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22 Year Old Reef System


FishyStuff

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22 year old reef aquarium system for sale. $20,000.00 110 gallon display tank with 20 gallon sump, LED lights (BuildMyLED.com) 1/4 hp chiller, 40 watt UV sterilizer, misc pumps and an air pump w/ battery backup. System was initially started in 1992 and still has a few of pieces of the original rock, the current tank and stand are 7 years old and is oak with a dark red mahogany finish. System has a significant percentage of the known and very rare Sinularia foliata(1) colonies in the US. (A .pdf copy of the lab work by Micheal P. Jaines, one of the formost world authorities on soft corals, is available for potential purchasers.) Also includes large colonies of Tricolor Frogspawn (added in the mid nineties). Other soft/stoney corals include blue and red Discsoma spp. (added in the mid nineties), assorted zoas and palys, two 2nd generation show size Plerogyra sinuosa polyps (added two years ago but are 14 years old), Strawberry Chalice and blue Anchor (Euphillia spp.), green/brown/white Candy Cane (2000?) and brown leather finger (90s). Fish include a 20 year old Purple Tang. Other fish are a mated trio of Ocellaris clownfish which host all the frogspawn colonies, Sailfin Tang, Yellow Tang, Regal Tang, Coral Beauty, 5 Yellow Tail Damsels, Lawnmower Blennie and Flame Hawkfish. To schedule an appointment to view this system or for more information please call 512-627-3690 or 512-454-6723


(1) This coral was purchased in 1997 but the species was not described until research by L. P. van Ofwegan was done in 2008 in Palau http://www.repository.naturalis.nl/document/122261 Hopefully it is more widespread but currently this species is only known from one location in Palau and is not being imported.

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Part of the justification is the extreme rarity of this species. Please feel free to read the link in the first post, current research has it documented from one only location in Palau. Samples were sent to Micheal P. Janes, one of the for most experts in the world on octocorals in 2011 and identified as Sinularia foliata. This is the one of the rare occasions we are aware of where documentation is available by a world renown taxonomist, think of it as having registration papers for a pet cat or dog. We also have these receipts:

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I believe anyone can ask for whatever they want for their tank, now that someone else pays what he's asking for it's a different thing.

This Sinularia foliata coral is the basis of his asking price, but as stated above the document shows what FishyBusiness values the piece for, I did a quick search on Google and found no other mentions of the coral or anyone that has it for sale, and no one looking for it.

So it's a free market, demand and rarity determine it's price, it's states as rare but I also do not see the demand for it.

But who knows someone might actually be looking for the coral and is willing to spend the money.

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Those receipts don't say anything about the taxonomy of the coral that I can see. It says that you estimated the value at that price.

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Your quite right. If you read the first post the lab work done by Dr. Jaines is available, "(A .pdf copy of the lab work by Micheal P. Jaines, one of the for most world authorities on soft corals, is available for potential purchasers.)" I would point out the estimated price for the 2003 receipt was not based on the rarity of the coral. Unbeknownst to us it was as yet a still undescribed species and was not identified until 2008 by research conducted by Dr. van Ofwegan, the fist post links to his research paper. The price for the 2003 colony was determined by an estimated number of frags that could be cut off the parent colony with an estimated survival rate of 90% and without cutting into the main parts of the mother colony and an estimated retail price of $30 per frag. For the second estimate we used an estimate of $200 per frag, a very reasonable price for a very rare coral and which we have gotten. Here's a picture from 2003 of the deflated colony after it was removed, you can see at the upper left edge of the colony a piece of the roughly 8" long by 4" wide rock it was attached to:

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. . . FishyBusiness . . .

You mean Fishy Stuff right? Fishy Business is a different company that didn't have any input.

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Price has been corrected in the first post. As other have stated, it is a free market to ask what people want for items they sell. You are free to ask for justifications, but please ask nicely.

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I was wondering if it was the softie that demanded the high price. It's far too rich for my blood, but do you have any close up pictures of the coral?

Yes, this is as close to getting a pedigreed coral as you can get. With any of the "designer" corals what you get is a fancy name and the challenge of trying to match environmental conditions to maintain colors. With this Sinularia foliata comes a copy of the lab work by one of the preeminent octocoral taxonomist which can be verified independently irregardless of any color or growth change due to different environmental conditions.

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