Where to buy coral frags

Diver86

Diver86

New member
i am looking for a place to buy some rare coral frags. I'm not looking for the normal things but the rare off the wall stuff
 
I have been doing some research and it appears as if vivid aquariums and liveaquaria are well reviewed alternatives... Not recommending either as I am still preparing to start stocking corals on my current system and before I just used my LFS. I haven't personally used either but they seem to be popular choices among hobbyists.
 
That Divers den outfit seems to have alot of rare stuff. Some frags have been going for up to $700.00 though! Ouch. Try craigslist etc. Often other hobbyist will sell or trade frags also. This woud be your best option I think.
 
Everything above is good advice. Also consider the buy/sell/trade forums here on reefcentral. Other hobbyist sell stuff on here. A lot of stuff is common but there is also quite a bit of rare stuff too!

Out of curiosity, how long have you been in this hobby? Everyone want 'rare' but that comes with a premium cost. If you're new, you may not be ready and those expensive frags end up expensive skeletons... There are a lot of 'common' corals that are still beautiful! That's part of why they become common... At one point, everyone wanted it! Lol... Red dragon acro is starting to be that way.
 
Remember in time a lot of the rare things will no longer be rare and like said before, if you are new you want to especially be cautious with any stony corals. That said, where do you live? Personally here in I live in California I can get rare around the corner for the best price where you would pay 6 times as much for the same thing online. Frag swaps also like said above would be good for you in an area without good reef shops. I guess I just am not a fan on online shopping, but if I would be...divers den.
 
Another thing I've found is that the corals that are rare, are usually rare because they grow so frigging slow. Jason Fox sets up some pretty rare stuff at the NCPARS/TFP frag swaps in PA but I just can't justify $100+ for 1 inch of coral that will take 2 years to become 2 inches. Most of the people who look at my tank have NO idea what's "rare" and what's not...they tend to miss the rare stuff because they are so small.

But to answer your question...The right frag swap will pull in the vendors with rare stuff as well as home reefers that will sell a frag or two of their rare stuff, but don't expect to see them at the swap unless you've asked for them.
 
Fizz71 said:
Another thing I've found is that the corals that are rare, are usually rare because they grow so frigging slow. Jason Fox sets up some pretty rare stuff at the NCPARS/TFP frag swaps in PA but I just can't justify $100+ for 1 inch of coral that will take 2 years to become 2 inches. Most of the people who look at my tank have NO idea what's "rare" and what's not...they tend to miss the rare stuff because they are so small.

But to answer your question...The right frag swap will pull in the vendors with rare stuff as well as home reefers that will sell a frag or two of their rare stuff, but don't expect to see them at the swap unless you've asked for them.
Click to expand...

+1 You are so right.

Slow growing stuff is expensive and stays that way for quite a while. But do I really want tiny slow growing frags on my reef. Crap, I'd lose them in the rain forest of big coral colonies in my tank. Sure they aren't rare, but they grew from frags to nice big colonies in 3 years.

New morphs can be faster growing, but expensive because they are new/rare. Once enough people buy them, grow them out and frag them, they become much less expensive and not so rare. It's an illusion.
 
I normally just buy a frag because I think it looks cool and really don't care if it's rare or the most common coral on the planet. :D
 
You also really need to pay attention to the placement of the coral!! Light flow and feeding the the right food can turn a OK coral into an AMAZING coral. Sometimes it will take a couple months to find the right spot.
I have purchased corals that look terrible in the store and a few months later they look great in my tank...
 
+1 on Vivid and +1 on Divers Den

I have purchased from both and the quality was there. Vivid was great to work with because they actually call you as they are pulling your order and set the delivery. I find this nice because it gives that sense of the company wanting to make sure you are happy. They also only fill so many orders on any given day from what I have read so there is not that "just fill the order" approach like some larger companies. The frags I received from Vivid were in great shape and amazingly healthy when I got them.

Divers Den also sent pieces that were as expected. You don't have the person calling you and taking the time to hand pick like Vivid but it was a solid transaction and I will use them again.

I know there are places that sell on Ebay BUT some of the prices are just crazy. If you are willing to pay premium price for something that is obviously your decision, but I know everyone that looks in my tank has bright eyes just seeing a piece of the ocean in my living room.
 
I buy all of my corals from http://www.operationtidalwave.com/ Dave is a great guy and will get you whatever you want at very reasonable prices. Just let him know what you're looking for. I live in the same town as him so I'm very lucky to have him just about 6 blocks away from me. In this part of Iowa the only LFS is Petco in Sioux City and that's an hour drive each way.
 
Local reef club, local fish store, live aquaria, eBay. In that order. For frags. Maybe swap 2\3 depending on your LFS. Petco doesn't count
 
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