Saw a single polyp paly on some forums for $999.99.....
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Beautiful polyp too.
What would you say you can have that polyp too? Or maybe something better, or just as good, but completely different? You can, but first you need to learn the "trade secrets of the polyp pimps".
There is always a huge craze for the next big polyp, but now we are up to $1k/polyp?
We are going to touch on the subject of polyp, zoa or paly, morphing-
Polyps change, aka morph, under many different conditions. They rarely keep the same apearance (to a degree) from one tank to another. There are many factors that can effect the way these polyps will look, both immediately and long term, such as-
Different types of polyps will change apperences, based on where they were originally collected or the tank conditions are kept. Higher or lower light, fluctuations in temperature, availability of nutrients and husbandry of your tank, lighting intensity could all make some very basic/boring polyps turn into something nice.
Most polyps you see, many times sold single polyp for big $$, are just morphs they were able to come up with in their varying (and for the pros- tried and true) systems, that are actually very common. Why do you think the commonly called- armor of god/devils armor- have so many "high end" morphs? They change easily under different conditions.
Most things that will cause a polyp to morph are good, including-
High/low lighting- Some polyps look and thrive best under different lighting. Sometimes high or even low lighting causes speckles/sparkles, neon colors, deeper than normal tones and even color of the disk/skirts. High light loving corals will die, or brown out, without enough light, and low light corals will gennerally brighten up and look very nice....till you give them too much and they close up/melt.
Temperature- Temperatures will often effect brightness and health. Healthier the polyp the better it will look.
Nutrient levels- Major player here...some zoas that enjoy really high nutrient levels, or even dirty water seem to be very common, or for a better word- boring, are usually pretty drab and dull colored and dont do well in clean water, but if you can get them into very clean (but not too clean) water, they will always look much nicer, until you reach that fine line of too clean and they all die...dont want to do that, but can happen.
There are also some bad things that cause morphing, that unfortunatly are not very safe/healthy for polyps, that are beleive it or not practiced by alot of polyp pimps, including-
Bleaching- This can be easily done with light. A bleaching polypcan many times throw off some very bright colors as it bleaches, and many times more so will do the same as they recover from a light bleaching. Bleaching can also happen due to sudden extreme differences in temperature. Just like light, some very cool colors can happen during a partial bleaching, or recovery from bleaching. Both of these are commonly called "hyper-morphing" Go ahead and google it....it happens....
Starvation- Another form of bleaching.....just colors change slower. Dangers are polyps not receiving enough nutrient to sustain and die. A starving coral will likely look its best (to our eyes at least) as it slowely melts away. Other polyps get their deepest colors when feed, and their lightest colors when not fed Nutrient level and feeding schedul greatly impact what any given polyp is going to look like in your system.
Alk swings- Will affect vibrance in your polyps.
Just touching the tip of the iceburg here....but I have typed enough for tonight, I will add more sooner.
Just know that anyone of us that has a real passion for zoanthids and the growings of a reef can have some of these "pimped polyps" in their own tanks with a bit of time, energy and patience. Just know what these polyps (at least most of them) were not collected out of the ocean looking like these pictures.....they have been morphed. Most of these high dolar/polyp are common polyps, that due to some variation in the tank caused these polyps to look so much better (not to mention the countless worse ones that morphed negetively) and advertised at really high cost. Once you figure out what the polyp likes, can thrive in, will survive in, and where it is best looking in at the end, you too can grow these same polyps in your own tanks.
You can also have some really nice looking polyps that are out of this world just wither away and die- from the polyps limits being pushed too far and it melting away, which many times is when they really look brightest, most neon and unlike anything else you have seen, just be warned....
Anyone have some to add in the time being? I havnt touched base yet at all on photography, gel covers, lighting, photoshopping/editting, ect....still a ton of trade secrets to share so anyone of us with a regular screen name can grow/morph your own insane polyps like the ones the "polyp pimps" are rolling out the red carpets yearly for....
Taking a zoa polyp and letting it turn into something very different is easy....and alot cheaper, and alot more interesting than getting ripped off by a high $$$ polyp that may or may not be healthy or look the same in your system- short term or long term.
High dollar/Low dollar, we have all had that beautiful polyps become drab/ugly till it died or we were able to make it happy or just melt away for no apparent reason, or just not open....
High dollar Low dollar, we have all gotten that $5 zoa rock, at least once that was brown with stubby skirts become our favorite bright speckled purple polyp with the awesome wavy skirts, or watch a boring polyp all of a sudden become your favorite as it settles into its happy spot.
The pros have nothing but time to play in their tanks and experiment....most of these top $$$ polyps are just lucky (and many times professionally experimented with) morphs of some very very common and insanely prolific polyps, sold in transitions, at an unstable stage of morphing or even on the brink of death....
Its all about the money these days- dont be fooled and sucked in....These polyps all started as $5/frag somewhere down the line....strait from the ocean.
And think about this....Now that we have seen a $999.99 single polyp for sale....
$200/polyp doesnt sound so bad now does it? Dont fall for it....Its exactly what they want you to think. Who cares if they sell 1 or 2 of the advertised $1K polyps- the coulple hundred dollar single polyps are going to sell even harder now, now that $100/polyp sounds cheap!!!
Just another trade secret....
You will see people soon posting pics online of their recent high $$ purchase.....probly at least double the people who actually baught this crazy priced polyps. The catch you might ask?
How many of these people you think actually paid full price, or even any price? Its common practice (not mentioning any names) to buy your own coral as an illusion of people actually being crazy enough to spend this price. Others will give these high end corals to people for free....as long as its secret and it publisized that they baught it and are happy....no joke- seen it w/ my own eyes many times...end experianced offers to participate. The goose follows the gander....but sometimes the gander is the one helping to rip you off, aka monkey see monkey do, only the monkey doing didnt really do anything...If a high end polyp is selling well and everyone is happy- take the info with a grain of salt....you never really know.
It really looks like one of those fairly common, highly prolific speckled "Mohawk" Palys to me, but with more orange colors on the skirt and a much pinker center disk..Ill see if I can get a pic linked to CR Jim.
I'm not convinced that's a morph from another more common paly. There are a lot of hot palys that have hit the market the past couple years. I'm not saying its worth $1000. But if I had won the $1.5 Billion powerball last week I probably would have a colony by now.
Trade Secrets of the Polyp Pimps-
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