why dont most lfs carry a variety of rics?

[nathan.hales]

my wife asked me this question today. i had no answer for her. i never thought about it, but now i am wondering this myself. i know there is not a very big market for them, but i know people buy them when they see them and if they are not ridiculously priced. i also know there is suppose to be a new law enforced about the collection of rics. they are limiting the number of rics that are allowed to be collected each day. i just figured that would drive the price up but not limit the lfs from offering them. any thoughts on this would be great. thanks

 

[BCreefmaker]

i know why they arn't sold much in canada
1. expense, for a single polyp it often costs $20 for a normal color like green.
nicer colors are $40-50 per polyp. there are hobbyist frags available every once and a while for 10$ per polyp.
2. they are almost a contradiction to keep, high light, yet low flow. these tanks are tuff to keep looking good and few other corals will thrive.

 

[Azurel]

Most of the issue is LFS would rather sell high movement corals. Ricordea don't seem to move all that fast when compared to other corals. At one time they were the "in" coral and still are for me but at that time you could find them all the time. t also cost more for a LFS to get them since they are collected by the polyp and divers here in the U.S don't work for peanuts. If you see any rock with more then one polyp attached it is either a Haitian collected or a man made rock. I know an LFS here that used to get them and the price for even plain green ones are $20-$25 a polyp and a little more for orange. I have all of mine from on-line sites due to the fact that the ones I go to can get colors that a LFS just can't get and if they did it would be $40+ a polyp.....I have all of mine in high light and med/high flow.

 

[Makbarracuda]

I work at a fish store and when we get them they sell very fast. the problem is that the best and cheapest rics come directly from florida where there ins't a whole lot else to get. so we make that order from time to time, but go to LA where there are many options and great varieties of corals to get. However rics from LA have been picked through once and are more expensive because they have already crossed the country once. Hope this helps answer your question

 

[jvalentine]

The LFS in Baton Rouge has about 25-30 of them ranging in colors from green to blue to orange. Most are about $25 a polyp but he has one red one for $45.

 

[chubby190]

Coincidentally my wife asked me the same question yesterday. We just made an internet order for some soft corals, and I insisted she buy some ricordia too. I found that they ranged in price from $10 to $25 per polyp, depending on color/size and rarity. I would really like to see more of these in LFS, but I don't think the profit is great enough for them to spend that much time and energy to keep them alive and colorful for sale.

Perhaps I will have to convert my garage into a ricordia breeding area and become Minnesota's ricordia authority. lol

 

[Damsels R Cool]

I get mine for 6.50 a pop man i love fla

 

[profntbtr]

in my neck of the woods they run about 20-30 a piece

 

[Lateralus]

$8-$15 here.

 

[twerlinich]

Without Rics

Without Rics

Count your blessings all of you that can buy rics for $5-$15. They're virtually unavailable in the Dallas Fort Worth area. The few available are poor in color, poor in health and cost $40+ -- even those with unnoteworthy color. Guess I have to move to Florida if I ever want to create a decent ric garden.

 

[teebs]

Well you guys are much luckier than I am. In Singapore, I can hardly find any florida rics as most of our LFS here do not bring these in. And when they do come in, we mostly get all the blues and greens only...

 

[SNAKEMANVET]

They are $8 to $20 here,the lfs here sales them as fast as they come in.I have asked the lfs why they don't carry very many of them.He said his shipments arrive on monday and by friday they are all but gone.

 

[Octoshark]

I believe the wild collection of Ricordea florida was made illegal. That would definitely have an impact on availability as they would either have to be aquacultured or risk getting in trouble.

The good news is that they are very easy to aquaculture.