The Frag Swap

[Reef Bass]

Howdy all.

I would like to discuss ways to improve the frag swap, both in quality of items being swapped and in number of participants.

The downside of frag swaps is when someone brings, for example, a single moldy brown zoanthid and walks away with, for example, an ORA frag. While the recipient of the ORA frag ought to be very pleased, the guy who takes home the dying zoo is not.

When that happens often enough, those with high quality frags stop participating and the whole frag swap falls apart.

Many larger clubs will have specific rules about what is acceptable for a frag swap and what is not. We could do that. It is also true that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and even myself, while I have predominately nice sps, also appreciate quality zoos, so rules like "no zoanthids" are a bit dogmatic, in my opinion. One of our strengths is having reefers who like and keep many different corals. Rules like "no softies" would exclude those who really like those, and would discourage participation in the swap.

This is not my club, it is our club, so I'd like some feedback on how we could improve the swap. We can make rules that specify what is ok and what is not. Another idea would be to have 2 swaps, one for hard corals and one for soft. What do you like to do???

 

[northbay-reefer]

Ken,

I've been in this club since the beginning and I did notice the trend of people stop bringing corals to the swap. I myself don't participate in the swap because of different reasons plus what you had mentioned, plus I don't have room in my tank for certain corals because I don't keep them. I also know that other members in the clubs feel the same way. I think a club have many types of reefers and limiting the softies from the sps or lps people is not the way to go. So I suggest we keep the swap down to one group instead of dividing it. But at the same time we have to qualify the corals before it could be entered in the swap. This will keep it fair. Maybe even keep a list of non qualifying corals?

Even with that, I still think the spirit of our club is about sharing experiences knowledge and corals so most of the time I rather give cool corals away to other members rather than trading. We help each other and we enjoy hanging out with people having the same interest.

 

[corallineadam]

if i bring zoas i want zoas if i bring some rare chalice i want a rare chalice...
maybe we should have themed swaps where one month we trade softies, the next we trade sps, the next we trade lps, etc...
this would make it easier i think...
i am trying to figure out what to bring to the upcoming meeting... ???

 

[thysrof]

I agree with calling a particular type of Coral for a given swap. Which we had always done in the past. I think this can work well,but we must absolutely qualify the frags. If you question the quality of a frag for a given swap just post it on the board of PM Ken,Owen,or myself.

We will need to at the meeting qualify the corals brought. It's harsh but if you don't bring a quality coral then you may not be participating in the swap.

last meeting I brought a 3 or so head acan and ended up with a small piece of branch hammer. needless to say i was a little disappointed. You can't expect a great coral at every swap,but the swap corals have reached such poor quality we have 4-5 participants when in the past we would have a dozen of more.

I can't express enough about bring a coral that you would want to get in the swap.

Bob

 

[Reef Bass]

Ok, it seems that specifying a theme / coral type for each month's swap is a popular idea. One month it may be a zoanthid / palythoa swap (for example), then the following month maybe an acro swap, then the next month a softie swap, then perhaps a monti swap, etc.

This way at some point everyone's favorite type of coral will be featured, everyone will have a chance to participate, and one can choose whether or not to participate depending on the "coral of the month".

Our esteemed Vice President (Owen) will be setting the theme of the swap and running the swap as well. Please see him at the beginning of the meeting to register for the swap and to get your draw number.

Thanks for your input people. Together we can make our club the best ever!

 

[treesmoker]

I think the way we used to do swaps (when mike was prez) with a specific category for each trade. Also as bob mentioned, there should definately be requirements for eligable frags. Mainly size. It's never fun to bring a fully encrusted frag of decent size and get a "nubb" of a coral in return. The swap is not a recycling/trash bin to "off" corals u dont want. There has been numerous occasions where there are only 3-5 frags in the swap and 2 of them were one unmounted (freshly cut or broken off) measly little head of hammer/frogspawn. We want everyone to participate, but if you dont have anything nice to bring, wait till the next meeting.

 

[crispyreef]

If the frag does not qualify, it can go to a freebe section. Many corals used to be given away at meetings when people had a lot of frags of something or as offerings to new members that don't have all the rare corals some other have or are just getting going.

 

[northbay-reefer]

So far this is the consensus:

1, theme/coral type for every swap such as zoos, or sps, or chalice ect..
2, corals must be qualified to be entered into the swap.
3, have a freebe section so members can pick through them.

Sounds great to me

 

[thysrof]

Chris,

Good call on the freebie section.

 

[FreshReefer]

Sorry for the late reply but i agree with the themed swap. What does everyone think for this month? The only frags I have are palys for this month. Anyone have an argument with starting the theme with paly's or zoa's?

If not i would say lets do that. I will bring nuclear greens or purple death. Please post if you would like to change the theme or with what you can contribute.

Owen

 

[Reef Bass]

A paly / zoa swap works for me! I'll bring some Radioactive Dragon Eyes. Thanks Owen.

 

[treesmoker]

i think this is where we should decide the size requirements for frags. For example; palys like Nuc Greens or Purple Deaths are still semi rare so the requirements (polyp count) for that coral should be less than whats required for a coral like the RDE. What do you guys think?

 

[Reef Bass]

Well, let's see. The frag I am bringing has over 20 polyps on it. And frankly, one polyp of RDEs sounds a whole lot more valuable than the zero polyps of nothing you've talked about bringing.

If no one is interested in Radioactive Dragon Eyes, I'd be perfectly content to leave them in my tank. I find them quite attractive.

 

[treesmoker]

think you took that the wrong way Ken...what i meant was there should be size/polyp count requirements for corals brought to swap. If the coral u bring is on the rare side u should be able to bring a slightly smaller piece and if its common then bring a bit bigger of a piece. The same way MARS does. For example: if i brought 1 polyp of my Pink Elephant paly's or PPPE that would be acceptable seeing as they are rare. However if someone brought just one polyp of a common zoa, that would not qualify. I was going to bring PD/NG frag but since owen's bringing them im not sure.

 

[northbay-reefer]

I like bigger frags myself and I hate little pieces of anything so I think for zoos and palys, the pollyps should be a minimum of 3, sps should be at least 1/2", chalice should be at least 1/2", clams should be left uncut LOL .... etc. I have never cut any sps frags less than 1" but some people like to cut them much smaller I don't know why They will grow back if your coral is still small, leave it alone and let it grow for peace sake Since this is a club we should be generous with each other and not worry too much about what we are getting in return. The ground rules are great to have to make things generally fair for everyone but if we worry too much about the details and get too nit pick then it becomes less fun.

 

[crispyreef]

I agree Tom. Just bring a piece that you would be happy to get or else give it away, or keep it. If you bring an ultra rare coral, chances are you will not be going home with such as nice a piece.

 

[elensius]

I'm in agreement with the "it's just for fun" philosophy, rather than the "how well did I do this time?" approach to frag swaps.

When I've been able to, I've brought rare things to the swap, and when I haven't been able to, I've tried to bring sizable pieces of "easier" corals, esp. during periods when the club has been attracting additional new faces (and, if you recall, after Jeff made an observation regarding the swap several years ago along the lines of "I hate bringing a rib-eye to the BBQ but being served a hot dog," I even brought a piece of hot dog crazy-glued to a piece of live rock to one of the swaps... but that's another story ).

Either way, I can't think of anyone who intentionally tries to trade-in hot dogs for rib-eyes meeting after meeting... and I think it is also important to keep in mind that what is a hot dog for one person might be an ok frag to take home for another - there was a period where the ONLY thing I ever saw being traded in our swap was acropora... and yet now there seems to be a healthy interest in zoos, chalices, etc.

In addition, I think it would be nice to see the swap actually become an organized SWAP in which people utilize email and/or a board like this to advertise what they have and/or would like to trade for at the next meeting. This would help make sure everyone was trading for something they wanted - though it would admittedly take the fun and excitement of "getting to choose first" out of the equation (and to be honest, that may be where some of the concerns expressed on this board are coming from - to some people, the swap is really more of a "lottery" than a swap?).

Anyhow, there's my two cents for free...

Oh yah - as part of yet another major shift in my life, I recently consolidated all of my tanks into a new 120, bought a real lighting system, etc., 2qand am now enjoying the hobby even more! I've got a full calendar for the next couple of weeks, but at some point, I hope to post some picture - stay tuned!

 

[northbay-reefer]

Nate I am glad to hear that your hobby has upgraded and is giving you more enjoyment ... I went through some major changes to and I know exactly how you feel. Anyway, it was very cool of the guys in this club and Bar members to set me up with frags to re seed my tank and bring it back to life. I hope soon I'll have frags to help you reseed your 120. BTW Ocean treasure in SF is having a sale if you are looking to get some nice frags cheap then you should check them out. PM me if you want the detail

 

[FreshReefer]

Looks like I am bringing a frag that Tom gave me last week. 6 heads of purple death palys.

I am one of those that don't know what is rare or how much my coral is worth. I will just bring what I have and if it doesn't get in the swap then I will put it in the raffle or give it away to someone.

Here is the way I see it:

If the club wasn't here I never would have met any of you fine folks. I would have spent way more on coral and my tank wouldn't even need a frag rack. Support the swap and the raffle. It is about the club not the individual. If we were looking to make a profit we would be a store not a club.

We do this because it is fun and with so many people and so many tanks there is more diversity. Diversity is what keeps things new and interesting.

Always have faith in Karma. In the end it will come back to you and it may not be in the form of a frag.

 

[elensius]

Speaking of swaps (and freebies):

Tom - the "purple tabling acro" that you had in your tank several years is doing well in my tank (after dying off to pinky fingernail size during my summer of doom), and I cna probably cut a piece off of it if you would like to have it back in your tank.

Mike - I still have some porites for you if you're interested (as well as some chaeto).

Everyone else - I have lots of chaeto that I'm about to thin down once my new refugium is set up (it is all currently living in my old Red Sea Max), and as part of my tank consolidation, I have a portion of my sand bed set up as a mini "halimeda garden" and can easily harvest strands of halimeda if anyone is interested in some.

In addition, my cyphastrea decadia might be ready to yield another small frag or two for those of you who wanted a piece but do not yet have one, and some of my chalices are growing fast enough that I might be able to break some small pieces off by the time the December meeting rolls around (sadly, I will not be able to make it to the November meeting).