Interesting. I am curious as well. I would prefer aquaculture ... but mariculture is also sustainable but I am wondering how the more stable ocean water would cause the corals to be more or less hardy in an aquarium.
Thanks Dong, that’s kind of what I figured too. So really it is best to rely on someone with a set up like yours to bring in new stuff, and grow out for the healthiest corals [emoji6].
I like frags from members' tank. I don't care where it came from. They already did all the work for you.
Getting wild colony or maricultured are more headache for many reasons. The corals has been accustomed to the flow of nature and light. It will take them a while to acclimate to the lousy flow and light human has made for them. Pest is less of a concern because for me, I dip everything incoming to the tank. And have you tried to cut the colony off the large rounded base rock it's on? The smell is horrid.
The corals has been accustomed to the flow of nature and light. It will take them a while to acclimate to the lousy flow and light human has made for them.
Maricultured coral does benefit the environment and it is an important aspect for the future of this hobby.
Besides that, they are not much different from wild colonies.
Many coral exporting countries do require their coral exporters to have a quota of maricultured vs wild.
>Regarding the base rock for mariculture coral, many cases they are tar instead of real rock. Tar is cheap.<
I'm not saying I know for sure on this or not, but dead coral rock is EVERYWHERE on the island nations where mariculture is being done. Why would they use material that they would have to import?
It may also be an export work around. Some countries put limits on live rock allowed to be exported. If it was dead coral rock in the ocean that may then be included in their limit for export even though coral is attached on top. I don’t know the material either way but I have seen the quotas affect both live rock and corals. Live rock would be the equivalent of soil.
You cannot take soil from other countries because the bacteria strains in the soil which make it good for cultivating certain crops is a national asset. It could be the same for live rock in some countries.