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Just in case... thanks for the help!

I got a pack of free mystery seeds in an order (mostly Lithops) from MesaGarden last year. Sown them early 2020, now I am not confident they can be identified (but pretty sure it is not a Lithops!), but just in case this rings a bell to someone

Much too early to identify them - but I can tell they're getting light that's far too strong. A dark purple color indicates severe light stress, enough to seriously stunt their growth.

Thank you for your answer. I will move them further away from the lights. They were growing along some Epithelantha seedlings that are doing well (around 12" under LED panel (not that strong) so I didn't realize those were being "grilled"

Cactus seedlings should be green or pink - the exception being Echinopsis mirabilis (syn. Setiechinopsis mirabilis), which is brown in good light. Some of these are so dark purple they're almost black, definitely under stress. Others don't look too bad - likely it's a mixture and some are more sun-tolerant.

Some Gymnocalyciums maybe...

Honestly reminds me of some early Ariocarpus seedlings. Matches the description you provided too - they prefer lower light earlier on in life than most seedlings I've grown, also you mentioned these have been growing since early 2020 - a Gymno would be a pretty decent size at this point.

My only question if this was the case is why would MesaGarden be giving these away? They aren't the easiest things out there...and are very slow growing. Also, this color is not too bad for Ario seedlings...stressed, but I wouldn't call them "grilled."

Any chance you can take a macro/close shot of one of the larger seedlings? A seed/seed capsule can also help in this case, but those are much harder to photograph and may have disappeared into the soil.

Edit: typo

Gemhunter178, here are a couple of shots from up close including remaining capsules on second picture. Thanks for the suggestions, it does indeed look like some Ariocarpus... I guess time will tell. There are some "tubercules" just starting to come out of the initial round bodies...

Seed casing matches too. I'm guessing either an Ario or a related species.
Mesa does have a bunch of those, though I still question why they gave those as bonus on basis of Arios not being the easiest or fast growing./

Arios aren't fast but not difficult.

I also think they look like ariocarpus seedlings. And I have received some ario seeds as a gift whilst purchasing others, but from a different source. I guess they are on the old side, and they prefer to give them away rather than dump them in the thrash. Do arios produce a lot of seeds ?

Yes, the large triangular tubercles are characteristic of Ariocarpus. Explains why they're so light-sensitive.

Thank you all! I will act accordingly!