The whole coral pricing has become a joke

[MUCHO REEF]

The prices are just stupid and don't get me started on some of the names of these corals... Some people have way too much time and money on their hands. I remember 17 years ago when you could get maybe 50 different corals from places and that was it. Now you can get 50 different kinds of Zoas that are all named something silly and have a equally stupid price tag. Oh and how about the pink clams that some try to sell for $1000+!!?? People have lost their minds

The silly names, the lies and the greedy pricing has taken over the hobby my friend. Those benefitting from it will defend it relentlessly as stated by many above. I don't know if they've lost their minds....but they've lost something. You'll see in about 8 years from now unless things turn around.

Mooch

 

[MUCHO REEF]

Don't see the point of this thread. People are obviously paying these prices, so it's worth it to them. That drives the pricing and either it's worth it to you, or it's not. Plenty of places sell unnamed frags for $15... shop for your corals there.

No, some are paying these prices. Many who have read this thread and others like them won't anymore. Most of those who aren't aware that they are being lied to with these false claims of rarity and jacked up prices ARE paying. Please, share with all of these new reefers where they can go and buy anything they see online for $ 15.00 and get 20 polyps. I mean the vibrant rich colors you guys slap a name on. Please.....show them. No.....not the dull browns, faded orange and greens that have been around for 20 years....but all of those colors and morphs you see everywhere online.

MUCHO

 

[Bent]

I don't quite get it either. If someone can sell zoa polyps hand over fist for 1000 dollars a head, then I'm actually happy for them. I don't get how it's their fault that the customer is a moron.

This is a business after all, not a charity.

I mean if it gets to the point that I cant afford it anymore, I'll just hang it up. No skin off my nose, there's plenty of other stuff to waste my money on.

Does that make me capitalist scum? Maybe. Oh well. Guilty.

 

[boostedvq]

I almost paid close to 2k for corals before, only to realize they all die the same. That's why I'm sticking with cheap frags from others who are trimming their tanks. At least this way, I can see their tank firsthand and not pay outrageous prices.

 

[MUCHO REEF]

I'll add my weekly "I don't get it."

You don't have to buy at those prices and there are lots of nice, cheap corals available. There are many places you can get them from.

Question -- does anyone here not know where to get nice corals at reasonable prices? Speak up and we can help you.

I would say read what the people are saying in post #331.

Read my reply in post # 462.

At the rate we're going, in 8 years this "hobby" will be solely for the one percentERS. Read the link in post # 410.

This use to be a hobby for everyone. When anyone could buy anything for the same price everywhere with a few bucks differential. But not now, Supply and Dah-man have have taken over. Now, who cares if a newb gets screwed over, they should have known better....REALLY?
Is that what we've become.......in a hobby? How sad !!!!!!!

MUCHO

 

[sde1500]

The whole coral pricing has become a joke

Please, share with all of these new reefers where they can go and buy anything they see online for $ 15.00 and get 20 polyps. I mean the vibrant rich colors you guys slap a name on. Please.....show them. No.....not the dull browns, faded orange and greens that have been around for 20 years....but all of those colors and morphs you see everywhere online.

MUCHO

I want to say Mucho, overall I agree with you. Prices for some corals are absurdly high. My friend who isn't in the hobby laughed at the prices I told him you could find online for some of the pieces I got at the frag swap. And I agreed, they were crazy high. But anyone can get them for less if they look around. Some areas have good shops or frag swaps.

My one contention though. What I quoted above. There are clearly different levels of colors in coral, boring brownish ones, and more vibrant, and some are insanely colorful. Why should they all have the same price? One is more desirable than the other. If I can find boring polyps for less than $1, it should be reasonable to expect more exciting variants to go for more. How much more I guess is the point of concern. And I think there are plenty to be had at a reasonable price.

 

[MUCHO REEF]

I think that is really the point of this entire discussion. Potential newbies don't know this. They see the prices online, at the LFS, and get disillusioned and possibly never get into the hobby. Other newbies that do get into it don't know any better and pay the insane prices. This hobby is crazy expensive as it is and I draw the line at taking advantage of someone's ignorance.

The funny thing is that many of these guys selling frags at exorbitant prices probably got the parent colony for next to nothing from a fellow reefer.

Sir you clearly understand the gist of this thread and the game being played. It was stated that "this is a business"....no it isn't.....it's a hobby supported by businesses who provide a service and a product.

It was the common everyday reefer in 04/05 who started these lies, these names and sky high prices and everyone else jumped on board for a piece of the pie. Now for those who weren't here back then.....that's how it began.

Post 04/05, swaps were held at local reefer's homes. Drinks, a pit, food and fun was always expected. We all knew each other and helped when help was needed.There were no mini reef tanks, no lights, we just sat around on the floor or in the back yard and we'd shoot the breeze and swap corals. We'd swap comparable frags for the like. Or, we'd make $5 to $50 sales. Believe it or not, often what we didn't sell.....including stunning corals including zoanthids, we just gave away as it was common to do so. There were no vendors at these amateur swaps. We shared experiences and guided the newbs and GAVE them corals and hardware.

Fast forward to 04/05 when the game began. Greedy reefers started lying about rarity.....started naming everything that moved, then prices went sky high. Swaps were now held in local halls and tanks with lights showed up....then vendors.....and no longer were the swaps for the amateur reefer. Reefing was now mega profitable if you caught the right newb and here we are today. Now it's a business for everyone who can play the game with the most frags. Buying just to sell regardless of the price as they knew they could find a sucker just waiting to be hooked. Instead of helping newbs, now they are referred to as "morons, lazy, ignorant, not normal and they can't walk and chew gum at the same time". Even those who have been around a long time, well, they just have " half a brain"

A man once said..." no man should ever consider himself a success in life until he reaches back and helps someone else." That's what reefing use to be about, but not anymore. But again, now, as BrookenSpoke stated above, it's about buying a mother colony for cheap and hacking the hell out of it to create 100 frags to sell at rip off prices. It's about buying high and selling even higher. It's about rotating frags in and out as soon as a polyp appears that can be chopped....glued.....photoshopped and sold. This is reefing now.....or should I say RETAILING. Everyone wants the next biggest thing....the flavor of the week.....the recognition.....or to have their name on it. Wow !!!!!

I can leave this hobby knowing I gave and I helped the young and the old for many years. That's reefing.......and I miss it.

MUCHO

P.S. "Why inflated coral prices hurt the hobby"....Google and read it for yourself

 

[Bent]

Sir you clearly understand the gist of this thread and the game being played. It was stated that "this is a business"....no it isn't.....it's a hobby supported by businesses who provide a service and a product.

It was the common everyday reefer in 04/05 who started these lies, these names and sky high prices and everyone else jumped on board for a piece of the pie. Now for those who weren't here back then.....that's how it began.

Post 04/05, swaps were held at local reefer's homes. Drinks, a pit, food and fun was always expected. We all knew each other and helped when help was needed.There were no mini reef tanks, no lights, we just sat around on the floor or in the back yard and we'd shoot the breeze and swap corals. We'd swap comparable frags for the like. Or, we'd make $5 to $50 sales. Believe it or not, often what we didn't sell.....including stunning corals including zoanthids, we just gave away as it was common to do so. There were no vendors at these amateur swaps. We shared experiences and guided the newbs and GAVE them corals and hardware.

Fast forward to 04/05 when the game began. Greedy reefers started lying about rarity.....started naming everything that moved, then prices went sky high. Swaps were now held in local halls and tanks with lights showed up....then vendors.....and no longer were the swaps for the amateur reefer. Reefing was now mega profitable if you caught the right newb and here we are today. Now it's a business for everyone who can play the game with the most frags. Buying just to sell regardless of the price as they knew they could find a sucker just waiting to be hooked. Instead of helping newbs, now they are referred to as "morons, lazy, ignorant, not normal and they can't walk and chew gum at the same time". Even those who have been around a long time, well, they just have " half a brain"

A man once said..." no man should ever consider himself a success in life until he reaches back and helps someone else." That's what reefing use to be about, but not anymore. But again, now, as BrookenSpoke stated above, it's about buying a mother colony for cheap and hacking the hell out of it to create 100 frags to sell at rip off prices. It's about buying high and selling even higher. It's about rotating frags in and out as soon as a polyp appears that can be chopped....glued.....photoshopped and sold. This is reefing now.....or should I say RETAILING. Everyone wants the next biggest thing....the flavor of the week.....the recognition.....or to have their name on it. Wow !!!!!

I can leave this hobby knowing I gave and I helped the young and the old for many years. That's reefing.......and I miss it.

MUCHO

P.S. "Why inflated coral prices hurt the hobby"....Google and read it for yourself

No offense bro-tato chip, but the selling of a product is in fact, business. Also the selling of any product is geared for the highest margin possible. People selling corals are no different.

As far as googling goes, I can google pretty much anything and get my opinion confirmed based on some amount of seemingly objective data.

Again, I'm not and never will be a consumer advocate. There's zero reason why someone should be making uneducated purchases in the year 2016.

That's just my opinion though. :wave:

 

[MUCHO REEF]

Just recently I had an experience that illustrates the point of this thread. On Friday afternoon I visited my LFS, and purchased 4 maricultured acro colonies. One is a very unusual a. millepora with a tabling growth form that is yellow, pink and green. The colony has 15 major branches, and perhaps 30-40 growth tips, and is about baseball sized. The other three were a bright green a. carduus, a blue, purple and yellow unidentified acro, and a bright pink unidentified acro. All were approximately the same size as the millepora. The total bill was $325 for all 4 colonies.

Contrast this with a thread about a site where a member asked if they were "any good". Perusing their site reveals an "Ultimate SPS Frag Pack #1" which contains 10 approximately 1 inch, single-branch frags plus a "dealer's choice" of 2 "sweet free frags". The price is $1599.

I honestly don't get why someone would buy such a thing.

Ahhhhhh the frag pack !!!!!!!

A great contrast indeed.

Just continue to help others and give back when you can my friend.

 

[MUCHO REEF]

No offense bro-tato chip, but the selling of a product is in fact, business. Also the selling of any product is geared for the highest margin possible. People selling corals are no different.

As far as googling goes, I can google pretty much anything and get my opinion confirmed based on some amount of seemingly objective data.

Again, I'm not and never will be a consumer advocate. There's zero reason why someone should be making uneducated purchases in the year 2016.

That's just my opinion though. :wave:

No offense taken bro-tein-shake, chopshopping has indeed become a business. We can leave it there :beer:

 

[sde1500]

Again, I'm not and never will be a consumer advocate. There's zero reason why someone should be making uneducated purchases in the year 2016.

That's just my opinion though. :wave:

This. Many talk of newbies here as small children almost. Most in the hobby are adults. And all should know how to use a computer to search around enough to make an educated decision on what a good price is.

 

[MUCHO REEF]

I'm all about solutions for issues that cause complaint.

If someone threw enough money at this to become the primary US buyer from most major direct sources of marine fish and corals, is that a viable possibility?

Instead of allowing the main few big distributors to buy up all the "good stuff"; is it within the scope of viability to monopolize the industry and regulate prices downward from the top down?

I'd seriously consider putting together a business model and funding such a project.

Still waiting to hear more about this. Any details?

And below there is a 17 year old young newb who's dealing with the topic of this discussion firsthand.

 

[HammerLover]

Sadly muchoreef, yes it has reached Manila.

Years before, softies are cheaper and much affordable now they are much more expensive

Why? Because of those greedy polyp pimps that sell those tiny frags of zoas and palys at skyrocket prices, so now after browsing the net a bit they decided to do that on much more colorful corals since brown ones are much numerous than colored ones.

 

[MUCHO REEF]

I almost paid close to 2k for corals before, only to realize they all die the same. That's why I'm sticking with cheap frags from others who are trimming their tanks. At least this way, I can see their tank firsthand and not pay outrageous prices.

I'd say stick with quality and ethically raised corals. Coral is not infallible....a coral is a living species which can die overnight regardless of who and where it came from. That said....I agree with with you my friend.

 

[MUCHO REEF]

No, some are paying these prices. Many who have read this thread and others like them won't anymore. Most of those who aren't aware that they are being lied to with these false claims of rarity and jacked up prices ARE paying. Please, share with all of these new reefers where they can go and buy anything they see online for $ 15.00 and get 20 polyps. I mean the vibrant rich colors you guys slap a name on. Please.....show them. No.....not the dull browns, faded orange and greens that have been around for 20 years....but all of those colors and morphs you see everywhere online.

MUCHO

Several people above mentioned all the great places to get the vibrant named corals very cheap and I was still hoping someone could share that list. It would help a lot of reefers to say the least. Thanks.

 

[650-IS350]

I'm not going to create or provide a list. I did that years ago.

 

[MUCHO REEF]

Hey man.....good to hear from you.

Things have gotten much worst since then. There seems to be a new list of places to find all of these new named colorful vibrant corals dirt cheap that several have mentioned on the previous page.

 

[Bent]

No offense taken bro-tein-shake, chopshopping has indeed become a business. We can leave it there :beer:

agreed.

Again, not trying to be rude, just offering a difference of opinion. :beer:

 

[MUCHO REEF]

agreed.

Again, not trying to be rude, just offering a difference of opinion. :beer:

Much respect Bro-gain that we can disagree and still be civil. There's nothing wrong with a difference of opinion, ever !!!! :beer:

 

[MUCHO REEF]

Sadly muchoreef, yes it has reached Manila.

Years before, softies are cheaper and much affordable now they are much more expensive

Why? Because of those greedy polyp pimps that sell those tiny frags of zoas and palys at skyrocket prices, so now after browsing the net a bit they decided to do that on much more colorful corals since brown ones are much numerous than colored ones.

I hear you my friend.

What percentage would you say prices have increased over there?

How has the hobby changed there because of the above?