Make up my mind will ya? :-)

[MelanieF]

I've been going back and forth trying to decide which order I want to place...

Options are as follows:

1) Order a "12 frags for $259" deal from DrMac which would include free shipping but not a real big selection of Acro frags. (They state online that they treat bi-monthly for red bugs)

-OR-

2) Order 11 beautiful Acro frags totalling $280 plus S&H from Reefaholics.

Anyone prefer one of these vendors over the other? I know negative comments shouldn't be given unless you've actually had a negative experience so please give me your honest actual experiences/opinions.

I'm torn because visually I'm leaning toward the Reefaholics order but when it comes to the coral health side I'm leaning toward the DrMac order.

 

[Anonymous]

Never ordered from either. Have you tried to find a local reef club? I'm sure you could get a better selection and price from other hobbiest.

 

[Anonymous]

My first question would be how experienced are you with keeping SPS corals alive, healthy, growing good, and most importantly colored good?

I don't ask this to demean you in anyway, but just something you should think about should start spending $20+ per frag! (outrageous IMHO for all but the rarer/more colorful specimins, of course I have a very good reef club not to mention live in an area where corals are abundant). If you have very little experience, or your experience is in turning colorful specimins brown (like me ) might want to try one at a time before committing to a large amount.

And I second the "is there a local club" because you can often buy or trade frags and have the benifit of knowing they have adapted well to captivity and don't have to spend time in transit on an airplane.

 

[MelanieF]

Not sure about the local reef club route... there HAS to be one in my area for sure but my time schedule in life is so crazy and I don't exactly have any frags to swap yet. My other hesitation there is I've been reading on here that lately people are having issues w/ red bugs and bacterias from frags and I'm not yet comfortable on how an individual would respond if I had any issues with their coral infesting my tank.

To my understanding both of the online suppliers above obtain the frags from coral heads that are already acclimated and thriving in captivity and at least DrMac treats his for the red bugs bi-monthly as a preventative, not sure about Reefaholics.

Earlier posts of mine on this forum admit I just jumped into acros in November 05. I am pretty confident of my ability with them as I've already aquired 6 frags which are all showing good growth and polyp extension. One of them was a Diver's Den coral from Liveaquaria ($70 8O ) which lost all of its blue/green color in shipping (arrived brown) but it has since started regaining its beautiful colors. The others all cost me between $free and $20 at my LFS but were more of a test to see how acros would do in my tank as they weren't very colorful at all upon purchase. As you can tell I'm not opposed to paying a pretty penny for something I really want and so far all is thriving in my tank so I'm sure in the future when life slows down a little I'll have some time to frag my corals and find a trading route.

Besides, I know that some of you on here definately fork over some cash for your corals... Len? Louey? Chip? :lol: Anyone dealt w/ these two suppliers before?

 

[pwj1286]

If I were to buy a bunch of corals like you are I would by them from liveaquaria.com.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/general/gene ... pagesid=23

The "14-Day" on most fish, corals, and inverts and "30-Day Guarantee" on select corals is very appealing.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/cate ... CatId=1492

The amount of money you plan to spend, they will ship your corals for free and guarantee them for 14 or 30 days to stay alive in your tank.

I made a promise to myself not to buy anywhere else that does not have such a guarantee. Except at my LFS, because of WYSIWYG and supporting small buisness for local economy.

I'm eyeing this sweet Montipora nodosa frag. http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod ... CatId=2410
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Mercedes Benz CLR

 

[Anonymous]

Melanie!

We have one of the larget clubs in the NE here in the Rochester/Syracuse/Buffalo area!

URS - Upstate Reef Society

Our home is on Reef Central right now. There are several of the most succesful SPS growers I have ever seen within 20-30 minutes of you. Frags can be had of many of the most desirable SPS for much less than what you are looking at paying.

I'd make a post or two there first if I were you!

Just my $.02

 

[Anonymous]

I have ordered from Dr. Mac and was very pleased.
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g13 diesel photos

 

[MelanieF]

Thanks for the feedback Rob.

I was hoping someone here had dealt w/ one of them and had a good experience. Lack of feedback on a business tends to make me worry a bit... 8O

 

[Unarce]

DrMac seems to have a good reputation. I have heard before that their photos are somewhat 'exaggerated'.

I do implore you to consider obtaining captive-raised frags from fellow club members and hobbyists. Especially considering you're fairly new to SPS. You'll get firsthand knowledge and tips of the conditions the frags were kept in from the grower.

I 2nd the Frags.org suggestion, if you need something that's not available locally. The feedback/rating is helpful.

IMHO, it's really the best way to go.

 

[MelanieF]

I am currently attempting the local frag route but no luck so far at this particular time so I am keeping my options open.