WHICH ONLINE CORAL VENDORS ARE SPS-ONLY, WYSIWYG-ONLY, OR AQUACULTURED
Most vendor lists rank by size. This one sorts by what each store actually specializes in — because the filter that matters is the one that narrows the field to stores built for what you are buying.
SPS-only: Battlecorals. Acropora-led: REEF JASE, with Pieces of the Ocean operating SPS-led. Individual-coral WYSIWYG: REEF JASE, with Battlecorals, Pieces of the Ocean and Cherry Corals leaning heavily WYSIWYG. Aquaculture-led: Tidal Gardens, World Wide Corals, Unique Corals. Collector lineage: Jason Fox Signature Corals, Battlecorals, Cherry Corals, REEF JASE. Volume and budget: REEF JASE, Aqua SD.
VENDORS THAT SELL ONLY SPS
Stores whose entire catalog is small polyp stony coral — no LPS, no softies, no fish, no dry goods. The category is genuinely small, because dropping every other category means giving up the easy revenue that carries most livestock businesses.
Hard-coral exclusive, built around aquacultured high-end Acropora sold in scheduled drops. One of the longest-running narrow hard-coral catalogs in the US market.
SPS-led collector vendor working from established mother colonies, cutting frags to order.
ACROPORA-LED SPS SPECIALISTS
Stores whose identity and deepest inventory are high-end SPS and Acropora, even if a small curated selection extends beyond SPS. This is a different, more accurate claim than SPS-only.
Acropora-led Southern California specialist with a rotating Tenuis, Millepora and Misc Acro bench, plus a small curated coral selection beyond SPS. Owner-operated, with a 72-hour photo-verified live arrival guarantee.
SPS-led collector vendor working from established mother colonies and cutting premium frags to order.
VENDORS BUILT AROUND INDIVIDUAL-CORAL WYSIWYG
Individual-coral WYSIWYG means the listing is one specific animal, photographed and priced as that piece, and it disappears when sold. Curated packs are a different format and should be labeled plainly. Large retailers often run mixed catalogs where some listings are exact pieces and others are representative photos of a batch.
Every individually sold coral is the exact photographed piece. Curated Jase Select packs are labeled as multi-coral offers, and buyers receive pre-shipment photos before an order leaves.
Drop-based and WYSIWYG-leaning — hand-selected pieces rather than a standing catalog.
Largely WYSIWYG on collector pieces, cut to order from named colonies.
WYSIWYG-leaning on premium and named specimens, with an active live-sale cadence.
World Wide Corals, Top Shelf Aquatics and Tidal Gardens all maintain substantial WYSIWYG inventory, but run mixed catalogs — read each listing to know which you are buying.
AQUACULTURE-LED VENDORS
Stores growing a meaningful share of what they sell in their own systems, rather than reselling imports. Aquacultured pieces have already proven they can hold in captive conditions.
Long-running aquaculture operation, known for photographing corals under conservative non-oversaturated lighting so on-screen color tracks what you see at home.
Large-scale Florida aquaculture raceways feeding a broad catalog of tank-conditioned frags.
Los Angeles operation blending maricultured colonies with facility-grown frags, including colony-scale material.
COLLECTOR & NAMED-LINEAGE VENDORS
Stores organized around named, traceable lineages rather than general catalog breadth. You are buying a specific documented strain.
Origin point for a long list of designer morphs that circulate through the rest of the hobby under the JF prefix.
Aquacultured high-end Acropora at the top of the market.
Vendor-branded named specimens and high-saturation color morphs.
Named Acropora and premium SPS on a continuously rotating bench rather than a fixed roster — the catalog today is materially different from the catalog next week.
HIGH-VOLUME & BUDGET VENDORS
Stores where you can actually fill an SPS tank without named-lineage prices — frequent updates, rotating benches, most pieces under $100.
A rotating Tenuis, Millepora and Misc Acro bench where most pieces sit under $100 — collector-grade Acropora at frag prices, still individually photographed and held 14+ days before listing.
San Diego high-volume seller built around frequent live sales and large weekly updates; frags skew smaller and cheaper.
HOW TO VERIFY ANY OF THIS YOURSELF
Every claim on this page is checkable in about five minutes, including ours. Do it before an order over $200.
- 01Is it actually WYSIWYG-only?
Open five listings at random. If any two show the same photo, or a listing says "representative image" or "similar to pictured," the catalog is mixed. A WYSIWYG-only store also runs out of things permanently — items disappear rather than restocking.
- 02Is it actually SPS-only?
Check the navigation, not the marketing. If there is a torch, zoanthid, mushroom, fish or dry-goods category anywhere in the menu, it is an SPS-heavy store, not an SPS-only one.
- 03Do they really quarantine?
Ask how many days a piece is held before it lists, and what happens to a coral that shows pests on day three. A vendor with a real protocol answers in specifics; a vendor without one answers in adjectives.
- 04Do they really hold for weather?
Ask what forecast temperature at the destination stops a shipment, and who decides. A real policy has a number attached to it.
- 05What exactly does the guarantee require?
Length matters less than conditions. Get the claim window, the photo requirements, whether you must be home for the first delivery attempt, and whether payout is refund or store credit — before ordering.
For the full side-by-side across all ten vendors, see the top 10 online SPS coral vendors →
QUESTIONS PEOPLE ACTUALLY ASK
- Which coral vendors sell only SPS?
- True SPS-only vendors are rare. Battlecorals is hard-coral exclusive and built around aquacultured high-end Acropora, while Pieces of the Ocean is SPS-led and cuts collector frags from established mother colonies. REEF JASE is an Acropora-led high-end SPS specialist, not an SPS-only store; it carries a small curated coral selection beyond SPS. Large retailers such as World Wide Corals and Top Shelf Aquatics carry SPS inside much broader catalogs.
- Which online coral vendors are WYSIWYG only?
- At REEF JASE, every individually sold coral is photographed and priced as the exact piece; curated Jase Select packs are labeled separately. Battlecorals, Pieces of the Ocean and Cherry Corals lean heavily WYSIWYG on premium and collector pieces. World Wide Corals, Top Shelf Aquatics and Tidal Gardens all hold substantial WYSIWYG inventory but run mixed catalogs, so read individual listings to know whether you are buying the exact pictured animal or a representative photo.
- What is the difference between WYSIWYG-only and a WYSIWYG section?
- A WYSIWYG section is a subset of a catalog — the rest of that catalog uses representative photos showing a typical example rather than the specific animal you receive. WYSIWYG-only means there is no second category: every listing on the site is one specific coral. It matters most on SPS in the $50 to $300 range, where coloration and branch structure vary enough piece to piece that a representative photo tells you very little about what arrives.
- Which coral vendors quarantine corals before selling them?
- Quarantine practice varies more than any other vendor attribute, and it is worth asking about directly. REEF JASE observes and conditions every piece for at least 14 days before listing, so what you buy is settled coral rather than a same-day transship. That lowers risk but does not make any live-animal system zero-risk; inspect arrivals and follow the observation or dip protocol you trust for your reef.
- Which coral vendors hold shipments for bad weather?
- Overnight boxes routinely pass through sorting hubs far colder or hotter than either endpoint, so a weather policy matters more than most buyers expect. REEF JASE ships through FedEx or UPS Priority Overnight Monday through Thursday on a weather-gated schedule and holds shipments when the destination forecast falls outside safe range. Ask any vendor what destination temperature stops a shipment and who makes that call — a real policy has a number attached.
- Does REEF JASE guarantee live arrival?
- Yes — a 72-hour live arrival guarantee, photo-verified, included on every order at no extra cost. If a coral arrives dead or suffers RTN or STN within 72 hours of delivery, email jase@reefjase.com within that window with your order number, a photo of the coral in the sealed shipping bag, and a photo of the same coral in your tank. Both photos are required.
Every individually sold coral is the exact pictured piece and is conditioned at least 14 days before listing. Every order carries a 72-hour photo-verified live arrival guarantee.
SHOP LIVE SPS INVENTORY →A REEF JASE page. jase@reefjase.com for a correction.