Do you think this frag is worth $200?

[The Escaped Ape]

As others have said, there is no way I'd pay that much for this frag.

However, they are a very pretty combination of colors, there are a relatively decent number of polyps on the frag and you might really like this particularly one. On that basis, $40-$50 is not horrendous, just a bit pricey.

$200 and you're contributing to the vicious circle of hype, though I understand why you're considering it. I know only too well the feeling that you may never see a particular morph again, never mind the very cheap/free trade frag that everyone is saying should be available, but you suspect won't be.

But, take it from me, get into a good group of people at your local reef club, start swapping and making joint purchases together and you'll find decent, attractive frags that will color up well, not break the bank and be a way to share with friends, enriching your own collection with what you get in return.

 

[NorthReefer]

No not worth 200. Can be worth 15 to 20 per poly but when you buy like 20 poly doesn't mean they charge you 15-20 and times it by 20 that's a rip off, as I see when you buy more he price of each poly goes down I'd say if u like it buy like 2-4 poly for like 30 bucks and grow it.

 

[Mr. Microscope]

No, zoas are zoas. It's retarded hype marketing that makes people think they're actually worth something or that they need to have them. Guess what, if you're not dumb enough to buy it, and the guy next to you isn't either, all of a sudden the prices come down.

I had to sell some zoas recently and felt like a douche for charging $5 a polyp before dropping it down to $3. To be honest I still felt crappy charging $3 pp. But, I could have taken a super macro, hyped the name as new to the hobby, and chop shopped them to 2 polyp $60+ frags because there are always people who think they're crack and need them. Long story short, what you can charge for something shouldn't be based on what the most gullible idiot on the planet would be willing to give you for them.

Well, some of us have bigger problems with eye-candy than others (talking about myself).

The same thing happened in Holland back in the 1600's with tulips. They were selling for thousands of dollars/bulb. One even sold for the equivalent of $5million in today's money. Then, everyone realized they were just flowers and the bubble burst crashing the economy.

Though, I don't have $200 to spend on a coral, and probably never would it's fun to dream about the most beautiful, brightest, see-it-from-across-the-room kind of corals. However, I would probably get one polyp for $30 like I said before.

 

[BillyC]

Those are cool polyps but for that price I'd so much rather get the similar looking Darth Mauls because they look better IMO.

 

[laugh]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1829557

 

[650-IS350]

This is one of the major reasons why I stopped being active in the hobby, stopped helping on the forums and threads, pretty much stopped collecting, every Tom Dick and Harry finds a polyp (EVEN IF LOOKS LIKE A TURD) then feels the need to name it just to be able to say hey, I named a polyp and it's on so and so site.

find polyp, put in tank with tons of attinic or all attinic/LED, get a really nice camera with a super zoom lense, learn some better shot taking technics, take great shots with the (rocks, hands, egg crate looking blue ), super impose or photo shop the pics then post it up on every forum and call it a new crazy name and hype it. Garner a lot of attention then all the sudden........ ( HEY ALL, NEW RELEASE.... UBER SUPER RARE ITS NOT A MORPH OF ALREADY KNOWN POLYP OR THE SAME THING JUST UNDER BETTER LIGHTS ) etc.......

Not saying that's the OP, just what i've always seen for a long time now.... Leaves a bad taste to ones mouth.. that's where this hobby is now and where it's going to be COMMON to start finding " NEW " hyped morphs with the average asking price of 200-300 a SINGLE POLYP.

 

[dknydiep]

Nice looking piece. Not worth 200 though.

 

[APBonds]

We get rocks bigger than my fist covered in zoas for $200 at the lfs, and thats purple hornets and such. That frag plug covered in zoas no matter what they are is not worth $200. Thats show rock prices not a frag plug. Besides I've seen perfictly healthy zoas melt for no reason, then its just a $200 empty frag plug.

 

[organism]

Not saying that's the OP, just what i've always seen for a long time now.... Leaves a bad taste to ones mouth.. that's where this hobby is now and where it's going to be COMMON to start finding " NEW " hyped morphs with the average asking price of 200-300 a SINGLE POLYP.

Too true, it's mostly the online hype market that's creating this mess. I was at a farmer's market today and there were some great deals on phenomenal pieces, even direct from Tyree. There were also a lot of people charging $1-200 for generic, very colored up overpriced zoanthids and other corals. The thing is most of the hypesters are newer vendors with dollar bills in their eyes, the old school guys including Tyree were just blowing stuff out like it used to be back in the day.

The worst were hype clowns like THC corals (I think his sn on here is rukis) charging $350 for basically an orange plate with some stripes and $200 for some ugly crap, but they were pretty balanced out by the guys selling like 15 polyps of VDM palys for $25, and strawberry shortcake mini colonies for $30. I scored a colony of captain america palys from Your Reef for what a polyp goes for online. But you know what, at the end of the day those scammers that were overcharging were sitting on a lot of corals and the old school guys were cleaned out, it was a refreshing sight

 

[Lurking]

Too true, it's mostly the online hype market that's creating this mess. I was at a farmer's market today and there were some great deals on phenomenal pieces, even direct from Tyree. There were also a lot of people charging $1-200 for generic, very colored up overpriced zoanthids and other corals. The thing is most of the hypesters are newer vendors with dollar bills in their eyes, the old school guys including Tyree were just blowing stuff out like it used to be back in the day.

The worst were hype clowns like THC corals (I think his sn on here is rukis) charging $350 for basically an orange plate with some stripes and $200 for some ugly crap, but they were pretty balanced out by the guys selling like 15 polyps of VDM palys for $25, and strawberry shortcake mini colonies for $30. I scored a colony of captain america palys from Your Reef for what a polyp goes for online. But you know what, at the end of the day those scammers that were overcharging were sitting on a lot of corals and the old school guys were cleaned out, it was a refreshing sight

Says the guy charging $150 per polyp of mushrooms.

 

[organism]

Says the guy charging $150 per polyp of mushrooms.

I'm not sure where you think you read $150 or mushrooms plural, but we can go over that one as many times as you want, the answer's still gonna be the same:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=19223210&postcount=8

When I actually keep the money, and it's for me, I'll start thinking about caring about what people online think. Until then, since you're the kind of upstanding gentleman who feels like me having a family emergency means you get to exploit it: thbtbtbbtbtbt

Come to think of it, I doubt I'll ever care what people like yourself think

 

[Lurking]

I don't really care what the price is or the thought process for the reasoning behind it. Im sure the vendors selling expensive frags have reasons for what they are doing as well. Putting food on the table for families etc. I just hope you remember you sell a mushroom for $150 before you engage in hyperbole again.

Great thread.

 

[organism]

No worries, the fact that I was looking to trade it for some no-name palys the week before while hiding the fully colored up pics pretty much speaks for itself, but your inane trolling is amusing

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2061084

edit - it's weird you're so interested in fighting for the gougers with such empty arguments, last I checked the people not hyping corals are feeding their families just fine. Your trolling lacks subtlety

 

[Aquatic_kirch]

I would rather get a nice sps colony, but zoas are nice to. it'll only take 2 years for them to be noticeable in the aquarium, that's the only thing i dont like about frags

 

[SoFloReefer]

SPS is great, but AEFW wiping out your several year old collection is not.

 

[MUCHO REEF]

This is one of the major reasons why I stopped being active in the hobby, stopped helping on the forums and threads, pretty much stopped collecting, every Tom Dick and Harry finds a polyp (EVEN IF LOOKS LIKE A TURD) then feels the need to name it just to be able to say hey, I named a polyp and it's on so and so site.

find polyp, put in tank with tons of attinic or all attinic/LED, get a really nice camera with a super zoom lense, learn some better shot taking technics, take great shots with the (rocks, hands, egg crate looking blue ), super impose or photo shop the pics then post it up on every forum and call it a new crazy name and hype it. Garner a lot of attention then all the sudden........ ( HEY ALL, NEW RELEASE.... UBER SUPER RARE ITS NOT A MORPH OF ALREADY KNOWN POLYP OR THE SAME THING JUST UNDER BETTER LIGHTS ) etc.......

Not saying that's the OP, just what i've always seen for a long time now.... Leaves a bad taste to ones mouth.. that's where this hobby is now and where it's going to be COMMON to start finding " NEW " hyped morphs with the average asking price of 200-300 a SINGLE POLYP.

Very well said 650 and I agree 100% :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[laugh]

I agree with everything except it being a reason to not be active in the hobby. I just don't buy hyped zoas.

 

[Kreeger1]

It's a very nice looking coral, 200 bucks to one person might not mean the same to another. It's all in what you can afford and what you choose to spend your money on. I think that frag has enough polyps to split off and recoup some of the original cost. So yeah I could see spending that.
Just My opinion as well.
Erik

 

[richardhao]

Some people are willing to spend for the love of the hobby.. :hmm5::hmm5::hmm5:

 

[heckeng]

This thread has been an extremely interesting read.

What I think this all boils down to is supply vs. demand. Sure, there are all types of Zoas everywhere. But, can you get this variety anywhere else? Is it a common strain? Is it a desirable coloration?

All these things will affect a person's desire to own them. If you don't like this coloration or something else about it, don't buy it. If you want nice polyps, I think you have to pay for them unless you are just extremely lucky and somebody gives them to you. Where I am, I can buy brown boring zoas all day long for $5-$10 per frag all day long, but it is hard to find any neat looking polyps that I would actually want to display. I have therefore, been willing to pay more for nicer specimens in other shops several hours away.

I don't think you should diss the seller just because he has put a high price on his zoas. If somebody was selling some other desirable commodity, and they were charging a premium price for it, that doesn't mean that the person is a schiester, just that they believe the value of it is higher than you do.

If $200 is too high, how about $100? If that is too high, how about $25? $5? Where is the line drawn that something is too high or "fair". Why not make people just give everybody else free frags? If you remove the reward of fragging nice colonies, you remove the desire for anybody to frag their zoas. If I can get the same $$ for all of my frags, I'm only going to frag the one that grows the fastest in my tank--brown zoas it is!

Just my $0.02