What characteristics do you look for in acros

[Biggles]

@Biggles - How do you handle pests for maricultured acros like AEFW , red /black all color bugs.
The one reason I stay away from maricultured pieces is pests. I don't have QT system space for corals and anyways not all pests can be killed by dips.
Ideally I would love to acquire maricultured or wilds and QT them for a few months and watch out for pests before introduction to main tank .

Regards,
Abhishek

I have never seen an AEFW, bugs etc on any of the thousands and thousands of wild collected branches i've seen and handled over the years mate. Those pests are a product of the very nature of aquaculture and mariculture unfortunately. They are much rarer to encounter in wild collected pieces because skilled collectors do not take from any suspect looking colonies and all along the supply chain to a reefer such as me there is intense inspection and instant termination if any piece even looks like it may contain a possible nasty.
I have a very small group of SPS friends who are very skilled SPS keepers and i trust every one of them as much as they trust me to do the right thing. We regularly swap frags trying to outdo each other with colors and i take their frags out of the bag and place them straight onto the sand in the display without hesitation.

My mate Sam gave me this little red frag and i gave him a frag of the blue pale skin table behind it - neither had bugs.........

A few dramatic examples of color shifts after adjusting to life in a fish tank.

Another one.........

This little branch end was smaller than a golf ball in size and i ignored it at the shop because it came with a box of very colorful stunners. It was more brown and washed out than in the pic but if you stood on one leg and looked at it from the right direction when holding it up to the sun at the right time of day you could just see a tiny hint of what might be pink - like it was 'blah' big time. Dave who owns the only shop i go to loves SPS and when bagging up my acros suggested i also get the ugly little piece since he thought it had potential.
After i told him what i thought of it he then said it was free and now would i take it as he wanted to see what it did in my tank. No, still not taking it Dave even for free............ he then said i could bring it back if i hated it and no harm done........... i knew he wasn't going to stop so i gave in and took it home.

This after a couple of weeks i think and i'd stuck it to a piece of rock with putty after seeing something beginning to happen.

I never did get around to taking it back...........

 

[kennedpa]

I have wholesalers that sell browned frags on the cheap.

Let's get some brown stuff cooking.

 

[maxwell]

Hi Biggles
I have had these frags a few weeks and are just showing color what are your views on them
thanks Bill

 

[maxwell]

trouble uploading will try again

 

[Biggles]

Hi Biggles
I have had these frags a few weeks and are just showing color what are your views on them
thanks Bill

Hey Bill, i will do my best mate but remember we all have different tastes in acros so please don't take anything the wrong way mate. Also i am telling you what it think it would do in my system not yours and from my taste which is delicate tabling types

I think the first one i very similar to this frag.

Yours is clearly developing fluoro ring tips and i can see the polyps are blue............... love your echi btw.

The second one is hard to tell, if you hold the paleskin it will be amazing but i find most wild stuff that looks insane white skin will turn tan skinned to a degree so i would probably ignore that piece. If it had any of the same beautiful highlight pigments lightly on the skin then i would be all over it.

It's hard to know much about that little blue pastel looking piece, i would likely buy it for the beautiful corallite growth

I don't like stags in general so i wouldn't buy that unless that skin pigment was reddish, then i'd buy it chasing a nice purple. If it was tan i would leave it.

The green lokani looking thing would turn frog green in my tank so i don't buy that pigment.

I would definitely try the last bit since it looks pikachuy lol - fluoro yellow with red polyps is a color i still don't have Bill

 

[maxwell]

Andrew
Thanks for that I think I'm getter better at choosing frags, the 2nd piece is white skin with royal blue polyps they called it red ruby but I keep looking theres no red in site. I got the blue piece for nothing the lfs received one damaged the others with yellow I have been looking for a Pikachu so will wait and see. here's another with yellow on and your favorite echi we are seeing one with green skin and blue polys in the lfs which I think you like .
thanks for the info
Bill

 

[Biggles]

The great pikachu hunt is on Bill lol - i need to call Dave..........

I hope you don't mind Bill but i wanted to make sure everyone knew just how crazy, off the planet beautiful i think your fluoro polyped icefire echi is mate.

I need to send Sammy over to your place Bill........

 

[BoomCorals]

Let's get some brown stuff cooking.

I'll get some ordered

 

[Abhishek]

I have never seen an AEFW, bugs etc on any of the thousands and thousands of wild collected branches i've seen and handled over the years mate. Those pests are a product of the very nature of aquaculture and mariculture unfortunately. They are much rarer to encounter in wild collected pieces because skilled collectors do not take from any suspect looking colonies and all along the supply chain to a reefer such as me there is intense inspection and instant termination if any piece even looks like it may contain a possible nasty.
I have a very small group of SPS friends who are very skilled SPS keepers and i trust every one of them as much as they trust me to do the right thing. We regularly swap frags trying to outdo each other with colors and i take their frags out of the bag and place them straight onto the sand in the display without hesitation.

My mate Sam gave me this little red frag and i gave him a frag of the blue pale skin table behind it - neither had bugs.........

A few dramatic examples of color shifts after adjusting to life in a fish tank.

Another one.........

This little branch end was smaller than a golf ball in size and i ignored it at the shop because it came with a box of very colorful stunners. It was more brown and washed out than in the pic but if you stood on one leg and looked at it from the right direction when holding it up to the sun at the right time of day you could just see a tiny hint of what might be pink - like it was 'blah' big time. Dave who owns the only shop i go to loves SPS and when bagging up my acros suggested i also get the ugly little piece since he thought it had potential.
After i told him what i thought of it he then said it was free and now would i take it as he wanted to see what it did in my tank. No, still not taking it Dave even for free............ he then said i could bring it back if i hated it and no harm done........... i knew he wasn't going to stop so i gave in and took it home.

This after a couple of weeks i think and i'd stuck it to a piece of rock with putty after seeing something beginning to happen.

I never did get around to taking it back...........

Amazing and mind blowing Andrew . Thanks for sharing your thoughts or views on pests .
The biggest problem here in US would be that such a situation doesn't practically exist where you can trust the seller completely and be assured that there won't be any pests for the wild/maricultured pieces .
It has to be quarantined for several months to be assured of and still sometimes make through .
I wish we could do and develop a small trusted group where all the way from the collector to the hobbyist , there's complete trust and disclosure of any issues and pest related problems but sadly it's non existent .

Regards,
Abhishek

 

[BoomCorals]

Amazing and mind blowing Andrew . Thanks for sharing your thoughts or views on pests .
The biggest problem here in US would be that such a situation doesn't practically exist where you can trust the seller completely and be assured that there won't be any pests for the wild/maricultured pieces .
It has to be quarantined for several months to be assured of and still sometimes make through .
I wish we could do and develop a small trusted group where all the way from the collector to the hobbyist , there's complete trust and disclosure of any issues and pest related problems but sadly it's non existent .

Regards,
Abhishek

The problem isn't so much trust as nothing is bulletproof. I QT my stuff to heck. So does battlecorals too for example. While I'd be shocked if anything ever got through to my sale stock, I know that nothing is bulletproof so I still always recommend QT.

And I've had nasties come in on wild pieces, not just on maricultured.

 

[Biggles]

My situation is quite different to most but at the end of the day i could always get an infection - it's nothing more than luck that i haven't so i think the advice from BoomCorals is the way to go. I was just being honest about the way i do it, not advising anyone else to do the same.

The Australian acro eating poison frog. It's on the endangered list and is pretty much extinct now. By nature, it is drawn to green lily pad like acros and as such it's coloration makes it an easy target for predators. Treatment is easy, just super glue their feet and the acro will take care of the rest.

 

[Abhishek]

@Biggles - Thanks for sharing your thoughts .Always a pleasure to read your thread on RC to learn new stuffs .
However , as you mentioned , most people atleast here in US shouldn't mistake their situation as similar to yours and end up getting tank infected as I did in the past .
Brought up the point just to spread awareness among is so that no one ever ends up like me having to throw away every bit of tank and equipments .

Maricultured and wild acros without strict QT is just like tickling time bomb waiting to explode either today or a year or so .

Regards,
Abhishek

 

[Biggles]

@Biggles - Thanks for sharing your thoughts .Always a pleasure to read your thread on RC to learn new stuffs .
However , as you mentioned , most people atleast here in US shouldn't mistake their situation as similar to yours and end up getting tank infected as I did in the past .
Brought up the point just to spread awareness among is so that no one ever ends up like me having to throw away every bit of tank and equipments .

Maricultured and wild acros without strict QT is just like tickling time bomb waiting to explode either today or a year or so .

Regards,
Abhishek

Thanks Abhishek, if i was in the US i would be running a Q tank without question mate.

This is how the inspection process begins in case you're wondering.

 

[BoomCorals]

Very pretty pieces

 

[Abhishek]

@Biggles - Think I need to move to Australia !!!!! This is amazing .
You should post the recent video of your tank just as a sugar treat for our eyes especially for people who haven't seen your tank or doesn't follow your thread in RC.
Its nothing short of wonder for a wild Aussie tank .

Regards,
Abhishek

 

[Second Shot]

What he said! Put all that acro goodness on your thread on this site.

 

[BoomCorals]

Figured I'd share two browned out frags that I grew out into large colonies and they turned into what I think are pretty incredible pieces.

I call this one Midnight Sunrise

I call this one Rose Garden

 

[Biggles]

Figured I'd share two browned out frags that I grew out into large colonies and they turned into what I think are pretty incredible pieces.

I call this one Midnight Sunrise

I call this one Rose Garden

They both look really yummy to me mate, i need a rose garden in my display i think. I got a piece about a month back that is coloring up a lot like your Midnight Sunrise.

 

[BoomCorals]

They both look really yummy to me mate, i need a rose garden in my display i think. I got a piece about a month back that is coloring up a lot like your Midnight Sunrise.

Beautiful looks very similar.

 

[Mattrg02]

Dang, it's like a box of chocolates.

Edit: I claim that name. Unless it's already claimed.