Coral noob- aquacultured??

g.knight · Jul 13, 2020

Hey, R2R!

Back with another noob question. I’ll start off by saying I apologize if this has been asked and answered before, but I couldn’t find the answer if it has been. Just getting my first beginner corals and selecting them from Livesquaria.com. I see that many of their corals are listed as “aquacultured” and that those corals are usually cheaper. What is the meaning of aquacultured in this sense and why is it cheaper?

My rule of thumb is that cheaper usually means crappier, but I’m always up for saving money if it’s a good product!

Thanks in advance once again!

MERKEY · Jul 13, 2020

In layman's terms it means they are from a large aquarium not the ocean. Aquarium might be the wrong choice of words but you get the idea.

Large companies have huge grow operations that aquaculture corals....Or grow corals.

fish farmer · Jul 13, 2020

Aquacultured means they are raised in captivity, usually land based, like in a warehouse type setting or even someone's basement. Basically fragmented from mother colonies and grown out to a marketable size. Mariculture is simlilar but grown in the sea at certain sites. Wild caught is just that, harvested directly from the ocean with no "farming" involved.

Aquacultured can be considered better for aquariums because they have adapted to aquarium life.

James M · Jul 13, 2020

IMO aquacultured corals are hardier than wild corals

Mattg023 · Jul 13, 2020

g.knight said:
Hey, R2R!

Back with another noob question. I’ll start off by saying I apologize if this has been asked and answered before, but I couldn’t find the answer if it has been. Just getting my first beginner corals and selecting them from Livesquaria.com. I see that many of their corals are listed as “aquacultured” and that those corals are usually cheaper. What is the meaning of aquacultured in this sense and why is it cheaper?

My rule of thumb is that cheaper usually means crappier, but I’m always up for saving money if it’s a good product!

Thanks in advance once again!

It is not wild caught. It is cultured in an aquarium setting. You will also see the word mariculture used occasionally.. mariculture is when it’s being grown/cultured in an ocean setting, ie. not naturally occurring there.