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Closeup of the LED lighting system
Q: Will we ever see an Anthony Calfo Limited Edition coral? How so you feel about the whole ‘collectors’ aspect of this hobby – do you think it’s out of control? Did you see that a chalice coral frag recently sold on eBay for $2000!
A: I find the so-called limited edition, “rare” and designer corals horrifying. It is a staggering misrepresentation of what among collectible specimens from the reef is actually rare (few) and what is not (most). If you look at the model by which gouging sellers is doing business, it is almost always nefarious. Is a coral rare because a small importer can’t afford to buy 100 corals to get 20 select colors? But instead buys 5 or 10 pieces and statistically gets less of what they want? Is a coral rare because an aquarist frags a tiny parent colony monthly and can only get a few of pieces rather than act as a proper farmer and let the broodstock growout to a size that affords the monthly collection of dozens of frags (or better still… let the parent colony mature to a size at which it will planulate and yield thousands of new colonies per year). That’s not rare… that’s just bad business. Such sellers are ignorant at best and too often nefarious (ahem… a waiting list? Really?!?!). At the end of the day, however, it comes down to the (modified ;) ) P.T. Barnum wisdom, “A fool and his money… were lucky to ever get together in the first place.”
Certain sea stars, such as this Nardoa spp. in the author's aquarium, are excellent scavengers
I often hear the phrases “In the wild, reefs are nutrient poor” and “a reef aquarium should have a low nutrient level”. Seeming in contrast to these statements is the necessity of feeding the coral and other inhabitants of the reef aquarium. What do these phrases really mean, especially to the hobbyist?
1) Pay attention! If something is amiss, there will be a subtle signs during the crucial first few hours: zoanthids not opening fully, LPS looking listless or not inflating, etc. If for some reason things don't seem "right" when they were fine yesterday, it's time for investigation, and our next tip,