Practical Coral Farming by Miguel Tolosa is, as far as we know, still the only book ever written about broader coral propagation by someone who actually has experience growing, cutting and selling corals. We first popped into Miguel’s ghetto-fabulous headquarters for Fraggle Reef way back in 2007, about the time the first edition of the Practical Coral Farming book was released.
Back then Fraggle Reef HQ wasn’t pretty, it was practical and Miguel still managed to grow out some sought after corals like the infamous UFO Micromussa which persists to this day. Practical Coral Farming is not a compendium of information, it is an actual guide, to walk a prospective serious coral farmer through the process of what it takes to be a coral farmer.
The many sections of Practical Coral Farming introduce wide ranging topics like lighting, filtration, water quality and dealing with pests, parasites and quarantine of new corals. The surprisingly useful sections are the ones on business jargon, setting up a business, sales venues like frag swaps and accepting payments; these chapters include uncommon knowledge which bring attention to the less glamorous topics that prospective coral farmers may easily overlook.
What we particularly like about Miguel’s Practical Coral Farming Book is that it doesn’t try to be all things to all people, focusing on some elementary yet important topics. We didn’t really agree with Miguel’s thoughts on water flow and LEDs but the section about suppliers and how to become part of the coral supply chain is business gold.
Practical Coral Farming is not a comprehensive reference guide but it is loaded with some useful information based on real world aquarium business experience. If you’re operating in any part of the aquarium livestock chain, there’s some valuable nuggets of information which upstart and intermediate aquarium businesses can really benefit from. The expanded second edition of Practical Coral farming is 130+ pages and available for the paperback price of $20. [Amazon]
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