going into the grow out system. Unfortunately wilds and maricultured can unexpectedly RTN at any time. We usually feel they are out of the woods, so to speak, after about a year. At that point we cut a large frag to start a mother colony for future frags. We have had colonies that were doing great with excellent color and PE, suddenly RTN after being in grow out for 10-12 months. It's frustrating at times. Aquacultured corals have a much higher survival rate in captivity.

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

No experience here. But wanna see what others have to say. My lfs usually has them. I’ve heard you should remove from the base that they are cultured on. Supposedly a type of boring algae can get in them.

I wanted to do that right away, but I have a project coming up where I’m going to have to have the tank half drained for 24hrs or so, and didn’t want to have them cemented on my rocks until that was done.

FWIW, the bases are acrylic, and they’re attached with what looks like some kind of epoxy. Hoping that limits boring algae.

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

Maricultured and wild colonies are the same in regards to transitioning to captivity. They usually carry lots of pests including, but not limited to, AEFW, Red, White, and Black bugs, Aiptasia, bubble algae, etc. We occasionally import to add to our broodstock. The new colonies immediately go into QT for observation. Once we feel they have settled a bit (usually a couple of days to a week), the colonies are dipped In KCL, then Interceptor, then returned to QT. We do this for 8 weeks in order to make sure that anything hatching from eggs gets killed. The corals then remain in QT for an additional 4 months before going into the grow out system. Unfortunately wilds and maricultured can unexpectedly RTN at any time. We usually feel they are out of the woods, so to speak, after about a year. At that point we cut a large frag to start a mother colony for future frags. We have had colonies that were doing great with excellent color and PE, suddenly RTN after being in grow out for 10-12 months. It's frustrating at times. Aquacultured corals have a much higher survival rate in captivity.

Thanks for the info.

It’s weird because I guess I sorta forgot about the old days of wild colonies from Indonesia. Everything has been so heavily aquacultured for years now that I forgot about back when you could get pretty nice wild pieces that were affordable.