OL vendors, not business as usua l?

[strout]

This is just an observation that I have made of a few SPS online Coral vendors, and I maybe reading more into than there actually is. Reef Hot Spot is apparently going out of business, Atlantis Aquariums, although they still have a lot of SPS corals still for sale, their best, high dollar corals have been sold out for going on well over a year, ATL Ultimate Stag, ATL Strawberry Field Acro, ATL Vanuatu Pink Lemonade and the list is a lot longer than just these three. Vivid Aquariums, still has a lot of SPS corals for sell, but I would say that 80% of the corals are the lower end of the dollar spectrum. World Wide Corals, although you can still get their best corals, you have to place an order, they will then cut the frags, mount them and then you will have to wait 21 days for the frag to heal before they will ship it to you. Maybe its just me, I wouldn't want to order a coral and have to wait 21 days for it. I am thinking that forum member buying and selling might in a slight way be having an effect on the way these vendors will have to do business in the future. The top of the line named corals are now in a lot of tanks and forum members are selling frag packages for $200.00 and the online vendors are still trying to get $80.00 or more for just one coral frag. Like I said I might be reading more into this than there is, but it appears to me that something is changing.

 

[coral_killer37]

Whats changing is competition. I am glad that the reefer community has all the high end sps. I remember when i could buy a colony for the price of what a frag costs today.

 

[beeker]

honestly i agree with you, i think the best place for prices i've found is Mr.coral although i cant say he has a huge selection

i'd never pay 80 bucks for just 1 coral off of any online vendor, i have ordered from atlantisaquarium before and had great results but honestly their prices are not marketed right at all

i trade with locals and buy frag packs it seems far more cost effective this way plus you get a lot more frags/coral for 1/2 the price

 

[strout]

It just seems odd that a company like Atlantic Aquariums would stop selling their most high dollar corals, WWC changing the way they sell their corals. It just seems to me that something is up with the industry, for what ever the reasons.

 

[BuckeyeTodd]

WWC has everything still. They have ballpark 80-100 acros in their 300 display and 180 combined. They are almost all remarkable, mostly named, or some unamed but still very attractive corals. They are trying to move to having some available of each all the time, so far they have a 180 frag tank filled with probably half of them available immediately. So if they have something you want, call them there is a 50% chance they have it available.

I live 1 mile from their store, a blessing and a curse(blessing of immediately available nice corals, and curse on the wallet for same reason)

 

[Cultivatedcoral]

The economy is in the toilet that is what is going on. Reef and aquarium businesses including our are closing up because nobody is buying.

People are closing their tanks and selling their livestock out competing the vendors. All in all it's not a good scene. I'm not sure how long these high end coral vendors will last unless that are sitting on a bunch of cash from a lotto win to hold them over for the next 5 years or until this economy comes back a little.

I've also noticed there are just not a great selection of acro's nowadays. Most of the usual ORA stuff, Steve Elias Stag, garf bonsai's, purple monster and the multitude of strawberry shortcakes. Other than the usual suspects, nothing has really blown my mind lately.

It's a poor state of affairs this country is in right now with unemployment, home foreclosures, debt, banking industry abusing the public etc.

Sorry to be a downer but it's starting to get to me.

Nick

 

[SPSEMPIRE]

This is just an observation that I have made of a few SPS online Coral vendors, and I maybe reading more into than there actually is. Reef Hot Spot is apparently going out of business, Atlantis Aquariums, although they still have a lot of SPS corals still for sale, their best, high dollar corals have been sold out for going on well over a year, ATL Ultimate Stag, ATL Strawberry Field Acro, ATL Vanuatu Pink Lemonade and the list is a lot longer than just these three. Vivid Aquariums, still has a lot of SPS corals for sell, but I would say that 80% of the corals are the lower end of the dollar spectrum. World Wide Corals, although you can still get their best corals, you have to place an order, they will then cut the frags, mount them and then you will have to wait 21 days for the frag to heal before they will ship it to you. Maybe its just me, I wouldn't want to order a coral and have to wait 21 days for it. I am thinking that forum member buying and selling might in a slight way be having an effect on the way these vendors will have to do business in the future. The top of the line named corals are now in a lot of tanks and forum members are selling frag packages for $200.00 and the online vendors are still trying to get $80.00 or more for just one coral frag. Like I said I might be reading more into this than there is, but it appears to me that something is changing.

Well said.

 

[Znut Reefer]

Is Atlantis Auariums still in business? I can't find their site.

 

[Reef Bass]

comes up fine for me. google it.

 

[dudley moray]

well it's like any other supply and demand business if you want to sell a 1/2 inch frag for 300 $ damn straight some one is going to buy it and as soon as it grows up he's going to whack it up and sell 2" frags for 50 $ then your super awesome ultra rare coral is all over the block. then supply starts to seriously out weigh the demand and well doors start closing .

 

[tuberider]

The economy is in the toilet that is what is going on. Reef and aquarium businesses including our are closing up because nobody is buying.

People are closing their tanks and selling their livestock out competing the vendors. All in all it's not a good scene. I'm not sure how long these high end coral vendors will last unless that are sitting on a bunch of cash from a lotto win to hold them over for the next 5 years or until this economy comes back a little.

I've also noticed there are just not a great selection of acro's nowadays. Most of the usual ORA stuff, Steve Elias Stag, garf bonsai's, purple monster and the multitude of strawberry shortcakes. Other than the usual suspects, nothing has really blown my mind lately.

It's a poor state of affairs this country is in right now with unemployment, home foreclosures, debt, banking industry abusing the public etc.

Sorry to be a downer but it's starting to get to me.

Nick

You hit the nail on the head

 

[MammothReefer]

I disagree I think it's just switched to different vendors. Atlantis Aquarium unfortunately is a product of there own system. You can now get Atlantis Aquarium frags from so many other vendors and from other reefers. Why go to the source. I also have to say I went to there store for the first time, and was very disappointed. It's grungy industrial building, with a couple "frag tanks", and a large main tank which houses a bunch of hacked up pieces that they get there frags from. After years of lusting over the online store it was very disappointing to see in person... ...To make things worse It also doubles as a hydroponics store from what I could tell. I don't think they are the dedicated reef store they once were.

The other piece of the puzzle which nobody has touched on is Mariculted SPS. The quality of the the maricultued sps that is so much greater then years past that so many of those "high end" rare sps we used to dream of our so common place now we don't think twice when we see them. These were the pieces that in the past were becoming LE/Named stuff but now is just another "purple stick".

In terms of quality after taking a 3 year break, shutting down my business, and now getting back into the hobby. The quality of SPS coming in is sooo much better then it was. The Aussie stuff alone is just stunning. I check around quite a bit, and while I used to say I'd never pay "100s" for a single piece, some of the stuff coming in to Divers Den rivals anything that ever came in @ Reefer Madness. ExtermeCorals also tends to get in some really amazing, and I've noticed Happycorals (although I haven't purchased from them yet) has a great selection of maricultured stuff at some pretty decent prices.

 

[Acrotrdco]

The other piece of the puzzle which nobody has touched on is Mariculted SPS. The quality of the the maricultued sps that is so much greater then years past that so many of those "high end" rare sps we used to dream of our so common place now we don't think twice when we see them. These were the pieces that in the past were becoming LE/Named stuff but now is just another "purple stick". ...

Agreed - recently there has been a lots of Indoasian maricultured SPS showing up in the market, I've picked up a few small colonies for just US$ 15-20.

But afterall I think we're spoiled here in HK, where full colonies SPS's are sold for $30-40 each, borrowing a photo from Andrew:

 

[SPSEMPIRE]

I agree on the maricultured acros. It does make you wonder why there has been so many AEFW threads this past year.

Sadly, bob said it best.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_oJPnSaPlQ

 

[eja99]

Reef and aquarium businesses including our are closing up because nobody is buying.

Nick I agree. In the Bay Area/NorCal, we have seen a rash of great stores close and it sucks.

However, I have walked into several stores recently with cash in hand, asked how much for that piece only to have the owner say "not for sale." By the way, these are the same owners complaining about the economy.

I make every effort to support my LFS because when they are gone this hobby will be less enjoyable. Maybe some are just destined to fade away as their business model is simply broken.

 

[MammothReefer]

It makes sense to me a lot of stores are closing. Having a reef store 4-5 years ago was EASY. Especially online. Shoot up to LAX cherry pick, do a couple group buys sell the "OK" stuff at 50-100% markup to just to make mins, and clear out the big dollar stuff at a much higher markup, or if you were luckily enough to have friends / family in SEA or PI get stuff dropped shipped. For along time the "etailers/stores" had a one up on the wholesalers as trends moved faster then wholesalers pricing, but as the trends in reefing have plateaued, the markup on pieces has adjusted. Take for example the Blue Zoanthid crazy that was like 5-6 years ago. (back in the "aquadesignz") era. We were shooting up to 104 picking up zoas for 10-20$ a pop, chopping them up and selling them for 100's of dollars. I once tossed a blue zoanthid rock on ebay w/no reserve and got over 700$ for it.. I paid 15$. Now things like aussie acans and aussie acros are selling for pretty close to retail from many wholesalers. The only way you can make money off them is to hack them up, or be a photoshop wizard with some brass nards who is willing to mark up things way beyond their value.

With that said there were a lot of people opening up reef stores that had NO BUSINESS opening up reef stores..because it was so easy. So now that things are slowing down, the stores that are going to stick around are the ones with run by people who actually know how to run a business. People with customer service skills, know how to balance there books, understand how to keep there live stock alive, and know how to push things threw the door ect ect. The half assed shops will shut down, as well as the lingering B&M shops who refuse to join the modern commerce world and sell online as well.

 

[MammothReefer]

double post