Same Coral by Different Name? And How Often Do They Change?

[AKL1950]

So, my new system is coming up on one year old and I’ve just about filled it with lots of Acropora. It’s been 15 years since my first tank which I had to shut down in 2008 because Boeing kept moving me all over the world. I did look for and found Acro’s that were popular back then and bought some. But, I have tried to get a variety of different ones. However, I’m noticing something that seems a bit disturbing if I think about it too much. It seems that a lot of the Acro’s I’ve acquired are actually the same corals with different names. What really keyed me was a coral I purchased in a live sale recently. It was posted with a picture of the Frag and a picture of the mother colony. Being sort of OCD and anal, I always copy the pictures so I can remember which coral is which and the picture of the mother colony will show me what it’s suppose to look like when it grows out. Well, as I was putting it in my log of all my corals, I found the mother colony picture already there listed as a different colony with a different name From a year ago.

I’m assuming that this is common pratice now to rename corals after a bit so they can jack the price back up and give the unsuspecting buyer a new different coral with a different name. As I look at a lot of corals on the internet, I’m starting to see a lot of what appears to be the same corals with different names and pictures taken with a slightly different color variation to make it look different. But after I buy them and they start growing out in my tank (all under the same lighting), they look identical.

Is it my imagination or reality in the coral business?

 

[twentyleagues]

Trade names change all the time depending on whos selling it unless its a super well known expensive coral and they want that attention. Is it to be able to sell some more average coral at a higher price? Sometimes, i'm sure. Scientific names dont change all that often unless its a taxonomy change at that level. Most people including myself dont know how to tell them apart other then the trade names. When I was in this hobby 12 years ago I had all kinds of corals not so much acro I had a few but mostly lps. I had gold hammers, gold torchs, multi colors of both, super green and yellows, blues, purple and golds you name it. I come back to reefing and these all have crazy names and crazy prices now. I used to sell/buy some of these for $20-$30 per head at most for the multi color ones. Now they are 10x that with some name attached to it.

 

[Tuan’s Reef]

Secret is blown, you're not suppose to know this. lol

 

[exnisstech]

New name = new coral to the hobby = $$

 

[zheka757]

I wish the coral name game can chance. .... But I guess it will never happen.

 

[AKL1950]

I would never really want to criticize the vender’s business models, especially since it’s so hard to harvest corals from the beautiful reefs around the world. It’s just that the hobbiest needs to realize that is the reality of it. Similar corals may actually be the same corals with different names.

 

[Propane]

When I was collecting tarantulas I never found much evidence that my Goliath bird eaters ate birds. But it sounds a lot cooler than t. Blondi or l. Parahybana.

 

[AKL1950]

When I was collecting tarantulas I never found much evidence that my Goliath bird eaters ate birds. But it sounds a lot cooler than t. Blondi or l. Parahybana.

So, did you have to get birds to food it? Wow! That would be watching nature at its finest. But then, if you have a predator tank, those Lion Fish and Groupers do like live food.