SPS colonies or small frags?

[Waters]

Just curious.....how many of you, if given the opportunity, would pay more for larger baseball sized SPS colonies over smaller frags? Would you rather pay less and watch a small frag grow, or would you pay more for the immediate impact of a larger, more established colony?

 

[Bob Weigant]

Personally I liked a mixture of both

 

[Charlie the Reefer]

Interesting discussion. At this point (still amateurish) I see the merit of both but definitely will pay up for mini colonies.

There’s a limit though. I don’t want anything that’s overgrown a tile let’s say but a fully encrusted frag with multiple branches (mini colonies by some standards) is like the sweet spot. It’s not so big to where it’s adapted to a specific environment and will be succeptible to shock or a new system. But it’s not so small to where it will just die for no reason..

Another aspect, I really have appreciated the growth differential of one year between a mini colony and a small nub. There’s a compounding effect in SPS growth where you will see a LOT more quicker with decent sized frags, cause sheer math (% compounding).

Long story short.. yes I would pay more! To a certain extent!

 

[PizzaIan339]

Frag because I do not want to run out of room to fast

 

[Matt1997]

Will always buy a fairly priced colony over a frag

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

Colony! I only buy wild caught coral so I don't usually have the option of a frag, though I'd take a colony over frag any day

 

[Troylee]

Colony..

 

[Waters]

Interesting discussion. At this point (still amateurish) I see the merit of both but definitely will pay up for mini colonies.

There’s a limit though. I don’t want anything that’s overgrown a tile let’s say but a fully encrusted frag with multiple branches (mini colonies by some standards) is like the sweet spot. It’s not so big to where it’s adapted to a specific environment and will be succeptible to shock or a new system. But it’s not so small to where it will just die for no reason..

Another aspect, I really have appreciated the growth differential of one year between a mini colony and a small nub. There’s a compounding effect in SPS growth where you will see a LOT more quicker with decent sized frags, cause sheer math (% compounding).

Long story short.. yes I would pay more! To a certain extent!

That brings up a second question.....how would you determine the value of a larger colony? Can't really take the frag price and multiple it out otherwise some of the colonies would end up costing more than the entire tank lol.

 

[trmiv]

Depends where I’m putting it. If it’s already got a bunch of space a small colony is great. Otherwise a chunky frag that I can let naturally grow into the space I have is preferable.

 

[spsick]

Are we talking online or local? In general frags ship and adapt better than colonies but not if they’re booger sized. Here’s some frags I cut the other day but most online sellers would call these mother colonies.

 

[Charlie the Reefer]

Another aspect for me though… To me it’s two very separate things having an SPS tank you grew out from frags,vs buying colonies and chucking them all in. There’s a much higher level of satisfaction for me personally seeing frags grow!

It just comes to success rate for me. I’ve noticed I have a lot worse success with nubs vs mini colonies/encrusted frags.

I also really understand now why people like WYSIWYG

 

[backbayreef]

When I first started out with SPS, I wanted "instant gratification" by getting colonies! I got 2 mini colonies but quickly realized that these guys grew too fast! If I have to do this all over again, I will get encrusted 1-2" frags, healthy and can enjoy watching them grow.

 

[doubleshot00]

I bought huge chunks from local reefers that are doing great. But recently bought 2 very large frags from a well known dealer on here and they rtn’ed within a few days of adding. I would prefer larger frags.

Moral is i lost out on a lot of money thinking im getting more.

 

[Robs Reef]

More satisfaction watching a frag grow to mature colonies. No matter the tank size, once the frags start growing you will run out of room in no time in a matter of several years. And you will come to a hard decision to cut them all back or do a major reboot.

 

[Digimes]

For me, it's cost vs want.

 

[Waters]

Are we talking online or local? In general frags ship and adapt better than colonies but not if they’re booger sized. Here’s some frags I cut the other day but most online sellers would call these mother colonies.

Yeah those are good sized....as far as local or online, probably more local than anything.

 

[Waters]

Personally I liked a mixture of both

BTW, just noticed the Kiss avatar....nice :-) I have seen them live more times than I care to admit lol.

 

[Alexraptor]

To be fair, I've bought baseball-sized colonies for less than the price of what frags are going for these days. :p

So i guess my answer is: Whatever gives me best bang for the buck! :)

 

[vetteguy53081]

Always colonies for me

 

[Bob Weigant]

BTW, just noticed the Kiss avatar....nice :) I have seen them live more times than I care to admit lol.

Same here. You should see my KISS room