coral prices

[btscreef]

when is enough enough? the price of corals and fish are getting out of hand. i dont no about the rest of you out there but i am not rich cant afford the price thing are going for. corals keep growing and you just frag then, its not like the coral is the only one out there. so we need to see some normal price for corals that the normal person can afford.

 

[Peterock]

Know any locals?

There are a few guys around here that for $100 will break you off chuncks of anythign you want in their tank. It's sweet. I rarely buy corals from the LFS anymore. Some of the stuff I've seen online is just nuts though, I agree.

 

[cdness]

I am not the best to respond here and I am pretty much with you as I am your average every day person who can afford the hobby but cannot afford some of the super high end stuff out there these days. Also I have noticed other corals that used to be cheap are now expensive or at least higher priced only due to a different name or the market shifts.

This is a standard capitalist idea that prices will reflect demand and what people are willing to pay for things. If people are willing to pay the high price, they will stay there. If people decide it is too much, then the prices will come down as stock increases... Supply and demand is what determined final price.

Now the exponential part of the equation is the consumer hype. When things are labeled as LE or rare etc people perceive them to in short supply and justify the price. Are there other corals identical or really close to that LE that was just released? Well the ocean is a huge place so I would say yes, but in captivity it may be just a single colony. Does that justify the price? Some may say yes and others say no, but in the end its your money so spend it where you want to.

Personal opinion keeps me from buying into the hype attached to the naming of corals so I just never have them in my tank. I don't think I have any corals that have not been captive propagated so I know there are frags of what I have all over. Will you ever find a rare gem in the tank, probably not, but it still looks good, even if my corals have generic names.

 

[Gonzo]

What happened to my post lol ??

 

[saratj1]

It's a double edge sword to me because I would like to frag my frags someday and people like pedigree.
I look at it like the dog trade, a dog is a dog, you can tell a pure bred by looking at it. But dogs with papers command a premium. Same with coral, if I get cheap "green acro" opposed to "Jason fox limited shamrock super acro" when I go to sell a frag I would hope the pedigree of the coral will command a higher price.
But like you I'm reefing cheap. I have no name coral. The fanciest thing I have is eagle eye zoa's , everything else is just "orange plate" "green acro" "hammer" ect. And like another poster said I get most of mine from local reefers.
I would like to get the fancy stuff, but I can't get over the price, and if I can stomach the price of the coral then the shipping puts it over the top.
These are just my rumblings, but I feel your pain.

 

[Mstansbery]

[video=youtube;LK8sxngSWaU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LK8sxngSWaU[/video]

 

[danka-cedium]

I am with you on the shipping its getting ridiculous.

 

[Reefing8EZ]

Good one Matt! I was a victim of the hype when I first began.. :sad:

 

[mainereefer]

do you drive a lamborgini? me I cant afford one so I drive a subaru maybe I can make a car price post lol

there are a few sites that must be tired when they price things and put decimal points in the wrong place I just dont buy from those sites
with the economy the way it is if you put up a want to buy post you will have multiple pm'ed prices on that coral

heck I sell red hornet zoa's for around $5pp locally I pd $45pp when I bought them and there is someone selling every coral cheap do some research and it will save you $$$$$$$ ebay also has great prices on things

 

[nvfishman]

I got to put my 2 cents in you get what you pay for

I paid a bit of money and packed my 400 gallon tank with mostly sps - ORA, Tyree, and a ton of highend frags (usto go to all the CA shows) was growing everything out for 3 years got flat worms and then moved lost 95% of my acros, (hundereds of colonies).

I reset my tank up Janurary of this year and said heck no im not gonna dump a ton of money on high dollar frags again, as I didnt want to pay the price and didnt want to wait another 3 years for frags to grow out.

Well after spending thousands on boxes of acros from all around the world usually 20 corals per box usually 5 are nice and 15 are junk.

I have decided the cheapest way to get The best corals is to buy them 1st from local people growing them out (limited variety) 2nd Buy from members and vendors on this site. As the vendors have spent a ton of money buying corals looking for the best stuff to grow out and give us the best corals (maybe not the best pricing always but alot of nice corals)

In the wild when divers are looking for corals to send to the USA they pic the best stuff. To get the best colored corals they might have to swim large areas looking for a few amazing corals that can be shipped out, as most wild corals are brown. Then the Vendor either goes to the wholesaler to cherry pic or tranships the corals in from the source. They pic the best stuff out of that and name it LE or the like and sell at a premium.

A good way to fill the tank if u dont want all the LE stuff is fill it with the average stuff and then finish out the tank with a few named corals with color.

 

[btscreef]

the hole le thing come on there have been corals out for years and they still say le next to then. also if they are so le how come so many people are selling the same coral. just because some one put some name on a coral to jack the price up really. if they priced the coral at a price that more people would buy then more people buy and then they mark more money. and the size of the coral that are being sold are so small these days. maybe im on my own on this feeling. and ya i have bought le corals before but not anymore.

 

[Pkunk35]

my 2 cents on the topic,

Personally I believe there is much more of a variety available to hobbyist now than ever before that spans a wide range of pricing.

I still double take at the prices of some frags, but many of the very high end pieces truly are spectacular and the highest price generally comes at the first introduction of the coral when it really is that limited. As more people propagate and frag out for cheaper prices as has been said, the price of the piece falls over time.

The hobby (in particular coral) has always been expensive but there are so many fish/corals that are reasonably priced now but used to be very expensive...i feel as if the same will happen for "hot" corals now, perhaps even more so because of the general improvement of people's ability to acquire, grow and frag corals these days and I'm sure there will be new hot coral to replace the old...

It's hard to run a business in the hobby and I think supporting LFS and vendors who are good is very important to the well being of all of our tanks!

 

[FishLipz]

Rare and unique costs money. It doesn't matter what hobby it is. I've seen gorgeous tanks made from frags and "ordinary" corals that didn't cost more than a car payment. If you want to keep up with the ballers, you better be paid like one

 

[miyags]

It's hard finding vendors who sell colonies any more. It seems like every coral, even plain jane corals are being fragged and give- in a name, and a price tag ta-boot. I save my money and wait and try to snag a nice colony before someone else buys it and chops it up for resale.

 

[jlymner]

Yes, some of the prices are crazy...I love frag swaps... great prices from fellow salty friends.. also I try to get my stuff locally from our great LFS! As one of the LFS said if you go to a frag swap at a store try to buy something from the store too so that will encourage more swaps

 

[cdness]

Frag swaps and local clubs are great resources for corals like this. Prices are fair and can even work out trades sometimes if you have a coral the other one wants. That is what makes the hobby less expensive.

With that said we do need to support the LFS and good suppliers like was said above. Without them, where would we get our necessities.

 

[mc-cro]

cdness hit the nail on the head in his first post. I even did my micro-economics paper on the insane demand that was created by skillful salesmen and suppliers, and how it was achieved.

I have a lot of nice pieces, but for me, $30- $40 is the top limit for a extremely nice frag. Over 90% of my collection is from swaps.

 

[clowns101]

You know that there is only a post like this about every 2 months or so.

It's like this. You get what you pay for, and no ones forcing you to buy any of it. If you can't afford it then you don't buy it. I sell photographs and I can make as many 8x10's as I want from that one digital file, but if I didn't sell them at a price that is going to make me money, I'm hurting myself. If you were into business, you would understand.

However, I will say, I think $1,500 a frag is quite much. I haven't ever paid over $350, but $1,500 is to much.

 

[k2parkstar]

You know that there is only a post like this about every 2 months or so.

It's like this. You get what you pay for, and no ones forcing you to buy any of it. If you can't afford it then you don't buy it. I sell photographs and I can make as many 8x10's as I want from that one digital file, but if I didn't sell them at a price that is going to make me money, I'm hurting myself. If you were into business, you would understand.

However, I will say, I think $1,500 a frag is quite much. I haven't ever paid over $350, but $1,500 is to much.

I agree. This post pops up every month or two. It's always the same rant, people want the nicest stuff but don't want to pay for it. There's a lot factored on that price for the vendor to make money. And that's what they are in business to do, make money. Plus remember this is a hobby, every hobby has to be what you can afford after you buy your necessities. Some people can afford $5 some can afford $500. Such is life.

 

[btscreef]

i can afford the nice stuff but what they sell then at for at the size is crazy. and its no like the business get a 1/2 in frag they get large pieces and cut then up and the are getting then for supper cheep. also its not a rant it stating the facts. and thats good for you guy how want to buy stuff at over price it just help drive the price up. and then when its not the in coral and there are more fars for cheeper then i will just jump on then then.