Captive-Raised Corals Are Easier To Take Care Of

Because captive-raised corals have spent their lives in aquariums, they are accustomed to aquarium lighting, water flow, and water quality. Corals from the ocean are accustomed to pristine reef conditions, which are often far more stable than those in our home aquariums. Because of this discrepancy, many wild-collected corals will struggle to adapt to aquarium conditions. If you are an experienced aquarist with a well-maintained tank, this may not be an issue, but for beginners or those who want the best chance of success, aquacultured corals are the best choice.

Captive-Raised Corals Have Less Of An Impact On The Environment

All reefkeepers care about the coral reefs. By choosing to use only corals grown in aquariums, you can eliminate the demand to take corals off the reef.

Captive-Raised Corals Are More Attractive

Aquaculturing corals requires time, money, and effort. Because of this, people would be crazy to choose to grow out ugly corals. Generally, only the most attractive corals will be grown in captivity. If the coral farmer is going to put in the work, they want to make sure it is worth it.

Not All Corals Can Be Aquacultured

While more and more aquacultured corals are available, many coral species will never be aquacultured. Many corals grow so slowly that it would not be economically viable to farm them for propagation. There are thousands of coral species in the wild, but only a few hundred are aquacultured. If you are looking for new unique coral colors, you may only be able to find them in wild-collected corals.

The common species that can not be aquacultured include acanthaphylia (meat coral), cynarina (owl eye coral), scolymia (button coral), plergogyra (bubble coral), cataphyllia (elegance coral), trachyphillia (open brain coral), and fungia (plate coral). There are thousands of species of coral in the wild, but only a few hundred are being aquacultured. You may find that the coral you are looking for is not propagated yet. If you are looking for new, unique coral colors, you may only be able to find them in wild-collected corals.

Aquacultured Corals Are More Expensive

Even though collecting corals from the wild is difficult, it is still much more affordable than growing corals in captivity. Often, aquacultured corals are as much as 3-4 times the price of a comparable wild coral.

Aquacultured Corals Are Generally Smaller

If you want larger corals, you may have to purchase ocean-grown corals. Coral growers are generally able to get more money from a bunch of small frags rather than a few small colonies. If you are patient, these frags will turn into colonies, but if you want a full reef fast, you may be out of luck.

Maricultured corals represent an excellent alternative to aquacultured corals. These corals are sustainably farmed in the ocean. The closest analogy for the difference between aquacultured and maricultured corals is a greenhouse vs. an outdoor field. Just as a farmer uses sunlight and soil to grow vegetables in his field, mariculture coral farmers use sunlight and natural seawater to grow corals.

The farmers place grates in the ocean and then attach coral fragments to these grates. They wait months to years before returning to harvest the corals that have grown on the grates. The advantage of this is that it uses no electricity and very little labor to grow the coral.

Because farmers only want to grow the most attractive corals they can find, maricultured corals are often very beautiful. They come in medium to large sizes because the cost of producing large corals is quite low. Maricultured corals are also significantly more affordable than aquacultured corals because they are less resource-intensive to grow. However, they have still been grown in the ocean, so they do not adapt to aquarium conditions as easily as aquacultured corals.