the secret to colorful,healthy corals....obvious to some,elusive to many

[Piper27]

The idea that all of the top sps tanks are grown from frags from tanks which is why they are nice is kind of dramatic. There are thousands of brilliant tanks grown from wild and maricultured sps. The only difference I have noticed is some wild and maricultured corals take a little longer to aclimate to tanks and start growing. While a few require much more demanding conditions. Frags grown in tanks for years might be easier to grow but most of these are easier space to keep from the get go. Keeping the wild equivalent of these corals is just as easy.
It bothers me when people try and say wild corals just die and turn people who are not aware of how to keep them away from buying them. Keeping wild corals is all some people in certain areas can keep. Most everyone's tanks in these regions are started from wild corals since there is no market for tank raised fragments. You don't hear about people saying wild and maricultured sps is hard or not worth it around these regions.
Keeping wild sps is all about knowing how to choose healthy corals, since most deaths are because of shipping stress and or stress from being held at local fish stores or wholesalers. Even if the coral dies weeks after purchase.
I have not seen much of a difference in tank raised and wild corals when I take in consideration the above.

[hkgar]

Hey Piper,
Sorry, off topic but I have to ask:

Just curious, love is for Bengal cats, tigers or Cincinnati?

Here is my cat

[tmz]

Wild corals do just as well as frags from tank raised corals IME, with a two to four week quarantine and treafmet treatment for potential pests as necessary in either case.

[karimwassef]

I find wild corals more hardy but also more demanding in light and flow.
Tank raised are more "pampered". They prefer softer conditions.

Both can grow well once acclimated.

[djbon]

95% of my SPS are wild collected specimen (almost 90 different species) and they all do just fine.

[Piper27]

Hkgar we have Bengal cats, here is our webpage. www.graffitispotbengals.com

Thanks for chipping in on my thoughts on wild coral guys. On another website similar to this the idea that wild corals are pest filled and will just die is pushed more than the topic is brought up. Sorry to get a little off topic too.

[Punchanello]

Originally Posted by EMeyer

Those are interesting ongoing projects, none of which has anything to do with the claim that aquacultured corals in the hobby are "selected" or "evolved". As was correctly pointed out, all propagation in the hobby is by asexual means. Every coral in a hobbyist tank is genetically identical to a coral that was pulled out of the ocean sometime within the last few decades.

I have no idea if you are correct about coral evolution but the claim that every propagated coral is the same genetically to what it was taken from doesn't ring true.

Each coral consists of hundreds (thousands?) of polyps. Different types of polyp animals reproduce differently but many are sexual. It is possible that the frags of frags of great, great grandfather frags are generically different to the original due to reproduction after fragging.

Of course it's just as likely that the corals adapt. The textbooks say than two members of one species on the same reef can look like entirely different species due environmental factors like water turbidity, flow, competition etc.

Great topic

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[Fredfish]

Originally Posted by Punchanello

I have no idea if you are correct about coral evolution but the claim that every propagated coral is the same genetically to what it was taken from doesn't ring true.

Each coral consists of hundreds (thousands?) of polyps. Different types of polyp animals reproduce differently but many are sexual. It is possible that the frags of frags of great, great grandfather frags are generically different to the original due to reproduction after fragging.

Of course it's just as likely that the corals adapt. The textbooks say than two members of one species on the same reef can look like entirely different species due environmental factors like water turbidity, flow, competition etc.

Great topic

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

Do a search on epigenetics and do some reading. In the short term (thousand of years) frags will be identical in their genetic makeup. Short term adaptation has to do with specific bits of genetic code being triggered by changes in the environment to change the way proteins are folded.

Over much larger periods of time, populations of fragments that become geographically separated can become genetically different because of replication errors, or even because bits of foreign genetic material have been incorporated. The latter is something that has been verified in bacterial populations.

Edit: here's a good link: https://www.whatisepigenetics.com/what-is-epigenetics/

[lenmoore3]

I am a heavy feeder including Reef Chili with strong lighting and good flow. Phosphates and nitrates are low but more than zero. I believe my skimmer and Rollermat takes out enough nutrients before they become NO3. PO4 comes out with GFO. Have brown algae on glass but no hair algae ever. I have a refuge/pod tank which grows Cheto very slowly. Target KH is 8.5, Temp 78, Salt 34. PH 8.1 to 8.3. Using a calcium reactor and other parameters are stable and in range. I am dosing Amino acids.

Color is not bad, but growth is slow. Any ideas? Not a lot of Coraline Algae for a one year tank rebuild either.

[karimwassef]

ummm.. Alkalinity, Calcium and Mg?

Those are the key 3 and you don't mention them.

[vikinglord13]

What kind of corals do you have?
Have you changed your lights recently?
Any PAR readings / what kind of lights?

[five.five-six]

My observation of wild corals is that they will grow wonderfully in an aquarium once they adapt to a captive environment. It’s just that they often look vastly differant once they have adapted.