Do corals appreciate or depreciate over time?

[Fmellish]

If I buy a coral for $90 and 12 months later I have nutured it into something twice the size, can I now sell it for $180?

Or do corals lose value over time just like automobiles?

Please help I need to determine the values of my corals as I am getting out of the hobby and selling them off.

Thanks

 

[chaseracing]

Typically they will appreciate. If the coral is something people want, then you can get more. If you have a ton of Xenia and mushrooms then you may not be so lucky.

Not sure if you can get $180, but you should be able to get more than you paid now that it is twice the size.

-=E=-

 

[ACBlinky]

Honestly, I think it can go either way. Yes, a larger coral is generally worth more, but you also need to find someone who both wants a large coral and can afford to pay for it.

I bought my bubble for about $40, now it's easily five times the size and much healthier. Within a year, it will probably outgrow my 65g. Based on LFS prices for similarly sized bubbles, I'd say mine would probably retail for over $100 now. Right now it's still a saleable size, but when it's 12" across, I might not be able to sell it at all. It may be tough to find a home for a huge, hungry monster with a nasty sting, and I doubt I'd get anywhere close to the $200 or so it may be 'worth'.

I think it also depends on the type of coral. If you've got something that's easily fraggable, like zoas, branching LPS, rics, leathers, etc. you may have better luck selling frags than single, large corals/colonies.

 

[Fmellish]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

I just wanted to make sure that corals didn't lose value over time.

Thanks

 

[Ursus]

Also, if it's easily fraggable, then I would say it will be worth much more later on. Once it gets to a large size, you can frag it and sell the frags for a decent amount, which im pretty sure would be more than you could get for the full colony.

 

[kass03]

It really depends on what it is. Some corals like acan lords sold for $2000 a cpl yrs ago and now are pretty common and cheap.

If your selling everything I would look at some LFS and online stores for the same coral and then try to sell it cheaper.
You'll know if it's priced to high if nobody buys it.

kass

 

[Fmellish]

Thanks guys, I just got done posting everything.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=939169