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| Why buy Captive Bred Corals?
Everyone knows that its better for the environment to buy captive-bred
corals instead of removing them from the wild reefs. But did you know that its
also safer for your aquarium? Putting wild-corals into your tank is like playing
Russian Roulette. It can bring in unwanted pests which can wreak havoc on your
system and other corals. Once your tank is infested it is difficult, or in some
cases impossible, to remove them..
"Consumers
who buy corals, live rock, and marine fish are encouraged to ask stores for information
about where these products came from and how they were collected. Hobbyists can
avoid buying fish or coral that die quickly by finding out more about the difficulty
of keeping particular species. They can also consider buying synthetic corals
or captive-reared specimens from facilities using environmentally sustainable
aquaculture techniques. (From
US Fish & Wildlife Service Coral Trade Bulletin)
Aquarium
Pests
Here are just a few of the more common parasites that you could
be adding to your tank with wild-caught corals...
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Bubble Algae can become quite the pest when
it spreads all over your tank and  crowds
out corals. It can reach "plague" propoportions where it is nearly uncontrollable
and the tank must be torn down and restarted. | Mantis
Shrimp can come in with live rock in the bases of wild corals. They have  been
known to cause considerable damage to the hands of hobbyists while working in
their aquarium. | Rapa snails often
come in on contaminated leathers (Sarcophytons). They hide inside  the
leather and weaken it as they grow. "Probably the most insidious from the
aspect of the marine aquarist is the snail, Rapa rapa" (Kohn, 1983). | Heliacus
Snails like to dine on Zooanthids and Paythoans. They
will also lay eggs near the polyps and produce newborns that will decimate the
colony rapidly if not removed. The shells are very pretty but these dont belong
in an aquarium. | Flatworms,
sometimes called Planaria. Most of these species are not "bad," and  many
of the generalist scavengers and saprophytic species can actually benefit a reef
tank. But when you get a huge infestation, they can cover most surfaces and look
very ugly | Aptasias (glass) stinging
anemones can reproduce rapidly. These can sting or  even
kill nearby corals, and sometimes even small fish that come nearby. They are very
difficult to remove once established in an aquarium. Even tiny pieces will regrow
into an adult. The hide in crevices | Majano
Anemones are somewhat less of a nuisance than Aiptasia, partially because  they
are somewhat attractive, but primarily because they are not nearly as prolific.
Unfortunately, like Aiptasia, they have a potent sting and can become a danger
to the other sessile invertebrates in the aquarium. | Parasitic
Nudibranchs can quickly decimate a coral and then spread by leaving their egg
casings on other corals, particularly soft corals. . We once received a wild colony
of Anthelia and counted 58 nudibranchs in its branches! Fortunately we quarantine
all incoming wildcaught. We rarely bring in wild corals anymore, preferring to
acquire and grow out corals from other hobbyists. |
| True captive-bred corals are free of parasites All of
our systems that we sell from are free of known parasites. We have no parasitic
nudibranchs, stinging aptasia anemones, flatworms, parasitic crabs, or valonia
to mention a few common ones often found in wild caught corals and some other
coral farms. When we do increase our broodstock, we rarely bring in wildcaught
corals anymore, preferring instead to buy other captive bred frags as broodstock,
that we know will maintain their color and hardiness. These are quarantined extensively,
and then eventually added to an "incoming open" system. Our "incoming
closed" systems, never have anything live added to them, even from our other
systems. That way, each of our systems is completely independent of each other,
except for the ambient room temperature. Quarantine So all
of our systems are independently quarantined, even from each other. We don't exchange
water, or tools, or anything between systems, to ensure that if one system becomes
infected with something in the future, it is not inadvertently transferred to
the others.
Several of our systems have been permanently "incoming
closed" to any incoming corals for quite some time, including closed to our
own captive bred ones from other systems. These systems have sufficient growth
to continually replace the corals that we remove from them.. In fact so far, no
only do can we replenish the corals we sell from within them, we have to remove
excess corals from the system due to high growth rates. That is the safest way
to ensure that your tank raised corals never get infected.
Please note:
The terms "open/closed" here do not refer to systems being mixed with
natural seawater. Instead, it refers to allowing in new livestock. Closed means
that no new livestock of any kind is allowed into the system. Open means we are
still placing new livestock in that system. |
|  If
only all of the wild parasites were this attractive, we might not mind them so
much. But most are not. This is Cyphoma gibbosum, the leopard conch.
We often get them in with our gorgonian broodstock from Florida, and keep them
alive by feeding them cuttings from the gorgs that we are propagating. We have
had several dozen for several years now and they do well if you keep them fed.
Obviously we dont mix them with our gorgs, but keep them separated in baskets
that allow water flow through.
In the picture below you can see a wild
caught silver gorgonian (Muricea laxa) that not only has the leopard
conchs on it (yea- we placed them there for the picture- Note: animal rights activitists:
no gorgs were harmed in the making of this picture!) but also is covered by a
predatory bivalve which are strongly attached and must be pried off. We
got this shipment of these silver gorgs in many years ago, and while in quarantine,
we removed the parasites, and then took cuttings to produce future gorgs ready
for sale. By the time you get the offspring, they will be parasite free.
The reason we mention this is that wildcaught corals often harbor destructive
parasites that can kill the new coral and even healthy corals already in your
tank. When you buy wildcaught corals, you really need to quarantine them to make
sure you don't introduce any parasites. Captive bred corals essentially live their
entire lives in quarantine, thus there is very little risk of transferring any
parasites to your system.These would show up in our systems long before they are
released to you.
There are other advantages to buying captive bred corals.
All of our corals are currently grown indoors, under the same artificial conditions
that you are probably replicating in your own tank. Everything from the
saltwater mix to the lighting and additives is artificial, making the coral's
transition from our systems to yours much less traumatic, and therefore more likely
to succeed than wild caught corals would experience.
Captive-bred corals
are definitely hardier and more disease-free than wildcaught corals, and many
of our customers are stocking their entire tank using captive-bred corals only,
because of the mortality rates of those collected from the wild.
Many
of our systems are permanently "closed" to the introduction of any wild
corals, even after quarantined. These systems have sufficient growth to continually
replace the corals that we remove. Several of our systems have not had any corals
of any kind actually added back to the systems for several years. This is the
safest way to ensure that your tank raised corals never get infected.
 Silver
gorgonians (Muricea laxa) infested with parasitic Leopard Conchs
(Cyphoma gibbosum) and an unknown parasitic bivalve. The Leopard
Conchs will completely eat the Silver Gorgonian.
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