Pondering the rare and exotic...?

[reefscape15]

hello everyone. This is only my point of view, and i am not trying to disrespect anyones interests/passon. I was wondering about the "rare" and "limited edition" corals that are all over the internet, and selling for crazy amounts of money. I feel that my choice aquarium would be filled with colors, textures, and shapes that i enjoy and personally feel mesh well with one-another. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy having things that others do not, but take the Steve Tyree homepage for example. There is a Brick Red Echnophyllia and a Rainbow Echnophyllia that are selling small frags (up to 1") for $165+! Is this something more for coral "collectors", and not people who just want a well rounded tank? Or am i misunderstanding the whole point of these exotics all together? I have about a 6" Bubble Gum Echnopora that i bought at half that size for $45. To me it looks identical to the Tyree Rainbow Echnophyllia except it's lacking the tiny bit of orange around the mouths. Also i just picked up a 1" frag of Brick Red Echnopora for $15 that looks the same as the Tyree Brick Red Echnophyllia. I for one am not willing to pay the extreme amount to have something that looks so much like something that you could get for a fraction of the price. This again is just my POV, and not meant to offend anyone, but let me know if you feel the same or are on the other side of the fence. Thank you and i hope i haven't made anyone too mad!!!!

 

[billsreef]

The whole fancy name, rare, and limited edition bit is really nothing more then excellent marketing to seperate people from their money
For example, Green Polyped Toadstools are far from rare or limited, yet call it a Tyree LE and all of a sudden a $30 colony is selling as $50 per square inch frag. I've seen corals sell per polyp for 100x the wholesale cost of entire colonies, from people who brought the colony wholesale Yet people buy into the marketing hype and pay the insane $$$.

 

[reefscape15]

Exactly my thoughts. I guess if i started a site and sold my Anthellia under a "limited edition" title i could get some more money huh? Haha... I think some of that Tyree stuff is cool, but i would never buy it for the price. Thanks for the support!

 

[billsreef]

It's one of those subjects that urks me IMO the "designer" coral craze is ruining the hobby. Back when the acan craze was at it's height and they were selling around $100 per polyp I was selling them to my local club for $20 per frag (at least 4 polyps), and still making money.

 

[reefscape15]

yea, there is really no need for prices so high, and people to get so competative. I think some things are worth lots of money, but it's getting kind of out of hand. I wish i lived somewhere that i could make it to a swap sometime! The closest one that i've found has been at least 4 hours away. I guess if i could talk my wife into "going out of town" for the weekend, maybe it could work!!!! HHAHAHAA

 

[billsreef]

It's a bit of a haul from end of the state, but the Long Island club is doing a one day conference in March, NERAC4. The venue is Atlatntis Marine World, which is a really nice public aquarium with a well grown in 20,000 gallon reeftank. The hook for the wife would be to take to her to tour the local vineyards on Sunday

 

[reefscape15]

HEHE!!!! I may just have to talk her into that! We have been getting into doing wine tastings lately, and her intrest in aquatic life has been growing. It also helps that my son and daughter are mezmerized by the tank! Thanks for the heads up on that meet!

 

[dtaylor123]

I despise the non Latin names to a point. I don't mind the long standing ones like "Frog Spawn" and such. People are throwing around cutesy names and the Zoa' and Paly's are ridiculous! Brown used to be brown, now its "chocolate", green was green, now it's "mint green". People are selling chalice corals for $100.00, for less than 1", those corals are slow growers, so that tiny frag, will be a small frag in a year. I think macro photography on a whole is bad for our hobby, when they use it to sell corals, the picture is taken with a lot of actinics and close up, they are beautiful corals. Now take the same photo and move back a foot, keep the regular lights on, then it's like, a $100 for that? The people paying these prices are hurting it for the rest of us. Must be nice to have a unlimited budget! Okay, I have said my peace.

Dan

 

[reefscape15]

Thank you for your imput dtaylor123! Much agreed!!!!

 

[rishma]

I generally agree with the thoughts expressed here but I dont bash those willing to spend the money on the rare specimens. I actually hope they grow it big and give me a frag!

I actually understand the pleasure of having a rare specimen but the whole designer coral thing is silly, IMHO. Sometimes the designer corals are clearly more colorful that what I have, but often times it is so similar to commonly available colors that it seems to be nothing but marketing.

In the end, I love a colorful and beautiful coral, regardless of the price or rarety. The thing is, 99% of my family and friends that see the tank appreciate the free frag I recieved as much or more than the high dollar LE frag.

Beauty and price are not the same thing.

 

[reefscape15]

highly agreed!

 

[PogoMonogo]

I am totally on board with this. I have worked in this industry for a bit, and its crazy what slapping a name on something makes people willing to pay for it. I saw a website that had BROWN zoos, the same brown zoos that are a dime a dozen that no one in my shop will even look at. They named them Chocolate pudding or some crap, and people try to sell them for like 5-10 dollars a polyp. Its insane, and I think probably one of the single biggest problems with the aquarium industry right now. Like i saw in another post, the real rare corals that you REALLY want are the ones some knuckle head hasn't gotten a hold of and tried to name and slap a huge price tag on.

 

[iamwhatiam52]

Exalting the supposedly rare or exotic, and overpaying for it, is hardly unique to our hobby. Look at coins, stamps, art, plants, Beenie Babies,.................................. need I go on?

It is a shame some of us take the common for granted.

Imagine if no one had ever seen a pumping xenia? It would sell for $5000.00 a stalk!

If the first hermit crab were discovered tomorrow, it would be heralded as the most exotic and coveted creature known to science. Then Al Gore would claim he discovered it and that it evolved because global warming is killing the snails.

 

[iamwhatiam52]

Another note on this subject:

In the Plant Delights Nursery catalog, the owner, Tony Avent quotes someone as pointing out, "If you propagate a rare plant, it's not rare anymore."

In reference to collecting rare creatures from the sea, aquaculture will not only preserve the reefs, but the exotic will eventually be rendered commonplace.
By 2028 we may see Brick Red Echnophyllia and Rainbow Echnophyllia for $9.99 a colony at Home Depot.

 

[mhaith]

Although I agree that the prices are ridiculous and the hype is incredible, I actually think it is kinda fun even if I am unwilling to pay those prices, I sure do like finding something like purple people eaters for cheap at the LFS....makes me feel like I scored a great deal!

For argument's sake....why is it ruining the hobby?

 

[shovel]

i dont see it as that important to have million dollar coral you can have ssomthing cool that looks great for 50 bucks

 

[dots]

To answer your question.......it is being asked with only regards to the current coral market.

There are many factors in the evolution of the "LE" side of things, and being such a collector....havn't seen much in the way of LE for a while now.

With the popularity of the hobby, our ability to keep and maintain exotic colorations......what was once a rarity, may not be such anymore. Some pieces are just considered because of this.....

The hobby as it is now has changed dramitcally even in the 5 years I have been in it.

My best advice, only pay for something that is of value to you, and dictate in your own mind what is "special", as many pieces are named in the purpose of marketing......not because they have made thier mark on the hobby and have transended from "Acoropora Tortusa" to "Cali Tort".

As the hobby and the social culture around it evolves, there will be different subcultures that focus on certain things......LE's, Lineage, biotopes....etc are all examples of this.

Just learn to seperate the "hobby" from the "business" and buyer beware.

 

[Elliott]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14341358#post14341358 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by billsreef
The whole fancy name, rare, and limited edition bit is really nothing more then excellent marketing to seperate people from their money
For example, Green Polyped Toadstools are far from rare or limited, yet call it a Tyree LE and all of a sudden a $30 colony is selling as $50 per square inch frag. I've seen corals sell per polyp for 100x the wholesale cost of entire colonies, from people who brought the colony wholesale Yet people buy into the marketing hype and pay the insane $$$.

I agree

 

[Snail-po]

actually i always thought that most fish people were color blind because of browns being "copper" and black is actually dark purple and wouldnt you guess that yellow is the new sunshine orange! ha its weird but true.

 

[chrismunn]

i thought i was the only person to to be shocked that the prices of some of this stuff!

when i lived in california some four years ago, i could walk into exotic aquarium in sacramento and pay $15.oo for 3 green and blue rics. i dont know what happend but now im finding that it costs about $30.oo for a single polyp. and thats not even LE or anything, just a plain old ric! i think some of the hype can be attributed to the internet, i dont know how exactly, but thats how it feels. like someone stated earlier, there's alot you can do with a picture posted on a web site that you cant to do in person.

thats not to say its all turned out bad. i can still go onto a website and order a nice sized frag pack of 11- 10+polyp zoa frags for $99.oo and turn out with alot of nice pieces! the only thing is that you dont see what your getting untill it arrives on your door. its kinda like christmas, which is way more fun than a piece of LE any day!