What should be our expectations on frag size?

[Bohemian Waxwing]

One of my biggest frustrations with ordering coral online is the wild range of sizes you can get from some shops. I've actually started a spreadsheet where I now track relative frag size expectations because it can vary so much across the board.

What I am wondering is what should my baseline be? Is there a minimum? For example, here is a Pink Lemonade frag I recently received. This frag is about 1/4th the mass of what I expect as a minimum from another shop. To me, it's a joke that this is sold as a frag - it's smaller than my pinky nail!

I used a reefer friendly material as a reference :)

My preferred shop regularly ships frags this size (top to bottom is about 3" with many new branches forming around base). I feel like this is the proper size and has a much higher survival rate. This is what I was more used to when I started back around 2010.

 

[TheHarold]

Your expectations should be set by the photo, description, and pricing.

A high-demand acropora may take 1-2 years to form a 3” encrusted piece, and it would be several thousand dollars. I’m sure if you reach out to the vendor, you can purchase a larger or smaller piece accordingly.

Supply and demand. Buy what you can afford.

 

[Featherweight]

Anything under 1 inch is silly. 2 inch frags are awesome. 3 inch frags are the bees knees.

When they get too big I've had worse luck in shipping.

 

[Bohemian Waxwing]

Anything under 1 inch is silly. 2 inch frags are awesome. 3 inch frags are the bees knees.

When they get too big I've had worse luck in shipping.

Agreed!

One shop here in Canada has never sent me anything under 2". They rarely have sales but the value is always reliable :)

 

[cilyjr]

Your expectations should be set by the photo, description, and pricing.

A high-demand acropora may take 1-2 years to form a 3” encrusted piece, and it would be several thousand dollars. I’m sure if you reach out to the vendor, you can purchase a larger or smaller piece accordingly.

Supply and demand. Buy what you can afford.

This!
I believe there is no standard nor should there be, if I feel something sold to me is below my expectations, I would no longer patronage that business.

I do not like tiny clippings of expensive stuff, personally I would pay more for a larger piece, but some others may be happy to pay less for a smaller piece and patiently allow it to grow.

 

[areefer01]

One of my biggest frustrations with ordering coral online is the wild range of sizes you can get from some shops. I've actually started a spreadsheet where I now track relative frag size expectations because it can vary so much across the board.

What I am wondering is what should my baseline be? Is there a minimum? For example, here is a Pink Lemonade frag I recently received. This frag is about 1/4th the mass of what I expect as a minimum from another shop. To me, it's a joke that this is sold as a frag - it's smaller than my pinky nail!

I used a reefer friendly material as a reference :)

My preferred shop regularly ships frags this size (top to bottom is about 3" with many new branches forming around base). I feel like this is the proper size and has a much higher survival rate. This is what I was more used to when I started back around 2010.

Soft, LPS, are a bit tricky to navigate but I expect growth of the frag plug or rubble. Acropora is simple as there must be growth, encrusting, on the frag plug.

In short nothing is cut, clipped, and glued. I do not buy chop shop frags even if they are multi branch or tall pieces. Growth on the frag plug be it new polyp, coralline algae, or encrusted stoney shows signs of a healthy coral and higher success rate in displays.

Of course this is just my opinion.

 

[Bohemian Waxwing]

Soft, LPS, are a bit tricky to navigate but I expect growth of the frag plug or rubble. Acropora is simple as there must be growth, encrusting, on the frag plug.

In short nothing is cut, clipped, and glued. I do not buy chop shop frags even if they are multi branch or tall pieces. Growth on the frag plug be it new polyp, coralline algae, or encrusted stoney shows signs of a healthy coral and higher success rate in displays.

Of course this is just my opinion.

Mine was so fresh it popped off the plug as soon as I moved it in the bag :( It's something I feel like I see too often.

 

[areefer01]

Mine was so fresh it popped off the plug as soon as I moved it in the bag :( It's something I feel like I see too often.

Yeah I am not a fan of that. To be fair I understand time is money. The longer the frag sits the more water chemistry it consumes and space it takes up. I get it. However that is part of the farmers remit so I don't really buy into the whole slow growth and price increase jam.

If the farmer has any breath of inventory then this isn't a problem because they have plenty of other things to sell that grow at a faster rate. Xenia, green star polyps, various zoas, LPS, and Acropora all have types that grow faster than others. Ask Tidal Gardens what sells the most it isn't going to be a named boutique Acropora and that isn't because of growth rate...

This is just my criteria though and what works for me. Then again I'm not buying corals or fish at the new hobbyist or collector rates.

Hope your day is well.

 

[Bohemian Waxwing]

Yeah I am not a fan of that. To be fair I understand time is money. The longer the frag sits the more water chemistry it consumes and space it takes up. I get it. However that is part of the farmers remit so I don't really buy into the whole slow growth and price increase jam.

If the farmer has any breath of inventory then this isn't a problem because they have plenty of other things to sell that grow at a faster rate. Xenia, green star polyps, various zoas, LPS, and Acropora all have types that grow faster than others. Ask Tidal Gardens what sells the most it isn't going to be a named boutique Acropora and that isn't because of growth rate...

This is just my criteria though and what works for me. Then again I'm not buying corals or fish at the new hobbyist or collector rates.

Hope your day is well.

I speak to some of the store owners at conventions and they always tell me if I am going to bring trade ins, the stuff they always need more of are zoas, mushrooms and chalices lol. I guess being on this forum can sometimes distort our reality of the hobby and of what most people are buying and keeping.

 

[BryanM]

I haven't gotten in to sps yet, and I'm extremely leery of chop shops. If/when I do, I will almost certainly go to battlecorals, and I suspect I'll be quite happy.

 

[Jasonak]

Anything under 1 inch is silly. 2 inch frags are awesome. 3 inch frags are the bees knees.

When they get too big I've had worse luck in shipping.

Yeah for some reason ive had that problem also huge nice chunkers are always the one that I loose or are DOA and everything else is fine, such a drag.

One of my biggest frustrations with ordering coral online is the wild range of sizes you can get from some shops. I've actually started a spreadsheet where I now track relative frag size expectations because it can vary so much across the board.

What I am wondering is what should my baseline be? Is there a minimum? For example, here is a Pink Lemonade frag I recently received. This frag is about 1/4th the mass of what I expect as a minimum from another shop. To me, it's a joke that this is sold as a frag - it's smaller than my pinky nail!

I used a reefer friendly material as a reference :)

My preferred shop regularly ships frags this size (top to bottom is about 3" with many new branches forming around base). I feel like this is the proper size and has a much higher survival rate. This is what I was more used to when I started back around 2010.

I think one inch is average for most rarer stuff. The bottom one to me looks like Bonzai ? Which if it is grows like a plague almost as bad as monti cap in my opinion. So i can see getting huge frag of that. Its like others have said I believe its just the growth factor of original thats going to determine the size of the frag most of the time. Your going to get monster forest fire and bubble gum digis and smaller Tennis or slow growing corals if the guy just happens to have what your looking for sitting on the rack for longer than normal you could get bigger. I dont think anyone's sending out 3 inch Walt Disney's . If you got a vendor thats consistently sending you 3 inch frags of EVERYTHING I would stick with that youd be crazy to look elsewhere.

 

[Bohemian Waxwing]

dang that's crazy that this little teeny tiny frag is normal now, I miss reef clubs.

 

[areefer01]

I dont think anyone's sending out 3 inch Walt Disney's .

You are correct. I would argue the reasoning is because the side hustle. Thank you social media for this but the truth is that Bob sells a 3" Walt Disney frag to Biff who then cuts multiple 1/4" pieces to sell on the side.

It gets more convoluted when Sally and Zoey attend the local frag swap and Tess gives a couple corals to the two of them in good spirit. Few weeks later both Sally and Zoey are selling fresh cuttings of the corals they received from the local club meeting.

I am, admittedly, focusing on the negativity rather than those doing good.

 

[X-37B]

I am not a nub fan.
Many people cut the questionable colonies way before they should creating the nubs.
Pay 500 for a nub. Grow it till you get a nub to sell to recoupe your money.
It is what it is.

 

[X-37B]

You are correct. I would argue the reasoning is because the side hustle. Thank you social media for this but the truth is that Bob sells a 3" Walt Disney frag to Biff who then cuts multiple 1/4" pieces to sell on the side.

It gets more convoluted when Sally and Zoey attend the local frag swap and Tess gives a couple corals to the two of them in good spirit. Few weeks later both Sally and Zoey are selling fresh cuttings of the corals they received from the local club meeting.

I am, admittedly, focusing on the negativity rather than those doing good.

This was my last WD frag I bought.
Prior I grew a nub to a colony and paid more for the nub than this WD frag.
This was a nice frag for just over $100.
See the slimer nub behind it, lol.

 

[ieatbugman]

I love getting stuff from my LFS (shoutout to Aqua Dome) because they always have really nice pieces for low prices. this goniopora was $60 and is bigger than a golf ball.

they also have a $4 nub tank that has GSP and Xenia and random zoas.

 

[Dragen Fiend]

Frag sizes are always all over the place. Due to pricing. Vendors tend to make the frags even smaller so they can lower the price to make a more affordable option to reefers.

Some frags are a joke. Especially with corals that are quick growers and easy to culture.

 

[DivingTheWorld]

I only buy WYSIWYG frags for this reason and avoid sellers who saturate their pics in blue.