Acropora I.D. please, is this Pearlberry?

ReefDemon

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I live in the UK and we don't tend to have the fancy names you guys do for corals... some do but most don't. They're just called blue acropora, or ice blue acropora etc. I've got my eye on two acroporas from an online source some of us in the UK use and it looks very much like a Pearlberry acro to me, am I right? they are two pics of two acros from two different sources.

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Its pretty tough to find some of the acropora that you guys get in the states, my favourite acro of all is the Tierra Del Fuego.... never laid eyes one in the UK yet. On a side note, have you guys ever purchased a frag that grew out to resemble one that you already have... or turn out to be one you already have? I ask because some frags look so similar to each other its crazy.
 

C. Eymann

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Top one= could be a A. plana ? a few of the axial corallites show minor, but healing, damage, however, unless it was sourced from ORA, it's not really a pearlberry, per say.

Bottom one looks sweet! maybe A. latistella? possibly microclados?
 

jda

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Neither of those are Pearlberry. Without lineage directly back to ORA, then either would be an imposter/knockoff at best.
 
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ReefDemon

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Neither of those are Pearlberry. Without lineage directly back to ORA, then either would be an imposter/knockoff at best.

Oh right! I always thought that it was a certain species in a certain colour that ORA then named. So if I then got my hands on the same species in the same colour from a different vendor.... it’s still a pearlberry.

I also wondered this about a certain acropora, it’s purple with neon green tips. To me it looks just like the Jason fox flame.... but in the UK it isn’t called that but looks identical.... so it could be the same acro but just a no name? Or again can’t be because it doesn’t have the Jason fox lineage as it isn’t from him directly?
 

smartwater101

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Dont need silly names when corals look that good! :)

"Lineage" is a joke anyway. Unless its been purchased directly from the collector, there is no way to prove where it came from, or it is what someone claims it is.

If it looks exactly like a Red Planet, call it a Red Planet. (Just dont call it an ORA Red Planet because that would be dishonest.) Or, if you're a famous coral seller, take that Red Planet, give it a different silly name and jack up the price 60% :p
 
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ReefDemon

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Dont need silly names when corals look that good! :)

"Lineage" is a joke anyway. Unless its been purchased directly from the collector, there is no way to prove where it came from, or it is what someone claims it is.

If it looks exactly like a Red Planet, call it a Red Planet. (Just dont call it an ORA Red Planet because that would be dishonest.) Or, if you're a famous coral seller, take that Red Planet, give it a different silly name and jack up the price 60% :p

Agreed if it’s nice that’s all that really matters. What sparked this thread off for me was seeing a couple of different vendors with corals that looked identical but with different names.... I figured they’re mostly coming from the same wholesalers and exporters and each one gets a fancy name, or sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes it’s stupidly expensive, sometimes it isn’t. But the corals look the same so what is special about one other than name.
 

smartwater101

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Agreed if it’s nice that’s all that really matters. What sparked this thread off for me was seeing a couple of different vendors with corals that looked identical but with different names.... I figured they’re mostly coming from the same wholesalers and exporters and each one gets a fancy name, or sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes it’s stupidly expensive, sometimes it isn’t. But the corals look the same so what is special about one other than name.

Yeah, it can be confusing sometimes. Like the common Bonsai has 3 or 4 different names but are the exact same coral. And all of them have different pricing. And if a seller gets their corals from multiple sources, it makes it hard to understand why those prices are listed the way they are.
 

SeaDweller

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...not really. Some people care where their corals come from because they care about how their money is spent. Certain things are tried and true and have a higher chance of expressing certain coloration vs “something that looks similar”.
 
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ReefDemon

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...not really. Some people care where their corals come from because they care about how their money is spent. Certain things are tried and true and have a higher chance of expressing certain coloration vs “something that looks similar”.

I get that some people do care and yes when you buy something like a garf bonsai or an ORA pearlberry, you’re pretty much guaranteed a certain colour.

I think this is what some vendors call their signature corals, where they are pretty much guaranteed to have a certain colour etc.

I could be wrong if I am, correct me. This gets confusing after a bit. I’m just used to species names or even simpler.... blue acro, green stag, orange digi etc
 

smartwater101

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Some people care where their corals come from because they care about how their money is spent.



We're talking about the same corals. Not just similar corals. Red Planets and Bonsai are good examples because there are multiple versions out there. Same species, colors, ect.
 

smartwater101

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On the other end of the spectrum, there are things like the Homewreckers being sold on R2R. Green. Just green. Yet people shell out an absurd amount of money for just another green coral. A lot of the time people are gambling that money, and "lineage" is just their rationalization.
 

Shredded

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On the other end of the spectrum, there are things like the Homewreckers being sold on R2R. Green. Just green. Yet people shell out an absurd amount of money for just another green coral. A lot of the time people are gambling that money, and "lineage" is just their rationalization.
I know this has been dead for few days, but for me, with very few exceptions, every time i spend a lot of money on a coral, for example back when I bought my Walt Disney, unless you keep it under similar lighting to which it was grown, at least in my tank, my corals will change color. My Walt Disney under 500 PAR is a pretty yellow with pale blue tips, very fuzzy. Not the wild colors it was, but I still like it. I think when I bought it, it actually came with lighting instructions, but I am not going to change my whole tank for one coral. I just keep it in mind when I buy something, it is likely to change. Now my GARF Bonsai has maintained its original coloration. I have two in different locations. Anecdotally, I have an area on top of one my rocks that is about 10" from the surface under a Hydra 52 HD that I call my blue zone. If I place an Acro there that is green, it will slowly pale out and then color back up a shade of blue. (blues become deeper blue) I stuck a Red Planet and a Bubble Gum Digi up there to break up the blue and I like blue. So, I buy what I find pretty. I do want a Pink Lemonade and a Fox Flame though. Maybe they will keep their colors.
 
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