Tips on becoming a designer coral collector

[Spyd]

I happened to get lucky.... Very lucky....

Once I decided to get my first SPS to test in my original tank, I responded to an ad on another forum here in Ontario. Turns out I ended up getting them from none other than Darryl (Reefermadness).. You know the one who won TOTM on RC... So, needless to say, my A1 supplier lives 20 minutes away from me and we have become good friends along the way. He has helped me out big time and really answered a ton of questions while I was figuring out the whole SPS route. Definitely owe him for a lot of my success in the hobby and coral selection.

Also, we have the luxury of many, many quality LFS around here that bring in rare pieces. I much prefer tracking which customers get the rare pieces, see if they can successfully keep them, then purchase a frag directly from them. Saves big $$$ than purchasing wild corals and having them die on you. I would rather someone else take the risk and pay them more for a frag if it is doing well than dishing out tons of money to only have a success once in a while.... Wild corals really are a 50/50 gamble.

I would say my success rate for aqua-cultured corals is around 95%. Maricultured... 65% and wild corals 50%... Keep in mind, 80 - 90% of my tank is all aquacultured so you can see just how much easier it is generally to keep aquacultured frags and helps save the coral reefs.