Purchasing SPS advice needed.

[Mark75]

I am beginning to purchase SPS and have a question.

How do I know what I am actually purchasing? For example, I see a beautiful rose Mille in someone's tank online and decide to purchase a frag for my tank, if I find a rose Mille frag at the local fish store is it the same rose Mille I saw online? Is a blue Oregon tort a blue Oregone tort?

I am not sure I am asking this question correctly! [emoji12]

I know lighting, nutrients, stability, current all play a factor in how a coral looks, that's not really what I am asking.

For example,...I purchase a frag of a green Mille and it grows into a huge colony but never seems to get the color/form I expected,....could it have been a different Mille than I thought I was purchasing?

Thanks![emoji1]

 

[ReefMadScientist]

I see what you are saying. I believe the word you are looking for is lineage.

Do the same named frag have the same lineage, no - not all the time. If you get a Reef Raft coral and its from them directly, I believe its safe to say you have a unique coral. If you buy "named" corals on various Facebook Groups, are you getting the same exact one that RR sells? Most likely not. You have to be careful of photoshop, yellow washing from online sellers.

As for your LFS, some real nice collectable SPS pieces you can have them order you are stuff from ORA. Joe the Coral, Tri-Color Valida, and so on are must haves.

 

[ngvu1]

Hard to say if your frag turns into colony and does not have the color of the original colony you get it from. The light you use can change the color in a great deal. However the structure I think will be very similar

 

[Lenny_S]

Great question. The major family, like Acro or Mille are pretty reliable. Specific species and especially subspecies starts getting suspect. Like most living things of this type, no 2 are ever alike. All sorts of conditions will contribute to how they ultimately look as they grow. So think of things you see online as representative examples, and know that your mileage may vary.

 

[cee]

It all really boils down to trust in your source. There's really no other way as tank conditions can influence every aspect of an acro, including growth form. Personally, I'm not all that into the "named" acros anymore as there are equally beautiful acros available for a fraction of the cost. I do, however, have quite a few of the "named" ones but probably an equal number of wild or maricultured ones that I also enjoy.

Dave