As if the beautiful colours of the Orbeez line weren’t enough, I’ve also become quite fond of the company’s line of S.C. coral. I have a few friends who are also fans, and it caught my eye when I saw them at the local party store a while back. They’re a little more expensive than the normal S.C. coral but boy do they make some great party favors.
This particular brand of S.C. coral is also called Treasure Isle. It’s available in different sizes, colours, designs and packaging. So far I’m having the best luck with S.C. Richiero, S.C. Scallywag, S.C.
The packaging is a very nice accessory, with a clear window on the back showing the S.C. logo. The S.C. Richiero comes with a very cute looking pirate hat that can easily be converted into a headband for when you’re not wearing it as a hat. There’s also a hook and loop tape to attach your lanyard together. It’s a simple design, but I love the look of it. For added decoration you can add a small bottle of scotch tape, a feather duster, a piece of string and an original card from the Pirate of the Caribbean movie.
The contents are a great selection. They come in three different packs: S.C. Richiero (fish in tank water), S.C. Scallywag (fish in tank water and scaly outer skin), and S.C.
If you pick these three packs, you should be able to see a difference in texture, appearance and color. So if the site says it has the same collection as the original S.C. Richiero, it’s probably not. For one thing, the original fish in tank water is sold by itself, whereas the other two packs are sold together as part of a registered member’s club.
The other two packs contain the same S.C. scoly coral, the only difference is that the third one contains R.E.D. Reefwars which are actually the same coral species found in Sri Lanka, which is rare. R.E.D. Reefwars is sold by itself and its color ranges from green to gray and the rodi itself is a bit bigger than the scoly coral.
So what’s great about the Reefwarars? Well, firstly, they’re much harder than the S.C. Richiero variety because they have evolved to cope with the harsh conditions found in nature. The other great thing is that R.E.D. Reefwars is also sold in the US under the name Oceanus Prime and is also considered by many people to be the best looking corals in the world. In addition to this, it’s actually been confirmed that the three meters reef scoly coral in the US, the ones sold in Europe and Japan are the same corals as found in Sri Lanka.
The Reefwarars were actually taken from waters around Vanuatu, by a Japanese researcher called Jonathan Bertoni in the late nineties. He took the pictures of these amazing sea creatures and sent them to a photographer called Nobuyuki Watanabe who specialized in marine invertebrates. Jonathan Bertoni wanted to use the pictures to help him draw more international attention to the S.C. Richiero which was originally naming Seashell King. When it was discovered that the Sea Shells was actually S.C. Richiero, he changed the name to Island Fish Corals and changed the packaging to prevent confusion with another company.
The S.C. Richiero company began selling the Island Fish Corals a few years later, and since then the story has become widely known. Now when you go to an RC store you will see at least one S.C. Richiero and sometimes you can even find more. When I went to Bali with my son, I noticed that we could not find any of the regular scales anywhere, the shelves were empty.
There is another company called Oceanus Prime that markets the fresh water scoly called Chlorophyllia. When they told me that they sell over 500 varieties, I was really surprised. They have only released two varieties in Fresh water. This company is also registered with the Rainforest Alliance and has been certified by them.
When I talked to the guy from S.C. Richiero he informed me that they had about two or three distributors but did not know who they were. I asked him if he knew of anyone who had bought one, and he said he didn’t, so I guess that means they do not sell. My point being that there are other companies out there, that I would like to introduce to you that are reputable, I was just trying to save you the time of having to do your own research, so that you can buy fresh water S.C. Richiero’s that you know about.
