Small torches & hammers???

[Pico bam]

I can't be the only one here, go to the lfs look at torches to buy but leave with nothing. Why? They all seem so tiny! I remember big torch heads with 8 inch tentacles at times. Where have they gone? Will they keep shrinking? Have I gone crazy? I'd like to hear your thoughts aswell. Don't get me started on tiny hammers.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

I can't be the only one here, go to the lfs look at torches to buy but leave with nothing. Why? They all seem so tiny! I remember big torch heads with 8 inch tentacles at times. Where have they gone? Will they keep shrinking? Have I gone crazy? I'd like to hear your thoughts aswell. Don't get me started on tiny hammers.

Torches came strongly into fad and all the big mature colonies were fragged up and now there are still a crap ton of new colonies coming in and being fragged and sold quickly.

I don't think big mature heads are sitting on LFS shelves long enough to be seen very often.

 

[Uncle99]

The hobby is taking off, the delivery post Covid is 3 times the price, everyone wants to make there money back.
The price of multi head torches are hundreds of dollars these days and many tanks are on the smaller side so we frag them to singles so they both fit, and are somewhat affordable.

But your right, I miss those multi head torches as well.

 

[Pico bam]

The hobby is taking off, the delivery post Covid is 3 times the price, everyone wants to make there money back.
The price of multi head torches are hundreds of dollars these days and many tanks are on the smaller side so we frag them to singles so they both fit, and are somewhat affordable.

But your right, I miss those multi head torches as well.

I'm not really thinking about multiple heads, rather the size of the head and the extention of the tentacles.

 

[Lavey29]

Check Timeless Corals, they get beautiful torches, all the big name types in their inventory and sell them at great prices. I walked in and picked up multiple torches from them.

 

[Uncle99]

I'm not really thinking about multiple heads, rather the size of the head and the extention of the tentacles.

What size do you expect.
When settled, mine extend at least 2-3”.
In Canada, that’s $100 for green and $200 for Indo gold.
Head size of nickel on or about.

 

[robbyg]

I remember in 2005 when the Amount of heads on a coral was not even counted. You could get a huge Hammer about 6" across for about $60.

 

[Pico bam]

What size do you expect.
When settled, mine extend at least 2-3”.
In Canada, that’s $100 for green and $200 for Indo gold.
Head size of nickel on or about.

I used to have a purple and green tipped torch tentacles easily 6 inches long sometimes. A nice quarter size heads too.

 

[Pico bam]

I remember in 2005 when the Amount of heads on a coral was not even counted. You could get a huge Hammer about 6" across for about $60.

I picked up about 40-50 heads for 100 bucks last year the guy didn't think he gave me enough. These deals are truly few and far between. Granted they didn't look the most colorful right away.

 

[Uncle99]

I used to have a purple and green tipped torch tentacles easily 6 inches long sometimes. A nice quarter size heads too.

True, wild collected.
But most grown out in large farms now, and they want to move them faster, so, yup, smaller.

 

[vtecintegra]

It's the greedy vendors. One polyp zoanthids, 1/2" SPS, and miniature torches and hammers. Then all of those new hobbyist that keep supporting it. It's become cool to spend hundreds on something that's been photoshopped and is best viewed zoomed in 50x. Heaven forbid a torch has three or four heads. If you find one, vendors want the cost of a car payment.

 

[Pico bam]

It's the greedy vendors. One polyp zoanthids, 1/2" SPS, and miniature torches and hammers. Then all of those new hobbyist that keep supporting it. It's become cool to spend hundreds on something that's been photoshopped and is best viewed zoomed in 50x. Heaven forbid a torch has three or four heads. If you find one, vendors want the cost of a car payment.

This is a very agreeable statement. But at the same time i remember when stores where closing left and right. That was a good 8 or so years ago though. They just couldn't bring in enough profit. The ones that weathered the storm in my area are in loading docks, open at noon, closed Mondays only have 2 employees you name it. My brothers first job was at a lfs minimum wage, bad hours, still a cool job.

 

[Pico bam]

Anybody remember the term "long tentacle torch"? Maybe most the torches now are just different Genesis but they really seem tiny. Everything looks like a colorful cristata.

 

[Shirak]

Anybody remember the term "long tentacle torch"? Maybe most the torches now are just different Genesis but they really seem tiny. Everything looks like a colorful cristata.

I think tank conditions will affect the length of the tentacles as well as how long ago it split.

A recently split head will be smaller than one getting to splitting size. Some tend to get much bigger heads too. Some of mine split more frequently and have smaller heads overall and others can be several inches across per head.

 

[Pico bam]

I think tank conditions will affect the length of the tentacles as well as how long ago it split.

A recently split head will be smaller than one getting to splitting size. Some tend to get much bigger heads too. Some of mine split more frequently and have smaller heads overall and others can be several inches across per head.

Your 2 are decent sized compared to what ive been seeing. My buddy just got into reefing and has a tank full of tiny torches. Makes me miss the torches I had when I first started out in this hobbie.

 

[Shirak]

Your 2 are decent sized compared to what ive been seeing. My buddy just got into reefing and has a tank full of tiny torches. Makes me miss the torches I had when I first started out in this hobbie.

The purple in front I think is an Aussie? And the big one on the right is one of those lemon/lime banana torches so not sure where those are from. I think they might be Aus also. There are some indo golds in the back. I have 3 indo gold in another tank that are similar in size. small heads but more heads.