Gauging Coral Trends

After checking myself out of the hospital for too much adult eggnog, I can finally say that the holiday blues are over. No more pretending to like the turkey dinner. Stuffing the last bite in the presence of the chef who made it is really uncomfortable. Seriously, if I see any more turkey in my vicinity, I am going to feed it to my pink tail trigger! At least he doesn’t food discriminate.

So what did Santa bring you this year? Was it that nice big skimmer that you always wanted? Was it a rare blue ringed octupus that you weren’t aware of the fact that it could kill you with one bite? Or did you forsee the 2009 trends and obtained an amazing coral which you can go around and brag about?

I know we (the Fragd.it crew) are starting to collect corals that are going to be pretty big here in Canada. Currently in the US, these corals are flying out of the frag tanks faster than you can reach for your MasterCard. What corals are those? You will see later in the post.

I find that in North America, corals have an up and down trend (like most commodities). Vendors are quick to capitalize on this, as they ride the money wave. Some go overboard and start naming them ridiculous names just to make a higher sale. Other do it for prestige. The Canadian coral market always lags behind the US, and this is evident now with the hot importation of AAA acanthastrea lords.

Same can be said about the zoa, palythoa, duncan, SPS, and blastomussa craze. One day are hot… the next they are calcium reactor media.

So what are those corals that are going to be the next Miley Cirus? How about Faviidae and Echinophyllia, aka Favias and Chalices. Here is a preview what can come into your tank:

Need I say more?