I know it has been asked before, but.... Where is the best online frag place?
- Thread starter bamf25
- Start date
For Unique, I would have to say Wet Thumbs. They carry such a large quantity of nice corals that you just don't see for sale on most all of the other sites. I would say however, over all, they charge a bit to much though.
The other sites that I have saved in my favorites on my puter
Pro Corals - very good prices for very nice coral frags
Gonzo Corals
Vivid Aquariums
Jason Fox Corals Lot of Chalices Good mix of High $$$ corals,, and nice corals that aren't high $$$
Reef Exotic Corals Doesn't have a lot of corals, but what they have are very nice top of the line
Battle Corals Good prices for nice frags
Rocky Mountain Corals Good prices for nice frags
Live Aquaria May get blasted here a bit, I know a lot of people buy corals from them. After looking at their SPS corals and what they charge: I think they are way over priced compared to say Pro Corals, Rocky Mountain Corals.
I would also say if you watch the forum for sale section, there are several reefers that sell top notch corals at very nice prices.
The other sites that I have saved in my favorites on my puter
Pro Corals - very good prices for very nice coral frags
Gonzo Corals
Vivid Aquariums
Jason Fox Corals Lot of Chalices Good mix of High $$$ corals,, and nice corals that aren't high $$$
Reef Exotic Corals Doesn't have a lot of corals, but what they have are very nice top of the line
Battle Corals Good prices for nice frags
Rocky Mountain Corals Good prices for nice frags
Live Aquaria May get blasted here a bit, I know a lot of people buy corals from them. After looking at their SPS corals and what they charge: I think they are way over priced compared to say Pro Corals, Rocky Mountain Corals.
I would also say if you watch the forum for sale section, there are several reefers that sell top notch corals at very nice prices.
ebacon
Active member
So i went to Wet Thumbs.com.... some interesting ping montis and flowering kitty's... then my wife walked in.....
divewsharks
Active member
Rocky Mtn Frags
Fantastic Frags
Fantastic Frags
Big E
Premium Member
If you have the cash though, you can buy one of those DD Aussie Colonies and get half your cash back selling a few frags, instead of paying $150(price of frag & shipping) for a 1" piece from the other vendors listed. I'd say you can do that with about half the inventory those vedors carry.
The other half you can buy from hobbyists online or locally. I was amazed at the prices at swaps of some designer SPS. Be patient & do your homework. "Search" is your friend.
defchild84
New member
o man. Getting caught looking at that internet eye candy... did you frantically try to back out with an overwhelming "got caught' guilt ?? been there... lmao
dvanacker
DID I SOUNDS SMRT??
The only two big name wild aussies that you can do that with are strawberry shortcake and echinata.
Some of these places do seem to specialize in wild chop shop but other are mostly captive grown collectibles.
Big E
Premium Member
If you say so..............trust me I've been scanning stuff that comes in for almost 2 years & a lot of it is the same with different designer names that came in from old or new Bali, Figi, Aussie, ect & are slapped a name like Big E slurple purple, ect.
It helps to know what kind of acro you're looking at like a tenuis, hyacynthis, ect. Some of the old favorites I agree, like the Oregon Tort, purple monster, ect., but a lot is just wild stuff that has been "aquacultured"........cut & allowed to encrust for a few months & given a fancy name.
I'm not talking about any specific vendors mind you, but like I said do your homework. I haven't seen anything "new" that I can't find in numerous places wth different designer names.
There are also a ton of acros that are getting fancy names that are exactly like or very similar to common stuff, but when the pic is taken under a macro lense shows little subtle colors that only show on growth tips or the first 1/2" of an acro you realize it's nothing new than what's available everyday.
I think this is probably best left for another thread..............I don't want to side track the OP's request.
I can post a top down pic of an acro frag I bought at a swap last week for $20 & I'll get about six different opinions of what designer frag it is by name.
What really makes me laugh the most is when someone says they have lineage..........what the heck does that even mean? It's all third party hear say.
Anything else I know that is collectible & holds it's value has a certificate of authenticity from the originator that is signed to verify or prove what it is.
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I have been to Tropiaquarium many time, just not across the street. DO you know the name?
dvanacker
DID I SOUNDS SMRT??
Ed, the odds are you are just not that much of a collector to know the difference.
True many places are just wild chopped up colonies....take a nice macro picture and slap a fancy name on them. Can't say I own one of those. I own lots of named captive grown corals though.
Tyree Pink Lemonade
Tyree Rainbow Stylo
Tyree Purple Monster
ORA Hawkins
ORA Pealberry......just to name a few
This conversation always comes up and I can tell you that I have formed a solid opinion after many years of being addicted to SPS. Of course they may similar corals but unless they come from the orginal captive grown stock they are not guaranteed to be as hardy, colorful, fast growing etc.
Take palmers blue millepora for example. I have owned 4 blue millepora over the years. Each with different characteristics.....but the palmers is buy far the best. All the same species....all the same color, yet one is hardier, faster growing and a nicer coloration of blue.
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thelizardkin
New member
Check this site out it's a local store http://www.upscales.com/Home.html they have $15 commen sps frags like millis montipora birdsnest stag horns est they also some rarer stuff like o-tort
toothman
Premium Member
I was also going to mention upscales, they had a 10 frag shipped for $225. If you ask I think they will still do it. I purchased 2 of the 10 packs, the second he even threw in a oregon tort 3/4 inch but what the heck. Their web site is dated and never changed in 5 yrs but the coral is healthy and large for the money.
The other store is 1105 rt 35 ocean nj, 732 695 6006, they rarely pick up phone.
It really is right across the street from the strip ctr., where tropiaquarium is.
The corals that Dvanacker mentioned are all excellent corals and worth having. I have all of them.
The other store is 1105 rt 35 ocean nj, 732 695 6006, they rarely pick up phone.
It really is right across the street from the strip ctr., where tropiaquarium is.
The corals that Dvanacker mentioned are all excellent corals and worth having. I have all of them.
MammothReefer
Active member
I've received all my best FRAGs from reefers here on the forum, or Steve Garrett in socal (but he doesn't ship), and a few other local socal reefers when I visit.
Atlantis has great frags but I pick them up in person when I got to the bay area. If I'm going to buy from a vendor I typically buy wild/mari pieces. I like getting my frags from other reefers.
Atlantis has great frags but I pick them up in person when I got to the bay area. If I'm going to buy from a vendor I typically buy wild/mari pieces. I like getting my frags from other reefers.
Aimforever
Premium Member
I totally agree with Mammoth. I have used many of the online vendors, but by far the BEST deals always come in the form of frag packs bought from other RC members. Just about any day of the week you can find packs of 10-15 home grown high end SPS for $200-$250 shipped. There is no online retail store anywhere that can match that. I've actually had better survival rates on these types of frag packs than some of my orders from the big online stores.
The only thing I would add, is to make sure you do your home work when buying from forum members. The better online companies go to great lengths to ensure that the corals they ship out are pest free, one of the reason for the higher cost for their corals. Companies like Vivid and the like can't be sending out pest infested corals if they want to stay in business, the same can't be said for some forum members. Doing your home work when it comes to buying corals from forum members will insure nice, healthy, larger, cheaper corals for your tank, but all forum members corals are not created equal when it comes to pest.
MammothReefer
Active member
I disagree. You can't trust any source. The possibility of pests is a risk you will always take every time you add something new no matter who or where it's from.
Big E
Premium Member
I've been around since day one of the named corals..........I know them all. I said the old school stuff like the purple monster, ect. I agree, you aren't going to see a colony come in. That coral is pretty unmistakable & slow growing, but there were plenty of fakes 10 years ago & when Reefer Madness was around some colonies would come in that looked close to it.
I'll give you can example of an old school coral that got over marketed & is still getting faked............Garf bonsai. There is no one that can tell the difference between them all if the coral is all purple to the base like the original.
The ORA stuff isn't really collector stuff because you can get it anywhere and if you pay more than $15 to 20 for any ORA frag, the garf bonsai, or any item from your list above you need to have your head examined..........except the purple monster.
I bought a 1 1/2" Tyree rainbow stylo for $15 two weeks ago at the local frag swap.
The vendors aren't getting prime price for a lot of that old school stuff anymore unless it's slowwww growing, so they resorted to rebranding corals like say the Myagi Tort..........taking a close up macro pic & calling it some new fancy name & trying to get $200 a frag.
There's nothing wrong with any of this.........it's all marketing, I'm just saying buyer beware, do your research & be patient. Like mentioned........locally & online hobbyists will get deals for you on any "name" coral you want if your patient. Especially over the next 5-6 months when the weather is better for shipping & demand is down because people lose interest when they can do other activities.
Some pieces are hard to find, slow growing or just lost popularity over the years, so if you don't mind paying a premium price & your satisfied that's fine.......just shop around.
Right now you can buy a 1" frag of the Red Dragon for $50 or $175. Who is going to tell you which is the real McCoy? Btw, that thing is a weed & in 6 months it will be going for $15-20.
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Big E
Premium Member
Yep I agree...........I picked mine up for $20 from a local reefer last year & I was at his house to buy a Yuma, but had to have a frag of the Palmers when I saw it. You can get the Palmers from one of those vendors above for $60 & be lucky if it's an inch or get one from a local reefer or online hobbyist for half that price.
