Prices Of Corals & Fish May Keep Me From Returning ?

ClownBubbaJoe

ClownBubbaJoe

Member
My wife and I were in this beautiful hobby years ago, but I've been saving money and buying the needed products to return, but the prices for even frags and small fish have skyrocketed ! We went to our favorite stores in Omaha yesterday and we were shocked at the prices for livestock (and on the internet) that may keep us from returning to the hobby. :zany-face:

We like buying fish at a young age, but buying just tiny frags at high prices is hard to swallow. Plus those frags will take a long time to grow out. The display tank is 125g. We attended a local swap meet and was very disappointed as the prices were comparable to the business's on the internet. I thought,...that club members would "SWAP meet" that the corals would be free, to below the markets or swap with others members, but NO....

Lighting... and some powerheads are ridiculously high !!!

Heck, when our local car clubs get together, we swap or sell at a low cost on parts all the time, so why not with the reef hobby ?
 
Tell me about it. There are frags out there that sell for what small colonies used to be. It’s really unbelievable. Dr. Reef recently introduced a large frag pack of 25 assorted frags for $499. I plan on doing that at some point
 
Yep, prices have skyrocketed since a lot of Pacific countries banned or reduced collection and import of various livestock.

I remember getting softball since Acro colonies for $40. Now, a low end 1” frag costs that much.
 
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Prices are high. Many people blame the COVID boom, shipping has gone up significantly, and some places have banned collection (or refuse to issue new permits for collection). Yet others blame social media “stars” and people trying to mimic the success

You can save a lot on lighting by shopping around. depending on what you want out of the light really seems to kind of dictate cost. Cheapo LED lights like Viparspectra work just as well as the big brands, just less control, you may not have an App to control them, or just overall less features or less “aesthetic appeal). If you’re looking at T5, many of the horticulture systems (sans bulbs) work very well, same with halide. Only issue for those is moisture as they can rust if they get humid (like being locked in a hood with poor ventilation).

As for corals, nowadays there’s “crazes”. Torches and goniopora come to mind here but Zoas are just as bad depending on the type.

There are deals to be had, it’s just either waiting and finding them or developing friends in the hobby. It seems many are in the hobby to make a good side hustle and charge at or just below standard online retail. Others, like me and @griss and others, are in it for the long haul and not looking to make a million bucks. Not sure what corals you’re after but I have GSP and Kenya Tree I can send you when the weather gets better (but they can become a nuisance if not controlled). No cost just shipping. Many swaps are also vendor ran nowadays so there’s that too.

Another option is @Corals.com seems to have relatively okay pricing on wild colonies but that can pricing can be hit or miss.

Theres @Dr. Reef corals as well.

Not a sponsor but if you’re up to spending money, there’s also livestockusa.org which is kind of like a third party importer. You order directly off their distributor lists, it gets sent to them and forwarded to you. I have not ordered from them but have heard some decent things. Main thing is shipping is killer ($400+) so your typical minimum order is $1k+ which in the grand scheme isn’t terrible (you’re generally looking 15-20 colony size pieces (with certain exception) which works out around $50-$100 per piece or so)
 
ClownBubbaJoe said:
We attended a local swap meet and was very disappointed as the prices were comparable to the business's on the internet. I thought,...that club members would "SWAP meet" that the corals would be free, to below the markets or swap with others members, but NO....
Click to expand...
Keep looking. There's plenty who will straight up trade something they have for something they don't have and aren't trying finance there next radion.
 
I find this relatable. I remember paying $30 including shipping for a few rics, mushroom etc.
When I was raising Seahorses, I did NOT have a lot of money, and I'm certain my first herd of sea ponies was around $50 incl shipping, definitely not $100. my first tank was $50 all said and done.

I have 3 preferred LFS within 90 minutes of me. one is premium, and premium prices. One is good, but offers a $9.99 bargain bin and I often will grab frags from there. Makes for a nice Saturday date with my wife, we drive up, browse, buy a couple bargain frags.

The other is a fantastic owner with a smaller shop, but he will literally cut polyps and frag stuff for me right there in the store. if he has a huge zoa frag, he'll just say how about this little group here for say... $20? done deal, and it's always survived.

the part that sets me back honestly is the lighting, lol. I finally took the plunge on a new redsea light a while back and absolutely LOVED it. $250 + what like $49 for the mounting arm... $300 for a light is more than I paid for a tank and seahorses back in the day LOL.


But when I knew I wanted another one to match it I posted on a local FB saltwater group and a fella offered me his for $175. basically brand new, only used for a week or so in a QT tank, including arm. so half price. I got it home and set it up zero issues....




there are a few things I'm going to splurge on but I'm keeping my eyes open in all the small groups. picked up some Utter Chaos 2-3polyp frags for $10 last week on facebook near my home. these would be $40-60+ in the stores easy.
 
griss said:
Yep, prices have skyrocketed since a lot of Pacific countries banned or reduced collection and import of various livestock.

I remember getting softball since Acro colonies for $40. Now, a low end 1” frag costs that much.
Click to expand...

Well Fiji just opened again. So this should help.
Walt Smith is now shipping corals again to the USA.
He has been shipping his live rock for a while now.

Indonesia is somewhat back too and has been for a while. I doubt it ever will be what it was. Tighter restrictions.

The killer is Hawaii shutting down which has caused fish to be higher in cost and lesser quality.

I honestly do not think most coral is that high. Only if you buy trendy corals.
LPS can be a little higher because it is harder to aquaculture and slower grower.
Most sps grow so fast and so do softies.

Equipment prices have got higher on some stuff especially lighting but honestly there still is affordable stuff.

Fish are the killer though. Man is it getting expensive. It has got to the point where I may scale back because I do not have enough fish to spread through all my systems.

In my lagoon the last year I lost all my chromis to old age (like 6 of them). I lost two Royal Grammas and two Lyretail anthias. Most I have had a very long time. I have only bought one fish the last year for the tank. I need more fish and just get depressed looking at the prices of them. Plus now I want quarantined fish which cost even more money but is worth it.
 
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Was about to post something like this.
I think there are better deals on equipment, just because there's so many more options.

But coral prices? Yikes. Been awhile since I've done heavy stocking on a tank I guess. Broke down our 155 before we moved, no wonder people snapped up the frags/ colonies I was selling. But I remember going to club swaps where people would throw in 2 or 3 freebies with the purchase of a $10 frag simply because they didn't want to haul them back home and didn't want to put stuff back into their frag tank.
 
phenom5 said:
Was about to post something like this.
I think there are better deals on equipment, just because there's so many more options.

But coral prices? Yikes. Been awhile since I've done heavy stocking on a tank I guess. Broke down our 155 before we moved, no wonder people snapped up the frags/ colonies I was selling. But I remember going to club swaps where people would throw in 2 or 3 freebies with the purchase of a $10 frag simply because they didn't want to haul them back home and didn't want to put stuff back into their frag tank.
Click to expand...
I never did any swaps but recall stories like this. It seems most swaps nowadays are vendor run or the hobbyist is clearly in it for the “money” and selling just below or even at retail
 
Wow - I was thinking about getting bac in the hobby, but the prices are insane!
I used to be a moderator on this board and at Reefland.
 
SPasse said:
Wow - I was thinking about getting bac in the hobby, but the prices are insane!
I used to be a moderator on this board and at Reefland.
Click to expand...
Hey Scott, how the heck have you been? It’s been a long time.
 
Hey man, it has been a really long time! - Hope everything is well for you!
 
SPasse said:
Hey man, it has been a really long time! - Hope everything is well for you!
Click to expand...
Doing good. If you’re really considering getting back in, check things like FB, Craigslist, etc for a used setup. I was looking to upgrade (from a 40) and found a complete 120 setup less than 10 minutes from my house for $900.
 
That's not bad. I had a 180 when I was living in Denver but I haven't had a reef tank since I moved to Texas, almost 21 years ago. I still have my Metal Halide light fixture in the attic, but I suppose I would go LED these days.
 
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