does anyone try to rescue corals

Not surprisingly, this doesn't only apply to Corals but fish as well. I've tried rescuing fish from the LFS. It is very true, most shops would rather throw it in a dark tank or feed it to the triggers than let someone save them.
 
I saved two more corals this week, and think I may have found a gem. Sometimes doing a little good comes back around.
 
I have been saving the badly shipped corals from a lfs near me for years and I have a deal with the owner. I get the corals just about free and he takes any frag or colony I want to bring him for like half of what he would sell it for but I have a full qt setup for this plus it has paid for a lot of my equipment which he also discounts heavily for me. I started doing it because so much is lost in the transport. BTW I'm talking mostly acros
 
we have some stores in houston that would not even want to sell the almost dead ones because they say " some make it, some dont"
 
drew1 said:
Nope. I've watched the store for long enough and have come to the realization that they are going to continue ordering and killing corals. I am trying to save what life they are trying to kill. Trust me, they are not profiting from what I am paying for these coral remnants.
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Because people like you keep buying them, making it profitable.

If they lost money every time they bought XXX coral and it died before being sold, they would stop ordering XXX coral.

It's that simple, whether you see it that way or not, that's how they see it.

Every fish store I know keeps track of what they ordered, what sold and what losses they had. Items that have high rates of loss don't get ordered as often as things that sell regularly.
 
all the time nothing beats getting a 100+ dollar coral for next to nothing and bring it back and color it up.. make ya feel good... dont it??
 
Just to correct sslak's assumption - This LFS that I occasionally rescue corals from does not buy specific corals, but rather gets a random assortment in from their supplier. Many are mixed, which is exactly how they sell them - $39.99 for mixed hard/soft corals. They don't have a clue what they have. You can actually get great deals there if you show up on the day the shipments come in. I don't do that. I will not buy corals from them supporting their way of doing business. But if I see some that are almost dead I'll try to deal with them. You could probably make the case that I'd save more if I bought them when they first arrive but I am actually hoping they will get rid of their coral/saltwater fish section. So they may keep trackl of their losses, but not specific to a certain type of coral - just that they lost another piece.
 
When you talked to the management did they have any plans to educate their staff or upgrade their facilities. It make good business sense to decrease losses. Esp if they are selling some more expensive corals for only $40 due to mis IDing them

Wouldnt take much investment to do either. Surely some
employees must love the hobby enough to actually read up on things? Or is it a large chain? Sounds like a bad reefer and a bad businessman to me.
 
No. The upper management gets all their "information" from their supplier who tells them everything they need to know. The actual staff has very little knowledge and even less flexibility on how to run things in the store. Occasionally I'll have to ask them to turn a coral over becasue they have it facing down (usually on another coral) and the base sticking up. It really is rather depressing to see. Seeing sea hares roaming around aquariums with no algae is also quite sad.
 
Bad management, bad business, bad news. I'd let them take 100% loss. I see your point about saving corals but you are still helping their bottom line. Even if they are selling at a loss to you.
 
I bought a sad looking chalice from a store that was going out of business for $5, it was basically all brown, now after several months, it is purple/green with bright pink tips...I love it.
 
I think this is a great idea. I occasionally buy a good looking coral for full price but mainly rely on distressed looking markdowns that just need some attention. I have saved some awesome pieces this way.
 
It may be wrong that they aren't doing what is necessary to keep the corals alive, but what they are doing is not wrong from a business standpoint.

To the untrained eye it may appear pretty dumb that they would rather see it die than give it away for almost nothing, but in a business sense. When running a business you have the ability to write off losses on your taxes. If they sold it to you for almost nothing they would lose money, if they write it off on taxes they get the full value as a deduction. Most, if not all, of these stores have nothing but their bottom line in mind. They are running a business, charity does not put food on the table.
 
I have 2 LFS in my area that deals with salt, 1 is top of the line, the other not so much.

the lesser of the 2 has 2 coral tanks about 20gal each, they have gravel bottoms with algae growing every where, along with basic strip lighting. when i asked them why their tanks looked like this they said " we like to keep our stock in as natural of a enviroment as we can" I explained to them that what they had isnt even close and they should consider turning their 20gal algae tanks into nice clean frag tanks.

I got told i didnt know what i was talking about and that they had over 30 yrs experiance. I said thats why you have 4 10 inch tangs in that 90 gal display tank, and walked out the door.
 
most places that kill their corals over a long time normally don't last very long. So dont worry when they close and have a close out sale you should get their coral really cheap.
 
I have seen some pretty beat up corals at my lfs. It is sad that they try to sell them full price and would rather kill it than sell it at a discount.
 
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