A Propagation Update

[firefish2020]

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to our efforts to raise healthy strains of coral particularly xenia, I am pleased to announce that we have yet another propagation tank set up at the shop which will be stocked only with aquacultured xenia brought in by members. The number of propagated corals in this area is growing and it is a very good thing as we have insured a steady renewable supply of aquacultured corals in our area.

Those of you who have contributed to this effort have my gratitude and respect. I speak on ocean conservation quite a lot and Im sure some get tired of hearing it but I feel it is important that we continue to promote and teach propagation we are having an effect. Some believe propagation is only a gimmick and that we are not impacting anything or managing to save the reef at all. I say to you that thanks to your efforts we have healthy aquacultured corals and do not need to make orders of coral that can not be verified to be as such. When the wholesalers get the message that consumers only want healthy aquacultured livestock it will be up to them to decide if they want to continue selling livestock that is wild caught or livestock that has poor survival rates.

Keep it up everyone,it is working :)

SIDE NOTE: Some of you may have noticed we have a Goniopora (flowerpot) in one of our tanks at the shop it is NOT FOR SALE. As most of you know we do not order animals with poor survival rates, that coral was sent to us by mistake and I have taken it upon myself to try to sustain the animal as best I can. Maybe we can learn a bit more from it and one day have an idea of how best to keep one alive for more than a few years.

Once again thank you,
Ron

[MattG]

good to hear ron! im looking foward to seeing it at the next meeting

[LowCel]

Congratulations Ron. Coral propogation in this area has grown immensely (sp?) over the past 6 - 9 months thanks to you and all of the time and energy you have put into it.

Thanks!!!!!

[essop3]

As an example of what propagation can do I am making it a personal goal for at least 90% of my reef to be aquacultured. There are a few LPS that are hard to find but as for Xenia, GSP, Mushrooms, rics etc. there are no reasons to wild collect them. This is thanks to efforts of stores like Ron's and hobbiests like you guys.

[essop3]

oh yeah, I'll be in in the morning to buy some of the new tank!

[firefish2020]

Actually about 95% of the credit goes to Barry for having enough faith in me to allow me to set up those systems. I just thought we could make a difference and it looks like we are :)

[LowCel]

essop3 - sounds like a good plan. I love growing my tank from frags, just looking at pictures every few months and seeing how much it has grown. As of right now my tank is 98% aquacultured and 2% wild. :D

[firefish2020]

That’s great you dont mind frags, I get complaints from a few people about selling such "small pieces". They really have no clue what active propagation is about. I have been told that they can buy larger colony corals for a bit over the same price elsewhere. Maybe so but remember within about 5-10 years if things keep going the way they are headed there wont be any large colony corals (which by the way are ocean caught). That day is already starting with trade restrictions and tougher permits on collectors. It will hurt us SPS lovers first however and we will likely suffer the most due to the time it takes for sps to grow as opposed to soft corals. Either way things are changing and our hobby is being drawn into the battle between responsible reef keeping, and those collectors who destroy reefs to get at the large colonies.

With the stress on reefs being understood better it is likely that we will see legislation that will use a blanket response to protecting coral reef inhabitants. It is also likely that the aquarium hobby industry will be blamed or rather used as a scapegoat for issuing these changes and continuing restrictions.
I suppose however we will have to wait and see the outcome but I would get used to small frags at least for now you can still buy them and they are 100% aquacultured thanks to you all.

[MattG]

another thing for people to think about is the growth rate of captive raised frags is usually MUCH faster then that of wild caught species, especially with SPS. The stuff thats been captive grown are usually fast growers and hold their colors very well which cant be said all the time for wild stuff.

[firefish2020]

This is true the brown look is a good way to tell OC SPS from aquaculture actually. Those of you who have tried it know that most softies frag out and grow fast for the first few months devoting all their growth to get to a safe size and secure their bases. Sometimes depending on species, they will slow down a bit after reaching this "safe size", about 2-3 inches for leathers and xenias for example. This is the size where they are ready to go IMO, and some just think they are to small. But it really doesn’t matter like I said we have made an impact and will continue to do so and will have detractors, all good things do :)