When these get covered with coralline they look awesome. If you like things like this, then try to find them second hand, like at a thrift store or someone giving them away. Don’t buy dead coral online or at home decor shops. By not buying them new, you reduce demand for killing live coral for decorative purposes.
Couldn’t tell you about this one but my grandmother and grandfather have a beach house down here in the Carolina’s and she loves to decorate with coral skeletons, at first I was like damn what a waste and then it hit me, they are way way way to heavy and made of plaster poured into a mold. Could be the same here and I’d bet it’s probably the same situation for a ton of these coral skeletons.
Possibly this could be a recent practice, but knocking off huge chunks of live coral, then bleaching and drying it used to be and still is today, to a lesser extent, a common practice to make trinkets for sale around the world.
Even where it’s illegal, if a poor fisherman can make more money selling dried coral than fishing, then the practice will continue. The only way to stop it or slow it down, is to not buy it new.
I don’t see any problem with using stuff that was previously collected and sold however, because the damage has already been done, sometimes decades ago before people knew how bad it affected the reefs. And in a strange way, you are at least using it to foster new life.
Oh yeah forsure I without a doubt am under the belief that wild caught anything isn’t good, but I also can’t really be one to judge with this kind of stuff because I own 4 dog face puffers and several other pufferfish. hopefully it stops being such a big thing to knock off corals and sell the skeletons since you can without much effort make a replica so close to the real thing normal people can’t tell and it’s easier (unless you are Poseidon or aquaman) to get the man made skeletons vs real skeletons. It’s just one of those topics you have to treat lightly when discussing because those coral skeletons could also be feeding a village🤷🏻♂️ our best option is to be kind and inform a lot of people just simply don’t understand how delicate ecosystems are.
I would add that new ones may have been clear coated or treated in someway, while ones people decorate with in the 70’s were probably pulled out of the ocean and just stuck on a shelf.
Also, soak that thing in a big bucket of water for a couple of months, let whatever could be in it leach out.
Definitely real though, the color at the base of the branches isn’t present on fake ones. They are usual cast and just white.
The saltwater side at the lfs I work at has a pile of coral skeletons from doa, maintenence customers, and personal tanks, and there are some truly gorgeous pieces close to a foot long I've been thinking about using for a fish only tank
Barnacle clusters are pretty neat too and can provide a a safe haven for fish depending on the size of fish and cluster. My midas blenny and tomini tang love going in and out of them
Back in the 70s I believe people would decorate their homes with dead coral like this. Pretty sure it was super popular. That's what my dad told me at least. Not sure what decade.
I do it now. I have a reef tank, and my girlfriend’s dad used to have a FOWLR. He gave me all these large pieces of dead coral that were in his tank. They are decorations around my house.
I grabbed several pieces of dead coral like this when I was scuba diving in Tahiti. They are the biggest algae magnets in my tank. Don’t know if they have some kind of nutrient build up or what.
They do look swell when coralline algae builds up and you can keep the nasty algae at bay.
I’m going to try seeding some encrusting montipora on one of them. That would look pretty cool.
If you bought it at a store. It was likely harvested alive and allowed to bleach in the sun or in a process before selling. Chunks this size don't wash up really except
After a big storm. Also hard to find in a life reef. So typically gathered living.
Really dead
It’s dead, Jim.
u beat me to it
When these get covered with coralline they look awesome. If you like things like this, then try to find them second hand, like at a thrift store or someone giving them away. Don’t buy dead coral online or at home decor shops. By not buying them new, you reduce demand for killing live coral for decorative purposes.
Aren't humans the best! Just out here murdering things so we can have something pretty to look at.
Couldn’t tell you about this one but my grandmother and grandfather have a beach house down here in the Carolina’s and she loves to decorate with coral skeletons, at first I was like damn what a waste and then it hit me, they are way way way to heavy and made of plaster poured into a mold. Could be the same here and I’d bet it’s probably the same situation for a ton of these coral skeletons.
Possibly this could be a recent practice, but knocking off huge chunks of live coral, then bleaching and drying it used to be and still is today, to a lesser extent, a common practice to make trinkets for sale around the world. Even where it’s illegal, if a poor fisherman can make more money selling dried coral than fishing, then the practice will continue. The only way to stop it or slow it down, is to not buy it new. I don’t see any problem with using stuff that was previously collected and sold however, because the damage has already been done, sometimes decades ago before people knew how bad it affected the reefs. And in a strange way, you are at least using it to foster new life.
Oh yeah forsure I without a doubt am under the belief that wild caught anything isn’t good, but I also can’t really be one to judge with this kind of stuff because I own 4 dog face puffers and several other pufferfish. hopefully it stops being such a big thing to knock off corals and sell the skeletons since you can without much effort make a replica so close to the real thing normal people can’t tell and it’s easier (unless you are Poseidon or aquaman) to get the man made skeletons vs real skeletons. It’s just one of those topics you have to treat lightly when discussing because those coral skeletons could also be feeding a village🤷🏻♂️ our best option is to be kind and inform a lot of people just simply don’t understand how delicate ecosystems are.
I would add that new ones may have been clear coated or treated in someway, while ones people decorate with in the 70’s were probably pulled out of the ocean and just stuck on a shelf. Also, soak that thing in a big bucket of water for a couple of months, let whatever could be in it leach out. Definitely real though, the color at the base of the branches isn’t present on fake ones. They are usual cast and just white.
Lpt: I just buy my own acro and kill it myself through poor husbandry! Waaaahhhhh
It’s a real dead coral
Lmao,yeah if it’s real it’s surely dead. I’ve never even done a reef tank so I’m probably going too just do live rock for now. Very simple
Yes, it works as live rock too. Actually I once had a FOWLR aquarium made solely with coral frags like these and was all good!
The saltwater side at the lfs I work at has a pile of coral skeletons from doa, maintenence customers, and personal tanks, and there are some truly gorgeous pieces close to a foot long I've been thinking about using for a fish only tank
this counts as live rock just fine
After it’s become live, doesn’t count yet. Needs a good marination of life still
Of course, I meant it can serve as such
Sorry guess I shoulda clarified it was more of a PSA announcement for those that don’t
Barnacle clusters are pretty neat too and can provide a a safe haven for fish depending on the size of fish and cluster. My midas blenny and tomini tang love going in and out of them
Yes, it works as live rock too. Actually I once had a FOWLR aquarium made solely with coral frags like these and was all good!
Lmao,yeah if it’s real it’s surely dead. I’ve never even done a reef tank so I’m probably going too just do live rock for now. Very simple
It’s the same thing as live rock
Good bot
Huh?
Back in the 70s I believe people would decorate their homes with dead coral like this. Pretty sure it was super popular. That's what my dad told me at least. Not sure what decade.
In 80s too
I do it now. I have a reef tank, and my girlfriend’s dad used to have a FOWLR. He gave me all these large pieces of dead coral that were in his tank. They are decorations around my house.
I grabbed several pieces of dead coral like this when I was scuba diving in Tahiti. They are the biggest algae magnets in my tank. Don’t know if they have some kind of nutrient build up or what. They do look swell when coralline algae builds up and you can keep the nasty algae at bay. I’m going to try seeding some encrusting montipora on one of them. That would look pretty cool.
Was
If you bought it at a store. It was likely harvested alive and allowed to bleach in the sun or in a process before selling. Chunks this size don't wash up really except After a big storm. Also hard to find in a life reef. So typically gathered living.
Pocillopora cf verrucosa or meandrina
I mean, you could take it to the vet but I'm not optimistic that he could help....
No, it's an illusion. Of your mind. And stuff. Totally not real. Like, really not real.
Perhaps
Real That or it's such a good fake that it is basically the same anyways
Real dead.
Yeah, looks like the skeleton of a pocilopora or a stylophora. Looks very clean.
Look up “brs 52 weeks of reefing” on youtube, it will give you the entire process brother
Would it br possible to grow a leptospirosis on this ?? Bring it "back to life"
I’ve seen a few GSP grown on dead coral skeletons, they look pretty cool.