I just wanted to add a few words from my own personal experience. Itรยขรขโยฌรขโยขs gonna be a long reply, so you might want to grab a Pepsi to sip on LOL.
I remember vividly the days of purchasing an entire colony of just about any color imaginable prior to 2005. The prices were very affordable, ranging from $ 15 for a 2 inch frag of 15 polyps. $35 to 65 for a large 4 to 5 inch rock of 50 polyps. Believe me, itรยขรขโยฌรขโยขs true. So what happened? It has nothing, absolutely nothing to do with supply and demand as some have stated, NOTHING. There is more supply now then there ever has been. More exporting, more collection sights, more sights being discover with lots of new zoas and palys of which we have never seen before.
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โMay I ask why you or anyone responsible would buy one polyp, or why someone would sell one polyp?รยขรขโยฌรย
For one simple reason, money. It has become profitable to buy and sell zoas and palys by the polyp, just view the selling forums of every sight on the web. Many, not all buyers, are doing so because it is the only way to get anything different, pretty or a combination of the two. Per polyp selling didnรยขรขโยฌรขโยขt originate with E stores or LFS, it started with guys like you and me. They now mask selling per polyp as a means of supporting their reefing cost. This is sometimes true, but by and large, it isnรยขรขโยฌรขโยขt the norm. New web sights are popping up every single day selling zoas and palys by the polyp, and I know many of them. Can you blame them? LFS have jumped on the same bandwagon. If everyone else is doing it, do you think everyone else wonรยขรขโยฌรขโยขt jump in for a piece of the pie? Again, can you blame them? And all of this coincided with the assigning of names. Skyrocketing prices in conjunction with those who are using names for the wrong purpose, has lead to abrupt increase in frag tanks. There are just as many frag tanks now as there are reef tanks. Why? Money !!!!
Naming was created as a means of identification for some as the zoas and palys explosion began back in 2005 in conjunction with the skyrocketing price rise, not for a colony, but now, for a single polyp.
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โWhy are people so stingy that they have to sell by the polyp instead of offering healthy multiple polyp frags for reasonable prices?รยขรขโยฌรย
I donรยขรขโยฌรขโยขt think it has anything to do with being stingy, really. It has everything to do with profit, and lots of it. I broke down my entire prop system in 2005 because I simply refuse to sell highly quality zoas and palys grown in optimal conditions for my normal asking price, $ 15 for a frag of 15 to 20. Why? Because those whom I was selling to simply took them home, photographed them and placed them back on the same sight that they purchased them from me. Or, they would be assigned a name, chopped up, and sold by the polyp. I just did a bit of research, and it seems the last frags I sold were called Sour Apples. I sold a young reefer 10 of them for $ 10.00. I sold the last of my Purple Deaths for $ 3.00 a polyp. I sold 20 polyp Blue zoa frag for $ 20. The guy couldnรยขรขโยฌรขโยขt believe the price I charged him. He felt so guilty; he wanted to give me more money. Why? He was convinced that what he saw on line and locally was the way it was going to be everywhere. In short, this has become the norm.
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โI have yet to see someone with a thousand polyps of Tubbs Blues or Rose Nebulas.รยขรขโยฌรย
I doubt if you every will see thousands in one tank unless it is an extremely large system. I use to have hundreds of the same polyp on one rock. It was the very reason I had to break the entire tank down and start over again from scratch or small frags.
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โMost of the more colorful types of zoanthids are more difficult to get a hold ofรยขรขโยฌรย
My friend, this simply isnรยขรขโยฌรขโยขt true. You can find anything you want; you just have to look for them. Contact as many E stores, web sights, LFS, friends, buddies etc, and you will find what you want. I canรยขรขโยฌรขโยขt tell you how many times I have walked into a LFS and found a gem just sitting there, stunning and with no name. To be very honest, that is what drives me, the hunt for polyps with no names while everyone else fights over the same old polyps that every reefer who has zoas has in their system. I am totally against names, we have done very well for many many years without names. On the other hand, naming has benefited me dozens of times. It is seldom hard for me to find something in a store that was sitting there untouched for months, I mean a gorgeous frag and most recently colonies. Why? They didnรยขรขโยฌรขโยขt have a name.
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โThe concept of selling per polyp becomes a method of allowing a person with a limited budget the opportunity to buy some of the colorful zoanthids they want to have without paying the higher cost for a full colony.รยขรขโยฌรย
Not true, never has been. Per polyp sales are for profit margins only. Itรยขรขโยฌรขโยขs not to help you buy more frags, itรยขรขโยฌรขโยขs not to help you increase your collections, itรยขรขโยฌรขโยขs not to make it easy for everyone to own a piece of what every single person has on RC. If I as a 10 year old kid can buy 10 marbles for a dollar, and sell each marble for .50 cents, well, Iรยขรขโยฌรขโยขll leave it at that.
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โWhat I see as a big issue is the prices that people are paying and being charged. As soon as someone grow 5 heads they are like... wow i can make a bunch of money... chop chop chop.รยขรขโยฌรย
That is the gospel truth.
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รยขรขโยฌรยThe other thing that per polyp pricing is causing is more and more rare corals.รยขรขโยฌรย
Just because someone tells you itรยขรขโยฌรขโยขs rare, doesnรยขรขโยฌรขโยขt mean itรยขรขโยฌรขโยขs rare. More often than not, itรยขรขโยฌรขโยขs hype, itรยขรขโยฌรขโยขs marketing, itรยขรขโยฌรขโยขs a means to get your money. Itรยขรขโยฌรขโยขs funny how every single polyp on Ebay is assigned the RARE label. Per polyp pricing, has absolutely nothing o do with rarity.
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โAs these corals became more propagated their prices would fall with the online retailers.รยขรขโยฌรย
Mark this day, that will never happen. Prices will only drop when buyers stop paying those prices.
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โSupply and demand guys. I dont sell zoas, or have ever traded single polyps. But I also dont see anyone forcing people to buy it.รยขรขโยฌรย
It has nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing to do with supply and demand. That is what people want you to think. รยขรขโยฌร
โYou better buy this now while the price is lowรยขรขโยฌรย. รยขรขโยฌร
โThis is the hottest new paly on the market bro.รยขรขโยฌรย This is called Marketing 101
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รยขรขโยฌรยSome Zoas just donรยขรขโยฌรขโยขt thrive in everyone's tank, and that's why they command the high prices.รยขรขโยฌรย
Again, the seller doesnรยขรขโยฌรขโยขt know you or your tank. They donรยขรขโยฌรขโยขt know your parameters or your name. Instead of spending tons of money, wouldnรยขรขโยฌรขโยขt it be most economical to find out why some of those zoas and plays donรยขรขโยฌรขโยขt do well in those tanks. Zoas and palys dying have nothing to do with setting an off the chart price.
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โI donรยขรขโยฌรขโยขt know who started this buying zoanthids per polyp but it really stinks, mostly because all Iรยขรขโยฌรขโยขm doing is buying them! However, this is the nature of the market for the really exotic, rarely seen, zoanthids. When there are trends like this its tough to break them. heres why:รยขรขโยฌรย
I agree my friend. This is why Iรยขรขโยฌรขโยขve stopped selling. I just did a 6 month experiment with growth acceleration. I now have 5 large colonies that Iรยขรขโยฌรขโยขm stuck with keeping or giving away. If I sold them for $ 25, they would be fragged into 20 pieces and glued to plugs that same day. ( Please do not contact me as I am not soliciting a sale. )
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รยขรขโยฌรยIf a zoa is rare and extremely hard to find, like anything else, it is worth a lot of money.รยขรขโยฌรย
I have seen reefers with 1 year in the hobby telling others that a polyp is rare. There is very little that is rare anymore, hard to find, yes, not seen often, maybe, but rarity is not always the case.
Just curious if you anyone can post a picture of a rare hard to find zoa or paly. If the paly that is labeled as rare blue paly buy a store or reefer who has it, and it was collected sitting right next to a dirty brown play which has also never been seen before, tell me why would the Blue play cost $ 50 a polyp and be labeled rare, and the entire brown colony would cost $ 30 and the word rare not be mentioned at all? Not because of supply and demand, not because of the blue coral, which might fetch a few dollars more. No, itรยขรขโยฌรขโยขs because someone will pay more for the blue paly because it was labeled rare, hard to find, it had more color and they know someone is going to drop the money for it. I have no problem with color intensity costing more, I do have a problem with paying an arm and a leg for it.
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โSelling 1-2 polyps at a time enables people like me to buy them, grow them out, and sell/trade to friends so that this hobby moves forward.รยขรขโยฌรย
I could do the same thing if they sold me a 20 polyp frag. 1 or 2 polyp sales allows a bigger profit margin. The person who pays $ 40 for a polyp has to also sell a polyp for $ 40 to get his money back. This is why it will take forever for these prices to drop.
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โ Dont like the coral? Dont buy it..thats my opinion. I dont buy brown zoas but I bet a bunch of newer hobbiests would love them.รยขรขโยฌรย
I agree 2,000 %, but what about the common blue collar reefer who does like and canรยขรขโยฌรขโยขt afford to but it? I know I know, we should tell him to get out of the hobby and find one he can afford. Or, if you canรยขรขโยฌรขโยขt afford it, get out. That is not what reefing is all about. The reefing hobby is rapidly being replaced with commerce, profitability and sometimes blatant greed.
I respect all of your opinions and I only hope that you'll respect mine along with the facts.
Mucho
I agree with a lot of what you have said Mucho but supply and demand is a personal thing and people will charge what they want and others will pay regardless of whats right or wrong. Supply and demand only go so far in this hobby when supply finally gets high, the price will drop.
