? Tyree ? Purple Monster @ M.A. ???

Is the Purple Monster being sold at Marine Aquatics tomorrow the Tyree Purple Monster Where did so many frags of this coral come from?

Edited by coreyk

He got it in a shipment from the Soloman islands. 

A pedigree of a coral?

Whats the going rate for a true purple monster frag? Are there look-alike frags?

It can be debated that any coral is a "True Purple Monster" ... Simply because someone says it is. Going rate for a Tyree PM that you can show came from Tyree is 150$ - 300$, depending on size and who you get it from.  

The 'Purple Monster' Coral was originally imported back in 1995 from the Solomons. It was a very unique and distinctive coral having a christmas tree form composed of smooth thick branches. This coral was placed within Steve Tyree's 180 gallon reef. It was featured in an MFM article way back in 1996. The name was coined by Steve Shvetstoff while he was living in the Oakland area of California. Those of you unfamilar with this coral can see its web page at
http://www.dynamicecomorphology.com/stevepurple.htm
Steve Tyree is currently farming this coral from the last fragment that was harvested from a spectacular colony that Tracy Gray had grown within his reef. That reef unfortunately completely crashed while Tracy was in Japan on business. Tracy's colony was grown from a fragment purchased from Bill Schroer of the old Piece of the Reef shop. Bill had acquired a colony of the coral from Cameron Azad of Pasadena California. Cameron had originally acquired a a tiny fragment of this coral in 1996 from Steve Tyree. Over 4 years Cameron had grown the tiny fragment into a very nice sized parent colony. The color lightened due to his brighter lights and grew slightly thinner due to Camerons slightly weaker current. While being maintained within the 650 gallon show reef at Piece of the Reef, the coral has regained its deep rich purple color. This color was maintained by Tracy Gray. The fragment Steve is growing has also maintained the characteristic deep purple coloration and is growing thinner branches. Since this coral was originally imported back in 1995, there have been a few Monstor-like austera colonies imported, but none had the unique growth form that this colony had or the deep rich purple color it developed. This coral is being farmed by Steve Tyree and it is located within one of his 125 gallon naturally filtered Tri-Zonal EG reefs. ReefFarmers.com is allowed to distribute 1 farmed fragment of this coral per month beginning with October 2003. Price is currently $135 per medium sized fragment. The monthly limited edition reservation schedule can be found below.

http://www.reeffarmers.com/limitedpurplemonstor.htm

Edited by BananaTropics

So I guess if you don't buy it from Tyree it's not purple monster?  I don't think so! Sometimes the name tyree isn't worth the money.

So I guess if you don't buy it from Tyree it's not purple monster?  I don't think so! Sometimes the name tyree isn't worth the money.

Like I said Jeff ...  It can be debated that any coral is a "True Purple Monster" ... Simply because someone says it is. If you are asking if any coral that looks similar can be a Tyree Purple Monster.. I would say no, because of the characteristics that are in the description of the Tyree Purple Monster.

I agree... sometime the Tyree corals may not be worth the extra $$$. I think that’s why everyone doesn't buy them. They make an evaluation and a personal decision as to whether ot the coral (or any item for that matter) is worth it to them.

Whether or not a Tyree coral will look extremely nice, I think, has a ton to do with the keeper.

BTW: I have at least 12 Purple Monsters in my tank... but I only have one Tyree Purple Monster.

Well Based on Corey's first post, the Tyree is on it's 7+ generation...
Which means it's all ready an Established Hardy Aquacultured piece. I
would gladly pay twice as much (when talking rare corals) for something
that is on 3rd or more generation because it's going to be alot more
hardy, and more resiliant.

That's why I think that some "Tyree" or Tubs, or ORA etc. are worth the
money.

Corey's right, if you're going to sell expensive frags, exspecially on-line, they need name recognition.  And Tyree has it.  Just try to sell a Tyree PM without "papers" on reefcentral...

That's not to say that Eric doesn't have the exact same coral as Tyree... he might.  But he's not likely to be able to sell frags of it for the same jack as Tyree gets.