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?
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?