THE GREAT AND CURIOUS RAPTURE OF THE PEARL-BERRY...

[SamMule]

Interesting perspective! So true though. Pink Lemonade is still on my list. The few times I've found it available, things didn't work out for me to buy it.

Speaking of... @Battlecorals What's the story behind the Pink Lemonade on your site? Never seen it in stock, and the description alludes to some sort of difficulty.

 

[Battlecorals]

I can’t help with an answer other than people started making space in their closet for the new clothes, figuratively. I am thankful for the Mother of Pearl you picked (well everything else too) for me as it is an oldie that I forgot about. I can’t wait for it to grow out!

Yeah I definitely agree with this. The, there’s always a shinier toy around the corner philosophy I’m sure condemned a lot of these oldies to lesser favorable locations or worse.

I’ll confess I’ve tossed a lot of sunset Monti over the years myself.

Like the more common they were, the less we cared about them. I’m sure there’s a great word for this phenomenon. Wish I knew it lol.

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

Yeah I definitely agree with this. The, there’s always a shinier toy around the corner philosophy I’m sure condemned a lot of these oldies to lesser favorable locations or worse.
Like the more common they were, the less we cared about them. I’m sure there’s a great word for this phenomenon. Wish I knew it lol.

Yeah, kinda like when Disney came out with 101 Dalmatians. Everyone, their uncle, and their in-laws bought Dalmatian puppies…..fast forward 6-12 months and the shelters were overflowing with them. Maybe we need to start species specific coral rescues.

 

[Mikuchar]

Yeah I definitely agree with this. The, there’s always a shinier toy around the corner philosophy I’m sure condemned a lot of these oldies to lesser favorable locations or worse.
Like the more common they were, the less we cared about them. I’m sure there’s a great word for this phenomenon. Wish I knew it lol.

I was seriously in the trading card business 30 yrs ago when Topps were the only legit co. Than upper deck came out and within a few yrs. There were so many subsets, insert cards and it got to the point that you didn't even know which star rookie card was the true rookie card. Now if you don't have a card graded and in a screwdown 1 inch shatterproof container have fun trying to sell it. I believe the reef hobby is somewhat similar. Don't get me wrong it's come along way to keep corals that we thought we could never keep etc. But so many additives to chase colors growth etc. Some equipment not necessarily needed etc. It took simple and just stability for the most part out of the hobby. I was sucked in for a bit. Every time I went away from just stable parameters, scheduled water changes and started dosing kalk, iron, this or that program etc. It never failed I'd get dinoflagellates, or cyno, or other algaes and a few instances death in a few pieces even following icp test recommendations etc. I've gone with stable perameters good lighting with good spread and leaving it alone strong water movement, and weekly maintenance on pumps etc. And water changes. And I've gotten extordinary growth and coloration and not a single outbreak.....just my experience and two cents...

 

[wolfen281]

The closest I’ve ever gotten to coral in my lab was processing some coral for a grad student...staining with propidium iodide...and running on a flow cytometer to see if we could see the dye in the coral.
IOW, I know next to nothing about coral biology.

So...do coral have a Hayflick limit?

 

[spsick]

Regarding the Pink Lemonade for example: I had a big colony of this that grew like a weed for years. I sold and gave away dozens of frags in the local club. Then I lost the colony in a move and seems like it disappeared of the face of the earth when I tried to get a piece back. I guess I have the skeleton as a reminder decoration of something beautiful that once existed in my care.

Burnout cycle is a real thing in this hobby and we have a lot of turnover but still surprising bright colorful staples like this fall by the wayside for orange sunglasses Tenuis etc.

 

[Battlecorals]

Regarding the Pink Lemonade for example: I had a big colony of this that grew like a weed for years. I sold and gave away dozens of frags in the local club. Then I lost the colony in a move and seems like it disappeared of the face of the earth when I tried to get a piece back. I guess I have the skeleton as a reminder decoration of something beautiful that once existed in my care.

Burnout cycle is a real thing in this hobby and we have a lot of turnover but still surprising bright colorful staples like this fall by the wayside for orange sunglasses Tenuis etc.

This is exactly what I am talking about!

To answer an earlier question. None of my pl survived my move back in 2016. Haven’t had any luck growing it out again

 

[Perry]

Regarding the Pink Lemonade for example: I had a big colony of this that grew like a weed for years. I sold and gave away dozens of frags in the local club. Then I lost the colony in a move and seems like it disappeared of the face of the earth when I tried to get a piece back. I guess I have the skeleton as a reminder decoration of something beautiful that once existed in my care.

Burnout cycle is a real thing in this hobby and we have a lot of turnover but still surprising bright colorful staples like this fall by the wayside for orange sunglasses Tenuis etc

This one is settling in.

 

[rtparty]

I think a lot of people have already hit the nail on the head. They became so popular and overdone, people threw them away when no one would buy. Then those hobbyists left the hobby and couldn't give away massive colonies so in the trash they went. Voila, no more OG corals floating around.

I'd kill for a legit Pearlberry right now. Last time I saw one it was over $200 for a frag.

To answer another question in here, notice a theme around the timing of these OG corals disappearing? Maybe a certain "advancement" in the hobby? The latest, greatest, shiniest new toys to go over our tanks?

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

I think a lot of people have already hit the nail on the head. They became so popular and overdone, people threw them away when no one would buy. Then those hobbyists left the hobby and couldn't give away massive colonies so in the trash they went. Voila, no more OG corals floating around.

I'd kill for a legit Pearlberry right now. Last time I saw one it was over $200 for a frag.

To answer another question in here, notice a theme around the timing of these OG corals disappearing? Maybe a certain "advancement" in the hobby? The latest, greatest, shiniest new toys to go over our tanks?

That first few rounds of new photon units sure killed a lot. Glad it’s been worked out now. Not always great to hop on the hype train. Other than killing, those blues didn’t help the og corals much

 

[Battlecorals]

I think a lot of people have already hit the nail on the head. They became so popular and overdone, people threw them away when no one would buy. Then those hobbyists left the hobby and couldn't give away massive colonies so in the trash they went. Voila, no more OG corals floating around.

I'd kill for a legit Pearlberry right now. Last time I saw one it was over $200 for a frag.

To answer another question in here, notice a theme around the timing of these OG corals disappearing? Maybe a certain "advancement" in the hobby? The latest, greatest, shiniest new toys to go over our tanks?

Interesting observation. could be a coincidence. I personally have had a number of the "oldies" struggle in newer systems I've set up. But I never made that connection to lighting specifically. I'm sure because I never fully committed to going all led. truth is the old stuff struggled under halides just the same from what I can recall. I supose that could be a topic for its own write up really lol

 

[rtparty]

Interesting observation. could be a coincidence. I personally have had a number of the "oldies" struggle in newer systems I've set up. But I never made that connection to lighting specifically. I'm sure because I never fully committed to going all led. truth is the old stuff struggled under halides just the same from what I can recall. I supose that could be a topic for its own write up really lol

It's a definite "stir the pot" comment from me. But one that has to be explored IMO. Especially when all the ORA stuff was coming out of a greenhouse with only the sun.

LEDs are great at a lot of things. Replicating the sun's spectrum is not one of them. Tullio has some amazing data coming forward soon.

Many OG corals shined under the more white, full spectrum halides IMO. I'm sure plenty of them can do well under LEDs as well but early on a lot of us were killing a lot of corals with LEDs. Wouldn't take much to kill half the OG corals with a new light release that so many jumped on.

Food for thought is all

 

[SunnyX]

The Pearlberry in my system is placed the lowest in my display of all the SPS. Initially, it did nothing. It turned into some lime green funk and would not grow. One day, I said the hell with it and moved it to a lower spot, freeing up some valuable real estate for a blue slimer.

Now, I have a colony and it looks as good as I remember it. Currently have it sitting at 175-200 PAR. I’ll get a phone snapped tomorrow.

-Sonny

 

[Reefing102]

To answer another question in here, notice a theme around the timing of these OG corals disappearing? Maybe a certain "advancement" in the hobby? The latest, greatest, shiniest new toys to go over our tanks?

I have to say that’s an incredible thought process that I never even began to think of. Heck we even see it today where we burn corals under LED. We definitely did it with halide back in the day too, but I have to agree, a good chunk were probably killed off with a lighting switch

 

[Dorsetsteve]

Regarding the Pink Lemonade for example: I had a big colony of this that grew like a weed for years. I sold and gave away dozens of frags in the local club. Then I lost the colony in a move and seems like it disappeared of the face of the earth when I tried to get a piece back. I guess I have the skeleton as a reminder decoration of something beautiful that once existed in my care.

Burnout cycle is a real thing in this hobby and we have a lot of turnover but still surprising bright colorful staples like this fall by the wayside for orange sunglasses Tenuis etc.

So four years ago I lost everything in this tank, even the CUC in a house move.

Many of these corals were sold (cheaply) or given away to the local community. There was a stage where many of my off cuts, aka Frags went to the bin as I couldn’t give them away.
Six months after the crash I thought I’d get a fair bit back, but found none of it about. Many of these corals were Indo sourced and at that time no longer available. It still stings now, some of these colonies had been in my care for a decade.

 

[dragon99]

It certainly can be harder to locate some of the classics. However, I currently have pearlberry, greg's aquamarine jewel, and pink lemonade (bought from tyree himself at a show). I had red dragon until last year when I lost it.

I don't see any great conspiracy or shelf life on them, just that (as with many things) there are cycles of what everyone wants in their tank.

 

[reef_ranch]

ORA German Blue! I bought a small frag from you years ago and unfortunately lost it. Haven't seen one since. Top 5 all time acro for me!

 

[Perry]

Now...
Who the heck has the Dustins Deepwater? Someone speak up, or PM, lol... Sonny has the GBP though, that's a start @SunnyX

 

[SunnyX]

Here’s a shot of one of the Pearlberrys in my display.

 

[Perry]

Here’s a shot of one of the Pearlberrys in my display.

Freaking amazing, mine is small, and bluish, but looking forward to seeing that pearly white like yours!