Gretchacha
Active Member
First order from Marine Farmers arrived today. I ordered 4 frags of soft corals for my new Ultra Low Maintenance 30G build. The frag I really wanted was the deep red asterospicularia. I ordered enough others to meet the high free-shipping threshold. The other frags were “weepy” toadstool, giant bali xenia, and ruby red xenia. The box was small, a 6” cube, with one small heat pack. The temperature upon arrival of the frag water was 66-67 degrees F. The frag plugs were stuck in foam to float and a small amount of water 4oz, double bagged. Three of the frags are tiny. The Giant Bali Xenia is a long way from giant, coming in at ¼”. The asterspicularia will take months to cover enough ground to host an anemone porcelain crab at ¼” x ⅜”. And the ruby red xenia is a little ball about a ½” when extended. The weepy toadstool is the usual 1/2” - 1” or so.
The corals look healthy, but I did cut the frag plugs off when noticing hydroids and algae that would not be removed with dips. For the price and size, the value is low. The ruby red Xenia at Tidal Gardens is $20 less, for example. However, it is great to have such a plethora of choices for unique soft coral from one vendor. I do with there were more photos online of the mother colonies, colors under different light spectra, and an indication of the size. For example, what is a weepy toadstool? Is that a weeping willow? Or not? Was it worth 100$? The box size wasn’t holding temperature well enough, either.
I would order from them again, but only for something very specialty.
The corals look healthy, but I did cut the frag plugs off when noticing hydroids and algae that would not be removed with dips. For the price and size, the value is low. The ruby red Xenia at Tidal Gardens is $20 less, for example. However, it is great to have such a plethora of choices for unique soft coral from one vendor. I do with there were more photos online of the mother colonies, colors under different light spectra, and an indication of the size. For example, what is a weepy toadstool? Is that a weeping willow? Or not? Was it worth 100$? The box size wasn’t holding temperature well enough, either.
I would order from them again, but only for something very specialty.
