Buy from others in the hobby rather than LFS

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Ellylove

Ellylove

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Does anyone else agree that it is better to purchase things from other hobbists rather than take more things from the ocean by buying from lfs? It would be nice to do that on this site regardless of how many "meaningful" posts you have.
 
it is better to purchase from the hobbyists but if you always buy from the hobbyiest there will not be that LFS and then you wont be able to get stuff that is different.... the "meaningfully post" thing i think is a good idea, no disrespect here. but it does not take long to start racking up some posts... i only get on here for like 20 minutes a day and i can get 10 posts in... lol... some people are on here all day, with there million posts!

how about starting another thread and telling us about your tank or even what you plan to do with it...
 
IBTL-Dog.jpg
Let it go man. Buying/selling is a privilege. The site is about INFOMATION!!

I think I hear Buster coming.
 
There is nothing wrong with buying from hobbiests. however, like others have said. if no one buys from the LFS, it might not be there when you need it.
 
I'm not saying cut them out all together, just spread coral and fish by passing them on from one tank to another. I am a PSAS member and I buy from my lfs all the time, but I bought my clownfish and lr from other people so more didn't have to be removed from the ocean to replace them like if I had purchased at the lfs.
 
Does anyone else agree that it is better to purchase things from other hobbists rather than take more things from the ocean by buying from lfs?
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Not necessarily. Reducing demand for wild stock is part of the solution, but it's not the only part. From a fisheries standpoint, it's makes a lot of sense to encourage sustainable harvesting as incentive to preserve the reefs. Whether we buy from them or not, the collectors get their livelihood from the reef. Way too many hobbyists have this notion that if we just stop buying wild livestock, the collectors will leave the reefs alone. That idea is completely out of touch with reality on the ground.

We need to provide demand for sustainably produced livestock, whether it be aquacultured in-situ or responsibly wild harvested. Refusing to buy livestock from overseas, or arbitrarily choosing locally produced stock over wild caught or in-situ cultured doesn't do that. We simply have to be more responsible about our choices rather than saying that locally grown is always better. Don't buy wild-caught species that have poor survival, are known to be overfished, or are from areas with high rates of cyanide use. Buy in-situ aquacultured corals whenever possible rather than those grown locally. Ask for certified net-caught fish too.
 
I try to source all my corals from other hobbyists (and frags from my LFS). This way I'm limiting my personal impact on reef resources, and ensuring that what I'm adding to my tank has already done well enough in captivity to produce frags. I support my LFS mainly by buying supplies (my setup is low-tech so I can take the markup).

I'm also a big fan of that grown-in look you can't get by buying grown colonies and slapping them on your LR.
 
Buying from other reefers allows you to get to know other people and how they work their setups and in most of the cases either you or them can provide a backup for the other in the event that you lose your frag/colony. Wild corals are iffy why take the chance.
 
The most efficient model is for the home aquarists to produce livestock, be it coral, cichlids, whatever, and then sell it to a pet store in bulk. The hobbyist doesn't have to deal with every single customer and all the hassles that go with it, and the store gets a large group of animals for a fair price. The customer gets a wide selection, and supports the store that then stays in business. Sure the customer pays a bit more for the item, but they can always jump into the market and produce their own if they want.

This model served us well back in the 1960's and 1970's......

Jay
 
Noobalicious said:
I like buying from other reefers just for the fact that you can get livestock that is already acclimated to tank life and isn't still going through the shock of being yanked from the ocean.
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+1

I bought my Elegance Coral from a local reefer who kept it successfully for over six months. Not sure I would take a chance on buying one from a LFS.
 
zachfishman said:
I try to source all my corals from other hobbyists (and frags from my LFS). This way I'm limiting my personal impact on reef resources, and ensuring that what I'm adding to my tank has already done well enough in captivity to produce frags. I support my LFS mainly by buying supplies (my setup is low-tech so I can take the markup).

I'm also a big fan of that grown-in look you can't get by buying grown colonies and slapping them on your LR.
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I'm with you. The biggest thing that I've noticed with many of my corals is that they "settle in" more quickly than ones harvested from the the ocean.
 
I also love to ask questions from the hobbyist that i get the frags from. especially when it come to lighting and the placement of the frag in my tank.
 
You can get a better idea if you buy from a hobbyist on the nature of pests in the ta

You can get a better idea if you buy from a hobbyist on the nature of pests in the ta

nk at a lfs you dont know whats going into your system.
 
Dont froeget about there 300% mark up! If i need something the local farmers do group buy w/ in our local (state wide) club and we make it cheeper for everyone! I do agree w/ most statements about lfs, but this hobbie is not cheep as we all know and if i can save a few bucks on 1 bad a$$ coral to put it toward another bad a$$ coral then...... i guess im just trying to justafy that i spend to much no matter what!:bum:
 
Ellylove said:
Does anyone else agree that it is better to purchase things from other hobbists rather than take more things from the ocean by buying from lfs? It would be nice to do that on this site regardless of how many "meaningful" posts you have.
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I thought that rule only applied to selling stuff. You mean you can't view or reply to a FS post? You can't PM a seller? Sorry, I'm a little confused by your frustration.
 
bookfish said:
I thought that rule only applied to selling stuff. You mean you can't view or reply to a FS post? You can't PM a seller? Sorry, I'm a little confused by your frustration.
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Nope. You can't even SEE the fs/ft threads until you have 50 posts and 90 days. I want to purchase things from other reefers to minimize my impact, but I guess that isn't supported on this forum until you are a member for longer than your tank has been running.
 
It's fine. What I'm more upset about is that I got burned by a seller and now I can't leave feedback but he can. He basically ran off with half my money and I can't do anything about it. I'd like to be able to find some different (honest) sellers to purchase from, but I can't. When I slipped through the cracks when I first joined this site. I made several LARGE purchases from a gal on here and things went by very smoothly. I can't leave her feedback either.
 
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