Choice items for propagation

[sdcfish]

I have had a few requests by coral farmers to make a list of what I think are "key" items or "practical" corals that would be the best to grow and market. I would like to make a list here....and get everyone's input. Please feel free to add to the list I feel are some of the corals that should/could be farmed for wholesale purposes:

Xenia (pumping...red sea sp.)
Green Finger leather (Sinularia sp.)
Green polyp umbrella leather (Sarcophyton sp)
Blue or Red/Orange colony polyp (Zooanthid sp.)
White Anthellia polyps (looks like xenia on rocks)
Rose Anemones (Entacmea quadricolor)
Montipora capricornis any color
Thin branching staghorn acropora's colored of'course
?
?
?

Bes regards

 

[Piero]

Good idea Eric. The high-demand, easily propped LPS don't come to mind first? Acans, micros, echinos, blastos, yadda yadda.
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[sdcfish]

Thanks....

I was thinking of keeping the list to 10 species....so the "farmers" can have some focus to get started. I was not thinking of the hard corals that are slower growing....but that's really up to the growers.

Best regards

 

[Anonymous]

Micros and Acans IME can grow just as fast as many species of SPS. Heck, they grow faster the RTBA

 

[Piero]

i tend to agree. I didn't think it was new news that the high-demand LPS are hardy and generally grow very fast compared to SPS, imo. Easily aquacultured, easily fed on meaty foods, fast growing, less demanding on water params and light, less susceptible to pests, etc. I'd guess it's easier than propping sps anyday.
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[nanocat]

I thought that xenia was a poor shipper? Doesn't it melt and get all slimy in transit?

 

[Anonymous]

Captive ships a heck of a lot better then wild. It is a bad shipper, but it can be shipped with care. The whole reason a wholesaler would want it CB is the shipping part. THey'll loose a lot less is they buy CB over wild Xenia.

 

[JeremyR]

What's the point in doing caps at these farms? You can get them free at any club swap, many local markets are overloaded with them already. The captive SPS is loaded with nudis, flatworms, etc.. unless these "farms" can overcome their major parasite problems and grow more high end stuff, I would say that there are too many of them already. The level of infestation can be pretty scary.

 

[sdcfish]

Jeremy,

You are absolutely right! Many cities have clubs and advanced hobbiests that share, and do frag swaps. It's going to be challenging for any large grower to be successful because of this fact. But, there are still many retailers that don't have access to Captive raised products, and I know that we could still sell a substantial amount of certain products.

Like Gresham pointed out, we would much rather buy xenia from a farm, than wild due to the shipping issues.

So...with that in mind....there is still room for someone to start growing and selling certain corals and inverts at commercial levels.


Best regards,

 

[Anonymous]

Leathers
Mushrooms
GSP
Frogspawn, hammerhead
Zoas

Xenia will mostly melt away in shipment BUT it comes back within 2-4 weeks. Mine did.

 

[JeremyR]

But my point is there are already like a dozen farms doing it, and most of them are not able to keep their stock free of some really nasty coral parasites. Isn't it true that alot of these farms aren't even able to sell everything they are growing now? I think everything you listed on your original post is already grown by many of these major farms.

 

[Anonymous]

I think everything you listed on your original post is already grown by many of these major farms.

This point occurred to me, as well. The list as presented is almost a "bread-n-butter" list of common commercially available farmed corals.

I would tend to think it might be more worthwhile to look for species that aren't already so over-represented. Then again, bread and butter types may be exactly what Eric has in mind?

 

[pyrrhus]

Maybe even though there are a dozen farms already growing these corals there still isn't enough production to meet market demand...

 

[sdcfish]

True....currently, we are not being offered any of these species to sell....so we do not have any captived bred corals for sale. We do get ocassionally some Marshall Island leathers with our clam shipments.

So?

 

[Philip Root]

But my point is there are already like a dozen farms doing it, and most of them are not able to keep their stock free of some really nasty coral parasites. Isn't it true that alot of these farms aren't even able to sell everything they are growing now? I think everything you listed on your original post is already grown by many of these major farms.

I know of about a dozen farms and not a one is having a hard time selling thier corals.

Any farmer that is going to make it will use very good quarantine.

 

[Anonymous]

Well, take for example the green polyped toadstool on your list. I know of three different places farming it, one of whom offers it through other dealers. So it's readily available at pretty much all times from a number of dealers. While at least one of the farmers still tries to get $50-60 for the ones he produces, the truth is you can get one for $29-$35 from most other places.

Or the pumping xenia. Liveaquaria has a list price of $35 for them, but almost always has them on sale for just $25 and never, ever has them out of stock.

Anyway, I guess the point is that the stuff is out there, the stuff is very easy to source and not scarce, and that it has a low retail price point. Not all of it, of course - rose anemones will always sell well. But for most of the items on your list.

 

[Philip Root]

Right now at http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod ... CatId=2366 it is out of stock. @ 49.99

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod ... CatId=2390 is on sell for 25.00

But Eric said Xenia (pumping...red sea sp.)

 

[sdcfish]

Well....there's two scenarios I suppose....

1. Most farmers are retailing...not wholesaling.
2. I just haven't tried hard enough to find the sources that will sell to us at wholesale level.

Anyone willing to give me names of the sources that would sell to a wholesaler....please pm or post.

Thanks....

Eric

 

[Anonymous]

But Eric said Xenia (pumping...red sea sp.)

I assumed by that he meant both types; pumping ( cf. elongata) and red sea pompom.

 

[sdcfish]

I meant the red sea type....umbulata I think it's named. We even have broodstock in many in-house aquariums...would be happy to provide growers broodstock. We would do this ourselves....but time, money and space are major factors.

Regards