Lone Star Corals

[G. Ski]

I just received some frags from John @ Lone Star Coral Creations. All frags were a nice size and had great service. Another good site to check out!

G.Ski

[cubera]

Thank you, Gary! You are a fantastic reefer and we hope to hear from you again soon and often! Need some Merulina? LOL. John:D

[Worm]

just got back from san antonio with really nice blue tip acro and lotsa xenia...all quality pieces
john really takes pride in his corals...all of his tanks are immaculate and it is obvious that he puts a lot of work into his business/hobby
i would rec his frags without hesitation
he also has some sponge that he is currently growing that is also really nice

worm

[cubera]

Thank you for your kind words! We enjoyed your visit and hope you come again next time you are in town! Glad to hear everything made it home in good shape!

[ADS]

I received my 5 SPS special and found the corals to be of excellent quality.Customer service is excellent. I would recommend highly for SPS frags.

[cubera]

We thank you for the kind words and look forward to hearing from you again very soon! John sends.

[David Grigor]

I just placed an order.

Can't wait to find out for myself.......

[GreatBarrier52]

Well, what can I say? John and his wife got a great establishment. I used to work at Alamo Aquatics. I had never heard of him untill I started frequenting RC. I could not belive this company could be under my nose. Well, I got the chance to run by their establishment with a friend that used to work with me in at AA. We were greeted with a firm hand shake and a smile. Man we spent at least three hours talking to him about what I should include to change my f/o 180 to a reef to what America should do to deal with the current terrorism. John is retired US Navy. Well decorated I think. His office was loaded with achievements. Anyway, he had a lot of good advice to help me keep my costs down to enjoy this hobby for a long time.He told us where to go to get equiptment cheap. Man what can I say. We even left with a lot of free stuff! Did I mention that we did not buy anything! We just went over to get advice. Now that is what I call great customer service. I will soon be a long time customer. All of thier tank set ups were very clean. They like to experiment with different lighting options. I really cant say enough. Another thing is that in this hobby opinions are like elbows everyones got at least one or two and usually they are negative. Not with John though. he had nothing bad to say about anyone, even his competitors. Pretty cool huh!

[Snailman]

GreatBarrier52




[welcome]

[JohnnyReb]

OK, this is probably a dumb newbie question, but what is LSCC? I mean, I know that it is a store of some kind, but what do the initials stand for? Is it a MO/Online store or strictly a LFS?

I checked my bookmarks and couldn’t find any online stores that match the initials. Have I missed a good one?

TIA
John

[GreatBarrier52]

First off it was not a stupid question. It was stupid of me to just leave the acronym. It stands for Lone Star Coral Creations. Checkem out at www.lonestarcorals.com. Sorry

[Snake man]

i agree! lone star coral creations is great. i ordered a sps's package from them. everything was great looking and john emailed me a few times to make sure i was pleased with my shipment. he's since provided me with good advice on various subjects in my tank. as soon as i get my calcium reactor i'll be ordering more from them(the only place i'll get my sps's from now on)

[JohnnyReb]

Thanks, GB!

I had missed them in my continuing search for retailers. Thanks for the info.

John

[SawCJack00]

Just wanted to add my experience to the list of great things said about Lone Star Coral Creations. John's customer service is great. He communicated with me to set up my delivery, and because he was unavailable to ship for my requested date, he shipped it to me Saturday delivery at no extra charge to me. This made it so that I didn't have to take a vacation day from work. The corals were well packaged and arrived as scheduled for me to pick up from Fedex. I ordered the 5 SPS package, and received a couple of freebies which are beautiful. The corals actually had their polyps out while still in the shipping bags. The frags have nice size and shape, and the price is great. $135 with shipping included. I'll be ordering again. Thanks a ton John!!!:D

[Snake man]

i just received my second order from lscc, it was a package of 10 various sps's. they are awesome, a "frag" of hydnophora they sent me was acctually a colony. great packaging, and the best service ive received anywhere by far. they have some incredible acros too!

[cubera]

Thanks, Snake Man! I told you if you were not completely bonkers about the corals we sent you I would eat my computer......thank you for not making me eat my computer! Making most excellent reefers like yourself happy is what it is all about!

[Diatom2]

Not to bust i on your thread, but I'd like to say that alothough I haven't bought anything from lonestar yet...I definatially will be when my tank as matured to a point where I can keep sps'. I've found cubera's postings to all be informative and positive even when talking about competetors. I look forward to the day when I have a chance to get some good quality corals from someone who so obviously enjoys what he does.

Thanks for letting ramble on.

Brent

[cubera]

Thanks, Brent. There are some fantastic individuals and companies doing the job of getting captive raised livestock in tanks all over the world. Any competition is viewed with admiration and respect. We encourage people to try captive raised livestock. We believe the animals sell themselves once people see how beautiful and hardy they are. Whether people purchase our corals or those of another captive propagator's is unimportant. What is important is that captive propagators are getting captive raised animals in reef tanks all over the world and that coral farmers/experts like Steve Tyree, Brad Ward, and Dr. Mac, for example, have established extremely high standards especially in comparison to our real competitors in the wholesale wild collected livestock industry. This is a great situation for our hobby and we are excited about things to come! We just might see some very large livestock dealers get aggressive about marketing captive raised livestock.....we can always hope....

[SawCJack00]

Eating computers is bad for your health. Of all people you should know that John;).

I just wanted to throw some complements John's way also. I recently received an order from LSCC and loved the beautiful frags... Unfortunately, I had a semi-disaster due to children adjusting things on the sump, and lost several of these frags. I have now corrected my problems and will be receiving a second order from John next week, and can't wait to get them. As has been said earlier in this thread, John has a wealth of knowledge, and is more than willing to share it with anyone who asks. He's a pleasure to deal with, and I would recomend Lone Star Coral Creations to anyone interested in stocking their tanks with beautiful, healthy, farmed corals.:D

[KenJopus]

I feel I must chime in here also. A few weeks back, I received 14 frags which arrived with polyps opened. They survived the trip from Texas to CT better than other 'local' frags I have ordered in the past.
Keep up the good, no great, work...

Ken

[chromis]

Snake man, if you have any time you should check out Pet and Aquatic warehouse. They have a few sps heads for about $30-45. There lighting there sux, though. I would get em, but my lighting sux too;)


Andrew

[cubera]

Thank you again, Ken, David, and Bill. We can all agree that my company can't compete with selling whole colonies of acropora for $35 each. Lone Star Coral Creations pays full retail for all colonies and oftentimes far more than 'market' value for captive raised brood stock colonies. We find the extra initial expense well worth it in the long run especially for higher generations of captive reared stony corals. Our prices are set on the basis of trying to break even while at the same time trying to help supply hobbyists with quality captive raised corals. Some time in the not too distant future you will find exotic 100% captive raised 'heads' of SPS available for $35. We hope to be among the first:)

[chromis]

cubera, I was just hoping someone with good lighting in the area could "rescue" them from the lfs. They are under like one VHO in a 75 gallon tank. I would have "rescued" them but my lighting sux right now. I hope to be buying some of these captive raised heads as soon as I get new lights!;)

[cubera]

Hi, Chromis! I admire your restraint:) in not jumping to the rescue of the corals you mentioned. It always bothers me when LFS operators let things dwindle to the point of no return. Seems they would like someone to save these corals even if they had to "give" them away.......The $35 a 'head' thing touched a nerve with me because of some experiences we've had with a few people locally. One LFS manager tells me, "Why would I give you $20 for a tiny fragment when I can buy whole heads of them Acropornos for $15 wholesale." Another tells me, "I'd like to sell some of those fragments of yours in my store but I ain't gonna give you nothin' for 'em." These are the same buttholes that will buy colonies wholesale and charge you and I $75 for one IF they could keep it alive long enough to sell it......We want to see individual hobbyists have more say about who buys what and for how much. It will take some time, but I have every confidence that propagators can do better for cheaper than importers/wholesalers. Feel free to think I'm nuts.....many people do:)

[SawCJack00]

Well, Santa... I mean John has done it again. I received my latest order from http://www.lonestarcorals.com/ and I couldn't be happier. I was like a kid on Christmas day opening my presents. I ordered the SPS 10 pack plus the small aquacultured A. tortuosa colony and received 14 frags plus the colony. They are all beautiful. Just like my last order, they all had their polyps out in the bags, and also within minutes of being placed in my tank. I had also contacted John for a friend who knew I was getting an order and wanted one frag added so he could save on the shipping. John ended up throwing in his frag at no charge. What a nice guy! John is a pleasure to work with, and you get what you ask for. He knows how to treat his customers right, and that in turn should provide him with a lot of customer loyalty. I know I'll be ordering again :cool: Thank you John!!!

[cubera]

Thank you for your kind words, Bill!

[Jimmy]

Received my SPS pkg from Lone Star yesterday.

www.lonestarcorals.com./

All I can say is WOW.

First, John was great to work with. Very friendly, knowledgeable, and went far beyond what I expected. It was very evident that he is a hobbyist who cares about his corals and customers.

I was also pleasantly surprised with the generous number of free gifts/frags. In fact, the whole package was so affordable that I was able to offer two local friends a couple of frags each in trade. All the frags were healthy and nice size. Plating was very good, and they use LR, not those wafers. Though time well tell as far coloration and growth, all the frags were looking good after only one hour in my tank. Polyps were coming out and they all looked very happy. You can already tell that they are going to grow into some nice colonies.

I was most impressed with the packaging. Each frag was in a large, thick, doubled bag with a lot of water. Considering shipping is included with their packages, that must have cost them considerably more in shipping. But every piece arrived in great shape.

Overall, very happy with my experience with LSCC. I will be ordering again soon.

Jimmy

[SawCJack00]

I've ordered from John twice in the last couple of weeks, and his service is fantastic. I would recomend him to anyone looking for beautiful healthy frags. I fully plan on ordering again in the future. Twoo thumbs up for LSCC!:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[Jimmy]

Saw,

Your previous comments on LSCC were the deciding factor for me calling LSCC. So I owe to a "THANK-YOU" for pointing me towards LSCC.

Thanks,

Jimmy

[cubera]

You guys made an otherwise miserable day absolutely fantastic. I am deeply humbled by your kind words and appreciate them more than you know. John sends.

[shawnz28]

I was one of the locals that got a couple of the acro frags and I am way more than satisfied! I wasn't able to pick them up till later in the evening and didn't get them to my tank till around 9:00pm and they still looked great right out of the bag. I have to give John my compliments:cool:

Shawn

[Frick-n-Frags]

Well I got the other two frags from LSCC. They were also very healthy pieces, an orange M. digitata and a blue tinted Acro ?nasuta?. The Monti was growing the next day and the polyps were out on the well plated Acro that night. John assures us that these corals will color up even more given a little time. I believe him.

the packing was killer on that shipment BTW

[pondfrog]

Just wanted to let everybody know that I just received on order from Lone star corals this AM and I couldn't be happier.
All the corals were in excellent shape and good coloration. Most of the pieces had several branches on them! Great polyp extension immediatley upon putting them in my tank. I know they had very little shipping time as John uses fedex and he wrote to say he was packing them last night.
My other experience ordering frags was with GARF and while I have nothing bad to say about them, I would consider the frags I got from lone star corals (www.lonestarcorals.com) to be larger and better in coloration.
John was very easy to work with and seems genuinely excited about helping you get great corals for your money. I would definately recommend him to my reef friends. I will try and post pics this weekend if I can get a digital camera.
Steve

[OrionN]

Thanks, Steve! Much appreciate the kind words....that was an AWESOME order though! John sends.

[wdt2000]

I just got my package yesterday and I must say I am very impressed. John helped my girlfriend who knows very little about corals pick out the perfect Christmas present for me! All of the frags were very nice! One of the frags contained four frags of the same coral. Everything was also well packed, not even one break. On a scale of 1-10 these guys get 11. I will try and post some pictures of some of the frags I got tonight. Thanks John!! Keep up the good work.


Will

[percula]

Ive heard nothing but great things, in fact, I am about to place an order in the next few days, please do post pics and descriptions. Thanks!! - perc

[myreef]

John is a class act. :D I need to get off my rear and order from him soon too.

[cubera]

Will, Percula, Andy! Thank you for the kind words! Weve had an awesome last couple of months and we owe a huge THANK YOU to fellow hobbyists who took a chance and ordered from us! Word of mouth is everything in our case because we spend nothing on advertising......Anyway, many thanks to all of you and our gracious hosts at RC for allowing these posts in the first place! We have some plans for the New Year that include all of you. Our top priority is to stick around for another year (at least) and ship as many exotic captive raised corals to as many reefers as possible......even during snow storms, Will!!