Boycott the Boogers

[ClamQueen]

What deceptive about selling these small frags is the small plugs they’re on.
There is no sense of scale.
I bought a wysiwyg acro from a popular vendor and it looked big for the frag it was on. Turns out the plug was the smallest I’ve seen and the frag was like 1/2” maybe. There was no mention of size.
That’s pretty deceptive in my opinion and I will not be fooled again.
I have an amazing local reefer connection that I get high end 1” frags from for like $50, lower end for $20.
Glad I found this new friend!

Lol. Hook me up with them too!

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

People get roasted here for buying colonies for their tanks? If so that’s horrible.

I don't think I've ever seen that happen here

 

[Graffiti Spot]

Ok I was hoping not, this forum has been really great the past few years, I would hate to see people upset over someone’s choice in buying colonies.

 

[Chewbacca]

To each has its own for all others there’s the door.

 

[EMeyer]

I see a lot of people complaining about how the price doesn't match up with the cost of producing the frag. And... yeah. It doesn't.

When it comes to the pricing of luxury goods - and that's what corals are - the cost of production has very little to do with the final price of the item. Production cost sets the floor, but it has nothing to do with the ceiling. Ultimately, we the reefers are the ones to blame. We keep buying the corals at the prices offered, in some cases within minutes of the items being listed. That doesn't tell vendors, "We're unhappy with your prices." That tells them, "Your prices are too low."

So, as with everything... if you don't like it, don't buy it. That's the only way to affect change reliably.

I agree with what you're saying, but consumer feedback is also a part of the picture.

The thing is, you and I dont buy the frag but Joe does. So the vendor concludes his price was OK. Meanwhile, Joe paid hundreds of dollars for a booger sized frag, so when it grows up and he frags it, he's gonna sell the frags for hundreds of dollars.

The end result is you and I sit on our wallets hoping to affect prices but in reality we have no effect, and the prices stay high.

Feedback is the only way companies can tell the difference between a potential sale that they missed by pricing too high, versus someone who was never going to buy the coral anyway. Threads like this, conversations with other reefers, direct feedback to vendors... these are essential parts of the process.

 

[C. Eymann]

I don't think I've ever seen that happen here

Agree, I have never seen people get roasted for buying bigger colonies, I have seen some jealous remarks like "well its easy to have a killer looking tank when you just go out flex your wallet and buy big colonies"

However, with SPS, acropora specifically, if those colonies were W/C and the aquarist has been able to keep them happy and thriving, that in itself takes a lot of skill and attention to husbandry.

On the flipside I also have a lot of respect for the aquarist that has grown frags out to beautiful colonies because of their husbandry diligence and patience.



I'd agree with pedoconfuego in that I'm not a big fan of modern reefs with unnatural lighting/colors, dont get me wrong I think it's super cool and does nothing but help the hobby grow, however I like making realistic looking tanks, I want my reef to look like a slice of coral reef I'd see in the wild.

That's just my .02

 

[Da8]

In my humble opinion, faking colors with blue lights and filters it's just the easy way...


Pay for good looking corals on white light. Then you'll colapse when you see them on blues.
(I'm weaing gloves XD)

 

[Silent]

I don't really understand the tiny frag thing. I mean sure, if it's a freebie thrown in with your purchase I wouldn't complain. I personally would be embarrassed to sell some of the stuff I see.
I wish people would use business models from Bourbon or Tabasco and not sell stuff until it is at the right age (appearance in our case). You can't rush perfection.

 

[SeaDweller]

In my humble opinion, faking colors with blue lights and filters it's just the easy way...


Pay for good looking corals on white light. Then you'll colapse when you see them on blues.
(I'm weaing gloves XD)

looks like @LARedstickreefer 's cherrybomb lol

j/k

I don't think theres anything wrong with taking pics under blues, as long as it's depicting the colors you see under blues. But PS'ing them to make them look like they're not or taking a blue pic and then cropping and pasting it onto the same frag plug taken under whites is deceptive. Purposeful manipulation is where the problem is. Taking a pic under blues that shows those colors really isn't deceptive, IMO.

 

[tehmadreefer]

I think you can measure with a ruler and if they are not the size listed you can dispute it with the vendor and/or your CC company. Unfortunately it has come to that and I have started calling out the vendor when I have frags that are not the advertised size.

It is fraud.

 

[tehmadreefer]

.

 

[Weevo]

I hate when people come on this site and sell frags that are close to what the big online vendors sell it for. Greedy

 

[drawman]

I've boycotted them for a long time now unless they are a steal.

I will say the one guy who has always bucked that trend for me is Adam @Battlecorals so have to give him a positive shout out.