Whats your most expensive coral?

[Reefadict]

What is your most expensive coral and how much did you pay for it. Mine is a Acropora Solitaryenses that set me back $250.00. Thats quite a bit but sometimes if you like something that you dont see anywhere else you do what you gotta do! Post pics if possible.

[...Stoked!]

dayam! that thing is badass!

[Reefadict]

Thanks! Its definately my favorite

[johnrags1234]

Those are such killer corals! Cquarium had medium colonies for $99. I didnt have the money, or a muture enough tank though at that point:mad: .

John

[Reefadict]

Ok compliments are definately welcome but lets stick to the question now.

[hubris007]

the freakin' muchroom that got me started in this hobby.

[SeaMermaid]

WOW Reefadict !!!!!! You've made me feel better about my addiction :)

[reefer on a budget]

$75 years ago for a 3/4" small frag of the tyree solitaryensis you see on the left. probably if i fragged it enough, it would be worth some decent cash.
if you notice, it has a much different growth than reefadict's soli. none the less, both look nice.

[ri]

The most I've spent on any coral is $69.95. It was for a med-large Metallic Hammer. Purchased 2/14/03 from LFS and doing well.

ri

[electric130]

$30 for the finger leather shown here. was 1/4 the size when i bought it.

http://www.coe.uncc.edu/~jreaton/Fish-Pics/finger%20leather.JPG

[SeaMermaid]

OK the most expensive item in my tank is Spot the Blue Spotted Jaw Fish, next is Rosie the Rose BTA , next is the leather mushroom (he's beautiful) I only paid $42.00 but I feel guilty. So ya all made me feel better.

[jabster]

Nothing special here, but got a rock of zoo's and a xenia for $40 :D BTW,that was 2 weeks ago.....I now have 4 xenia! :eek: looks like I'll have 6 by this weekend! Zoo's on the move already too. Frags anyone? :D

Oh, and here's pics, nothing extraordinary, but my first! :

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/attachment.php?s=&postid=1150887
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/attachment.php?s=&postid=1150882

[RooFish]

60-70 for some acropora or another. I don't know what kind it is, and I'm too lazy to walk all the way downstairs to take a picture, or I might ask. Really, I don't have many corals right now, I need to get more, so I might have to change that pretty soon.

I almost paid 150 for a wrasse today though, luckily I only had 120 on my debit card at the time.

[Jerico96]

Rose Anemone $200.00 had it now 3 yrs and is about 10 inches across.

Jerry

[montepora]

I paid $200 for an Elagance coral, XL that measured at least 9"+ just the base. However, I was a newbie then and listened to the LFS that the coral requires strong light so I placed t right under my then 175W Saki. You know where it is now:(

I have a $200 piece live rock in my tank right now.:mad:

[Reefadict]

Sorry man that sucks!

[Jamesurq]

paid 79 bucks for a purple acro colony about 5 inches across. Other than that, most of mine were in the 15-50 range.

[Reefadict]

WOW 197 hits and 16 replies? Didnt mean to be so boring.

[MrSandman]

Reefadict,

Your coral actually looks more like an efflorescens than it does a Soli. Regardless, its a nice looking piece!

I think my most expensive coral is what looks like a Soli. (although the debate is still open as to what it really is) but i'm not really sure what it is until it grows out more. Well, it wasn't really expensive for me, but i'm sure it is worth a pretty penny to someone out there! :D

Here:
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/503/1531plateacro.jpg

Or here:
http://home.earthlink.net/~mrsandman3/images/Miscimages/whatisthis2.jpg

[Little Reefer Boy]

I don't remember ever spending more than $40 for any of my corals.

However, I do have a nice frogspawn that I picked up for about $35 almost 2 years ago. It was fist sized then, and now looks like a basketball. I can't imagine how much it would cost now at a LFS.

[Reefadict]

MrSandman, that is a nice Acro! Looks like a table to me? I've heard mine called both Solitaryenses and Efflorences and Ive seen the name combined into Acropora Solitaryenses Efflorences so who knows. I also know that I overpaid but I had to have it!

[beefcake]

I spent $60 on my blue mushrooms. About 12 shrooms were on it but stupid me only let them drip acclimate for an hour instead of two and only about half of them lived. Still have em though, hopefully they will multiply. :worried:

[chet-tonja]

The most I've paid is $70 for a beautiful bubble tip that is no longer with us. I don't remember what I paid for my blastomussa, but it wasn't cheap. I prefer to trade with people to get nicer items so it saves both of us some cash. I'm hoping to eventually make some cash on this beauty though.

[MrSandman]

I don't think its a table because of its growth formation. It is more like a branching plate. Its color is a grayish purple. I have yet to see anything like it around. You paid alot for your coral...but the key is, was it worth it to you? As long as you're happy, thats all that matters. Plus, once it grows out you'll be fragging it like crazy and will eventually make your money back (and then some) :D

[michealprater]

I paid 50 for a hammer that is about 4 x8 , awesome peice.

[vikingkim]

The most I ever paid for a coral was $40 for a green neon caulastrea, and is it AWESOME. I find most of the LFS here, (esp good ones) will sell frags cheap, I got a 2" frogspawn for $15 that has doubled in size in mos.! I REALLY want an ELEGANCE though! $60 for sm. at same store.

[Aaron1100us]

$50 for a blue finger leather.

[kozmo02]

50 is the most i have ever paid, i have a really hard time bringing myself to spend more than that on livestock.

[64Ivy]

Another so-called true A. solitariensis here. A recent purchase and very expensive at $279.00. But if I wanted to just think about the money, in another year this piece will hopefully be much larger than this (and color up like MrSandman's) in which case I can frag it and make billions!!! :D

http://www.moyesreef.com/uploads/True-Soly.jpg

[Pike]

I've never purchased a coral, got all of my frags from friends with large reefs. I was offered $40 for a frag of a pink/orange M.Digitata, which is hardly more than a frag itself, this just yesterday. The guy just wanted a chip of it! I was pretty pleased (& got his phone # :) )

I fragged a chip of it last night & am going to make it his in a week!

j.p.

[Wazzel]

I have not paid more than $25 for any of my corals. Being on a tight reef budget I only buy frags.

[Krusk]

$80 for this colony (7"-8")

btw, can you please ID?

http://www.wmmac.org/~krusk/images/CCBSPS.JPG

[montepora]

Krusk:

Could be one of the following:

Acropora samoensis

or

Acropora gemmifera


They like strong light and flow and when adpated, could be a center piece as they grow rapidly. Actually, this is the only coral I have saved from RTN.

[Zepplin]

We paid 90$ for a 1" frag of blue Acropora robusta. We have a tortousa that set us back 2/3 that much and a couple other SPS that cost in the 40-50 dollar range, but my favorite splurge ever was for my beloved Blast.-Wellsi, Red with Blue centered polyps. Of course ricordia are always a guilty pleasure as well.

-Meg

[johnrags1234]

All my corals are frags and I got them as gifts or in trades.

My bta was 49.00

And in terms of vertabrate life, my golden moray eel from brazil was $200, but would retail fro about $350.



John

[Kara]

Like Aaron1100us, mine is a blue finger leather $45.00. I HAD to have it. The rest of my corals ran about

I still haven't figured out if that was a good price or not. It's pretty large, about 7"tall, and 5" diameter at the crown. I've never seen another one to compare the prices with.

[BiGBOi]

I paid $130 for a Neon green sarcophyton that was smaller than a dime.

[dgasmd]

$35 for a frag. I have well over 100 colonies/frags growing in my tank. My fish is another story. The most was $80 for a male naso tang.:rolleyes:

[pi]

I jumped on the soli bandwagon too and paid $90 each for two different frags. The first was less then 3/4" and the second was almost 2" with mutliple branches. Both beautful frags but very different. Right now all their energy is going to encrusting and have seen very little vertical growth.

If you look VERY carefully in the pic below, you can see the first frag dead center. (need I add my wife thinks I am insane!)

http://www.palmettoreefs.com/gallery/paul/paulsps_4957.jpg

[Tom Berry]

A turqoise blue caulastrea candy cane colony for $49 from Dr. Mac.

Tom Berry

[giantxtc]

Mine would have to be a 10"X4" piece of Tonga rock covered with about 6 different colored zoos......$89!I used my $30 store credit to make me feel a little better about chunking out that much for it.

[RandyO]

This is probably the coral I have that is worth the most.

Pic when I got it. Nov. 2002
http://users.adelphia.net/~randyolszewski/Plating%20Acro.jpg

Latest pic. March 2003
http://users.adelphia.net/~randyolszewski/images/Tanks_March_2003_Efflo.jpg

[pi]

Wow Randy that is a beautiful efflor. Where did you get it?

paul

[edwardlmarshall]

This one cost me $80 but it was about 6-7 inches across.

Unfortunately I lost it and everything when my tank exploded. Currently in the process of starting over.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/13075Acro011903.JPG

[bluerising]

A $25.00 SPS frag i won on e-bay.Instead of receiving the frag i won i received 5 frags that someone won on another auction this person had.The guy e-mailed me in a panic that the packages were mixed up and wanted me to pay the difference,i could have shipped them back,kept them and not have paid the difference since it was not my fault,but i ended up paying him the difference i would not have felt right about keeping them without paying for them.
Bill

[RandyO]

Paul,
Thanks. I got it from a client of mine. It was dying in his tank and I saved it. Something was eating it in his tank. I am not sure where he got it from. Mail Order for sure. Maybe Flying fish.

[Marco67]

MR. Sandman,Did you ever Id that beautiful purple acro in your post of 4/9 ?
I have one with a very simular growth pattern and I'd love to know what it is. BTW I didn't pay too much either it was part of a tank buy out.http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/2005Table4-23-03.JPG

Anyone with an Idea ?
Thanks marc ...

[TeRG]

$50 for my open brain coral.

only coral i own, because its in my school's tank, not mine. however, when i get my tank, im getting 2 or 3 types from my friend for free :D

[MrSandman]

Marco67,

Well, i haven't positively ID'd it yet, but it has the same growth formation of 64Ivy's but a different color. 64Ivy said his may be a soli, and the collector that i got it from also told me the same exact thing. Yours looks similar. Can you get an underneath or top shot so i can see the growth formations better?

Ramon

[Wilafur]

mine is an a. efflo i bought from mustang last year:

http://www.maslac.org/images/tank_wilbur//images/007.jpg

[Marco67]

I can and will ..thanks just not now ..(lights out)
the underside is all flesh very smooth. It keeps looking like it wants to go to light blue or pink tips but just hasn't yet.

BTW emporator ....WOW

[LOTUS50GOD]

tooth coral... 75 bucks

[outprowllin]

i paid 60 dollors for this double colt coral from a local wholesaler who sells to the public on the weekends ...but on the upside i paid 5 dollors for this fox coral that at the time was dieing off do to shipping damage... for 5 bucks it was about 2 inches long and all slimmed over..........not a bad recovery if i do say so myself.....

[DeepBlueSea1969]

nice 5 bucks can beat that..

[chicki]

$120.00 is the most I've spent so far. It was on a acropora. It died when my hamilton ballest fried itself and took 6 weeks for repairs:( The average I spend is around $80.00 cdn. Thats about the going rate for a decent coral here. Mushrooms (3-6) on a small rock are rare at under $75.00. I paid $69.00 for a elegance a month ago and it's doing great and growing:) About $75-200 for nice brains, hammer's and frogspawns.

[richw]

I am embarassed to mention some of the things that I have purchaesd, but I will highlight a few of the more expensive pieces...

1. $250 for an outstanding orange toothed lobophyllia that is about 8 inches across.

2. $150 for a rose bta (it has split, now I have two!)

3. $150 for a bright pink/white ricordia

4. $125 for a bright red lobophylia

5. $100 for extra large white sinularia flexibilis -- now twice the size.

I guess you can say I am a sucker.

If someone will volunteer to resize, I can post a couple of pictures.

[Fredfish]

Alright richw, glad you fessed up. I thought only us cheap buggers were willing to post here.

The most expensive corals I bought are the ones that are dead now. Not much of a value to a dead coral now is there?

Most $ I ever spent was $60 US for a 6" head of pocillopora (sp).

On the other hand, if I had the $$ I would probably spend more for some really nice heads I have seen.


Fred.

[baja_01]

$37 for a 5-6 piece of solid red blasto with a faint purple rim. I'll try to get a pict. latter, it is a great piece!

[mike_ripple]

$20 for a nice ricordia rock with 5 polyps. Can't beat that price, and that was my most expensive coral.

[Sylock]

Emperator,
All I can say is #%$@!

[Marco67]

I didn't want to hijack your thread with my acro ID.
So I moved my Pic. and posted the top down and underside shot that Mrsand asked for to this thread in the SPS forum
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=180080