Ok, let's be honest.
We all occasionally get a colony or frag that starts out as well...UGLY! Browned out, beige, dull....UGLY! We started off with a very ugly light beige piece that somehow my partner saw something in. As coral lovers and propagators, we take chances on seemingly sad and overlooked pieces all the time. Sometimes they never quite develop. Sometimes it takes months and you get something ok. Other times, it takes months and you end up with something really awesome!
Here's one success story:
this rather dull brownish little piece had an interesting morphology that had very tiny, rather recessed polyps. We took a chance on it and grew out a few pieces. It was, ahem- "poop brown". And ugly. Really. After literally months under 400 watt 20K Radiums n light movers, wicked horizontal gyre flow, good water quality, and occasional feeding, the result was spectacular:
We call it our "Bonsai Acro", and it turned out to be a real beauty and a great seller. Go figure. I wish I had some pics of the "before"...I think one of the overlooked aspects of our hobby is the lesson in life that you can learn by having the faith to stand by something that would otherwise be passed by, and watching it blossom into a thing of beauty. I guess it's what we reefers call "love"- perhaps a secret ingredient in coral propagation.
We'd love to see and read about your stories of faith and success with some of those forgotten or otherwise ugly corals that you took a chance on and stood by!
Scott
We all occasionally get a colony or frag that starts out as well...UGLY! Browned out, beige, dull....UGLY! We started off with a very ugly light beige piece that somehow my partner saw something in. As coral lovers and propagators, we take chances on seemingly sad and overlooked pieces all the time. Sometimes they never quite develop. Sometimes it takes months and you get something ok. Other times, it takes months and you end up with something really awesome!
Here's one success story:
this rather dull brownish little piece had an interesting morphology that had very tiny, rather recessed polyps. We took a chance on it and grew out a few pieces. It was, ahem- "poop brown". And ugly. Really. After literally months under 400 watt 20K Radiums n light movers, wicked horizontal gyre flow, good water quality, and occasional feeding, the result was spectacular:
We call it our "Bonsai Acro", and it turned out to be a real beauty and a great seller. Go figure. I wish I had some pics of the "before"...I think one of the overlooked aspects of our hobby is the lesson in life that you can learn by having the faith to stand by something that would otherwise be passed by, and watching it blossom into a thing of beauty. I guess it's what we reefers call "love"- perhaps a secret ingredient in coral propagation.
We'd love to see and read about your stories of faith and success with some of those forgotten or otherwise ugly corals that you took a chance on and stood by!
Scott
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