Maricultured vs Aquacultured vs Wild Collected: Which do you prefer?

[Gtinnel]

Aquacultured because I have the best chance of having success with them.

 

[ReefEco]

True mdb_talon - is the question what do we prefer, or what do we actually end up buying? I would hope many of us philosophically would prefer aquacultured for the reasons mentioned, but as the saying goes - price is king - and nowadays when you find a deal I imagine many people jump on it regardless of origin. I think maricultured has it merits as well, as often it creates reef stewards in those areas, but pests and color shifts of those colonies make them more risky...

 

[tweeter]

I much prefer aquaculture, but most LPS come from the ocean. I love Lobos and acans!

 

[jacalhou]

Most all of mine are aquacultured. I try to leave wild things wild, and prefer it to be that way. I’m fortunate to live in the Orlando area and have several top notch LFS’s and most of my collection has come from trips to WWC. I think the hobby will do best when we see the growth through sustainable aquaculture and assist the wild through mariculture through groups like CRF, etc.

 

[Adrift]

I would prefer Aquacultured. Our oceans have enough issues.

 

[RedReefer]

I only try buy aqua cultured. Most everything already has names...

 

[burningmime]

If I had the choice, aquacultured all the way -- save the environment, adapted to tank life already, support small business, etc. But many of the species I love (Trachy, Scoly) are almost exclusively wild collected.

Once my tank is more stable/mature, I want to try coloring up some wild or maricultured brown acros.

 

[LRT]

Wish I had the means to start a coral farm and focus on importing predominantly wild corals. Brown, yellow honestly color doesn't matter and neither does species.
Real fact my eyes where open to during a recent visit to gulf reef is they have lost more than 40% of corals on gulf reef in last 5 years. In fact most species don't naturally spawn and reproduce anymore. They have no idea whats causing it but collecting corals is not it. The only real way to preserve some of these corals would be to aquaculture and take clones from or they are gone. Collecting corals has been banned for some time and its a shame.
Soon enough all we will have left is whats in our little oceans in our homes and probably wish we did more to preserve some of these species.
I love wild collected

 

[UnderseaOddities]

All coral are decent as long as they come from a decent source no hydroids,bryopsis,turf,cyano,nuciancse algae,dinoflagellates in the system in which it came ;it shouldbt be a problem, as long as maricultured and wild are kept seperate from aquaculture tanks until it is dipped removed from original base if possible held for a month in synthetic conditions to harden off then fragged up and put wild with mariculture these are then cleaned up and fragged and become first generation aquacultured frags or Signature frags...


Here's one to sleep on for all you captive bred aquacultured coral only people.

alot of the time deceptive marketing tactics are used to sell piece wild are just cut up and slapped aquaculture d frags or Signature frag know what a coral chop shop is and avoid these places

But also note a premium may also be demanded for actual aquacultured corals because they're dipped hardened off to synthetic conditions and grown out for some time hence the $$$ price tag but also are generally pest free

Certain corals are only shipped during certain seasons during cites and lacey

Certain corals dont frag well for the average hobbiest(elegance, scolly,bubbles, wall hammers, fungia)

Supply and demand as well as availability effects price as well as trends and wholesale value

With wild and maricultured pieces a whole slew of cross contamination can occur wiping out a system in a month or less on a large scale to an untrained eye if left unchecked,whether bacteria, parasites, pests, fungal infections,stress induced from shipping or die off from going from organic conditions to synthetic conditions.


But at the end of the day it all depend on your budget if you want truly aquacultured coral you may be better off to do it yourself and avoid deceptive marketing ploys and cut out the middlemen

Also dont let any one tell you otherwise dont hate on wild or maricultured corals hate on the people selling you therye unchecked problems for top dollar

All corals were wild at some point same with fish, and I have a feeling alot of captive bred arent captive bred just wild that were qted and put on frozen or pellet, again deceptive marketing

Same with the yellow tang I think an unnamed company was just lucky to be in palau were yellowtangs spawn in shoals naturally in the wild, then paid off policy makers to make a high ceiling price per the 2020 ban

Just my 2 cents been at it since 06

And rember business is savage know who are fish and who are sharks, dont feed the sharks feed the fish

 

[DeniseAndy]

Normally I go for aquacultured. However, my obsession with Maximinis sort of hurts this belief. If not for those, I think most of mine are aquacultured. I just think they do better in a home aquaria. Clams are sort of both cultured too, and I have lots of those.

 

[Welltankgoodness]

Truthfully, I choose my corals based on a) what I can afford, b) what type of coral it is and c) whether it’s aesthetically-pleasing or not. Where it originates from doesn’t really enter into the equation.

Most of my existing corals are wild-collected (which is what I voted for), but I also have a lot of paly/zoa frags that I’m sure were aquacultured.

I feel this is a very honest and typical answer. But don't answer. I think less people bill chose wild card because there is a stigma attached .
Well said

 

[MaxTremors]

wild for everything because they have more biodiversity and are more disease resistand and they are hardier.

With fish, you might have an argument, with corals, aquacultured are objectively hardier and more disease resistant. There are corals that have been in the hobby for decades that are in peoples’ tanks all around the world that came from one colony, and the reason for that is that these particular species/specimens proved to adapt to aquarium conditions better than other corals. You’re not sexually propagating these corals and you’re not running a coral DNA bank, so genetic diversity is irrelevant. I don’t know what else you would mean by ‘biodiverse’, it’s not like the wild colonies being imported aren’t the same species and varieties being aquacultured and maricultured. There are occasionally one-off species/specimens that get imported, but for the most part it’s the same common corals that are popular that get imported.

The only argument for purchasing wild caught colonies that makes any sense is for species that can’t be propagated in captivity, large single polyp species like trachyphyllia, scolymia, acanthophyllia, etc., everything is able to be asexually propagated in captivity (whether or not it makes sense financially is a different question). Wild caught colonies are an order of magnitude more likely to introduce coral pests and diseases than properly aquacultured specimens (anyone serious about aquaculturing at a professional level is quarantining their mother colonies before propagating them). From parasitic sponges, to flatworms, to nudibranchs, to zoa eating spiders, the list is a mile long, and you’re more likely to get these from wild colonies. Wild colonies are also more likely to RTN, STN, have issues acclimating to lighting, brown jelly disease, species specific diseases like elegance coral disease, again the list is a mile long.

Again, there might be an argument for wild caught fish having stronger immune systems, but there are logical arguments on both sides. And I agree with you that quality live rock, along with all the hitchhikers, leads to more stable, more bacterially diverse, and more interesting reef tanks. But you are completely wrong on wild caught corals being hardier or making better aquarium specimens than aquacultured corals that have a proven track record of thriving in captivity.

 

[MaxTremors]

i feel like maricultured is more sustainable than aquacultured in the long term, but much more difficult to facilitate. so ideally i'd prioritize maricultured with a quarantine, then aquacultured. i have no reason to buy anything wild-caught at this point.

This is an interesting question. Is it more sustainable both environmentally and financially to aquaculture corals in indoor facilities with all of the power it takes to do that, or is it more sustainable to mariculture them, support the local communities that tend to them, and then ship them on airplanes all around the world to be sold. I don’t know the answer, though I think giving the communities that are near coral reefs a way to make money off the reefs that is helping restore them as opposed to destroy them is probably doing more for wild reefs than aquaculturing is. I don’t know which method has less of a carbon footprint, and aquacultured corals are undeniably less prone to disease and are proven to be well suited to aquaria, so for me it’s kind of a wash either way. But both are better than wild caught.

 

[ZoWhat]

I prefer
FREE-CULTURED

 

[anemoneanatomy]

I believe I only have one wild-caught coral: a scolymia from Australia, and I was only okay with that due to scolys not being good candidates for aquaculture. I prefer to never buy wild caught specimens, both because I think captive bred specimens tend to do better in captivity and because I got into this hobby due to my love of marine ecology. I don't want to destroy coral reefs just so I can have a small one in my house.

 

[onlyfans]

Aquacultured because they're already used to tank life and the person that grew them should be able to tell you their parameters, food, feeding schedules, lighting and flow schedules, etc. making it far easier to keep them alive; because, I mean, that is the point after all isn't it? Enjoy beautiful looking creatures while providing them with the best life that we can whether that's coral, fish, pods, phyto, etc. But hey, I'm a softy and love em all lol. Plus aquacultured means more natural coral stays in the ocean. We don't have much left out there compared to what we should.

 

[billysprout]

This is an interesting question. Is it more sustainable both environmentally and financially to aquaculture corals in indoor facilities with all of the power it takes to do that, or is it more sustainable to mariculture them, support the local communities that tend to them, and then ship them on airplanes all around the world to be sold. I don’t know the answer, though I think giving the communities that are near coral reefs a way to make money off the reefs that is helping restore them as opposed to destroy them is probably doing more for wild reefs than aquaculturing is. I don’t know which method has less of a carbon footprint, and aquacultured corals are undeniably less prone to disease and are proven to be well suited to aquaria, so for me it’s kind of a wash either way. But both are better than wild caught.

oh yea, you're totally right. everything is such an ethical conundrum nowadays that it's impossible to truly find a 'best' way. for example, aquaculture is probably the closest to carbon neutral if the power consumed comes from solar panels. but we're a long way from that x)

 

[Forty-Two]

Thanks to @Dolphins18 for the QOTD idea!

When it comes to corals there are three terms we use to label them. Maricultured, Aquacultured, and Wild Collected. The following definitions will vary somewhat but this is in my terms!

Maricultured - Corals that are grown from frags of wild colonies but are grown within the ocean in a controlled environment.
Aquacultured - Corals that have been grown out in captivity for an extended amount of time and have adapted to captivity.
Wild Collected - Corals collected straight from the ocean and then shipped to suppliers.

So let's talk about it!

1. Maricultured vs Aquacultured vs Wild Collected: Which do you prefer and why?

2. How do you take the proper steps to ensure your getting the type of coral you prefer?

3. What are some advantages and disadvantages of these three types of coral?

Coral mariculture at the Eilat’s mid-water floating nursery (10 m depth): new colonies are generated from small fragments (left in the photo) and reared until developed to large colonies ready for transplantation (right). Photo © Y. Horoszowski-Fridman

I hope Im not hijacking the thread - but this pic is from my neck of the woods. Do we know if these are sellers of Coral or are they simply cultivating to repopulate corals? If they are selling - Id like to know who they are (maybe they prices are better)

 

[Zionas]

Aquacultured / Tank Raised FTW. Mariculture still comes with a greater risk of introducing disease and pests. For both fish and corals. Yeah

 

[Zhubbell]

something to consider maybe in this discuss is that a lot of the coral that is Maricultured is not labeled as such,
For example, I saw a post above about a wild caught staghorn, and I’m just saying that maybe he mounted it on that perfect rock (sorry, should have tagged posted for response), but it probably came in on that rock… which means cut probably wasn’t a wild caught in my opinion, it was probably mariculture.
I have ordered from la suppliers, I have transshipped and I imported directly through Chicago.
I sometimes see colonies marked as mariculture and sometimes not.
My assumption has always been, and maybe I’m wrong, that when they’re not marked as mariculture, and they come in with nothing but acro tissue, they’re wild caught, clipped from the reef, when they come in on a perfect Little Rock, spired up and encrusted to the base, even if the invoice didn’t say mariculture, it’s a mariculture sps and they simply omitted that in the description because they felt it would sell better without that designation.
Just thought I’d share this thought and see if any agrees.