Cost of Corals?

[elysics]

To me it’s absurd a normal single head blue torch for 150$. And mean you used to be able to buy a 4 head for that much.

Excuse me, blue torch? Do you mean a black/gray /white torch that looks blue in blue light? Or are there actual blue torches floating around? Never heard or seen one.

Sorry for the OT

 

[homer1475]

Excuse me, blue torch? Do you mean a black/gray /white torch that looks blue in blue light? Or are there actual blue torches floating around? Never heard or seen one.

Sorry for the OT

Exactly what it is. There is no such thing as a blue torch. Just over saturated, overly blue light pics making regular purple/ white torch's look very blue.

Since the current trend is overly blue/windex tanks that you can't see carp in without orange filtered glasses, blue torchs is the norm. Just look at practically any vendors coral pics, over saturated, and in extreme blue light, and thats how most people keep the lighting in their tanks now too. All because they want the coral they bought off the web, to look exactly how it does in the pic they bought it from.

Every "high end" vendor does it these days. The best part is they have caught on to how we as hobbyists tell the over saturated pics and no longer include any background to the coral. Just an over saturated, overly blue lit coral on a black background to make it "pop" even more.

This is the #1 reasons I no longer buy corals online, unless from a reputable company I have done buisness with in the past, and is not afraid to post pics of what a coral actually looks like in white light.

 

[Opus]

They can be great. At one near here I bought a dozen head Bam Bam frag for $20 (usually about $10 per head) and 3 head frag of utter chaos for $30 (about $90-$100 at WWC).
(For the real connoisseurs of coral, they even had $1 pulsing xenia!)

I wish I could get that around here. I tried to sell 5+ heads of utter chaos for $25 and everyone said that was too expensive and none got sold.

 

[Falreef]

And the constant blame on the prices of shipping costs, along with climbing prices for smaller and smaller pieces is a problem for the hobby. Most selling see it as an opportunity and take advantage of the average hobbyist. 1/2-3/4” frags for $50-$500 (sometimes more) is really absurd.

 

[Fish man]

I think popularity has a lot to do with it. A few years ago when rock flower anemones first started showing up in my area I bought one about the size of a half dollar for $25. I'd never seen one before. A year later they were everywhere for 60 to $70. I think the same goes for corals. What's hot/popular at the time always seems to go up in price. I once bought a war coral the size of a tennis ball for $25. Now a frag the size of a quarter is $50.

 

[ggNoRe]

This is what I first thought after getting back in the hobby with almost a decade of being out. Now, about 6 months I think differently. The corals that are out there now are AMAZING! Personally I'm glad I can buy stuff rainbow colored that absolutely glows in blue lights even if they do cost a grip. If I look hard enough I can find 5 - 30 frags but they just don't look as nice.

 

[Andreas' Reef]

I keep seeing this one: https://www.google.com/aclk?sa=l&ai...=2ahUKEwjcqMLmiZzwAhWSx54KHUOFDQ8Qwg96BAgBEDM

It’s crazy...

I would buy that...

 

[elysics]

I would buy that...

What's funny is that they split just like regular anemones, so around here you can get them for less than 50€,much less from private sellers

 

[McPuff]

Have you seen the price tag on rainbow splice acro ?

I believe it’s somewhere around the $2500 for a small frag .
Someone correct me if I’m wrong .
I know I will never have one .

Even $300-$500 for a Walt Disney ... I will have one some day when or if they drop in price

Oh man that's nuts. I typically sell good size frags of Walt Disney for $40 - $60 and I even have some now for $10 and $20. Nearly all of my frags are $20 and I don't sell nubs. But I understand that not everyone operates that way and it's fine. I usually just want to get the frags out of my tank, pay for supplies, and move along.

 

[Rmckoy]

Oh man that's nuts. I typically sell good size frags of Walt Disney for $40 - $60 and I even have some now for $10 and $20. Nearly all of my frags are $20 and I don't sell nubs. But I understand that not everyone operates that way and it's fine. I usually just want to get the frags out of my tank, pay for supplies, and move along.

If I were local to you , I’d buy frags for sure ....

I’d rather buy sell and trade from others

 

[reefinatl]

"Overpriced" is most certainly subjective. However i think some of the vendors have done a tremendous job of conditioning buyers to these higher prices with these 80% off live sales. Mostly full of coral marked up 70% from what someone could find on other sites with a little searching and then sold at a "huge discount" 40% off. Throw in some decent $5 coral and some hard to find amazing pieces to get the hype up. Unfortunately i think especially newer hobbyists are vulnerable to actually thinking these are good deals and happily pay the price. It is capitalism, but i fear it is not good for the hobby

Examples from one of recent live sales(could have made a ridiculously long list but stopped at 5 lol) These sale prices are much higher than anyone needs to be paying as a standard price yet alone a sale:

1. Meteor shower cyphastrea(nickel size) only $19.99 (save $20)
2. Small GSP frag $22.74 (save $12.25)
3. Garf bonsai(nub size) $29.24 (save $15.75)
4. Small red monti-cap frag $19.99. (save $20)
5. Mohawks(3 polyps) $29.24 (save $15).

The mohawks cracked me up the most. On the bright side in the 14 hours or so of shipping it probably grew from 3 to 6 polyps before buyer got it.

People paid 20 for monticap and gsp? Why don't they check garbage cans of local reefers and get it for free...

 

[Bepis]

Exactly what it is. There is no such thing as a blue torch. Just over saturated, overly blue light pics making regular purple/ white torch's look very blue.

Since the current trend is overly blue/windex tanks that you can't see carp in without orange filtered glasses, blue torchs is the norm. Just look at practically any vendors coral pics, over saturated, and in extreme blue light, and thats how most people keep the lighting in their tanks now too. All because they want the coral they bought off the web, to look exactly how it does in the pic they bought it from.

Every "high end" vendor does it these days. The best part is they have caught on to how we as hobbyists tell the over saturated pics and no longer include any background to the coral. Just an over saturated, overly blue lit coral on a black background to make it "pop" even more.

This is the #1 reasons I no longer buy corals online, unless from a reputable company I have done buisness with in the past, and is not afraid to post pics of what a coral actually looks like in white light.

Yes I agree all the big vendors keep their corals in light that may be aesthetically pleasing when focusing on a single coral but when you look at a tank that’s purple or 24k, you know it’s not natural. I think the trend is going to shift in people’s tanks back to 12-16kelvin, that’s what looks most natural

 

[Just John]

Here is a good one I just saw on TS aquatics: 1 purple monster $55. I guess someone will pay it.

 

[burningmime]

The market, especially for high-end/luxury items is very "sloshy" right now. There were a couple big bailouts in the US, and most of that money went to big companies and investors. There's also the continued explosion in the crypto markets and a lot of investments based on questionable principles because government loans will pay for it. The net effect is that the rich are VERY rich right now.

 

[Yoonsuk Choi]

I run a reef store in Korea and import Indonesian corals. So I know about corals supply status to some extent.
Definitely the US coral import volume is not as much as people expected.
It can be due to high transportation fee, Covid, or whatever.
As a result, small volume importers of small market country like me, can import very high quality corals at a reasonable price from Indonesia, like a lot. And the transportation fee is not as high as that to the US.
So the price of rainbow color tenuis Acropra culture size is about $100 here in Korea.
It's so cheap here, I can't make reasonable margin from that price range.
But competition is so high here, and customers has buying power now.

For example, I sold this one at $5~60 last weekend.

But there's pros and cons of course, it's cheap but has no fancy name, and is not free from pests.

There might be individual coral importers in the US, like me.
I think they will sell Indonesian corals at a reasonable price.

 

[Darksidereefer]

I think prices have risen. Even local hobbyists in some cases are charging what your LFS typically would. I get that covid pricing has effected us with many products. But that's going to hurt the hobby.

You use to able to get things from hobbyists at affordable prices but those days have gone.

 

[Ilikefishandlamps]

Exactly what it is. There is no such thing as a blue torch. Just over saturated, overly blue light pics making regular purple/ white torch's look very blue.

Since the current trend is overly blue/windex tanks that you can't see carp in without orange filtered glasses, blue torchs is the norm. Just look at practically any vendors coral pics, over saturated, and in extreme blue light, and thats how most people keep the lighting in their tanks now too. All because they want the coral they bought off the web, to look exactly how it does in the pic they bought it from.

Every "high end" vendor does it these days. The best part is they have caught on to how we as hobbyists tell the over saturated pics and no longer include any background to the coral. Just an over saturated, overly blue lit coral on a black background to make it "pop" even more.

This is the #1 reasons I no longer buy corals online, unless from a reputable company I have done buisness with in the past, and is not afraid to post pics of what a coral actually looks like in white light.

You mean like this one? It’s more blue then the pinkish color it looks in the whites of n person

 

[reefinatl]

The market, especially for high-end/luxury items is very "sloshy" right now. There were a couple big bailouts in the US, and most of that money went to big companies and investors. There's also the continued explosion in the crypto markets and a lot of investments based on questionable principles because government loans will pay for it. The net effect is that the rich are VERY rich right now.

This is true. Sports cars are doing stupid things right now. I don't think there is a two door reasonably fast anything that is depreciating right now outside of a camaro or mustang.
2G vipers were on a up swing that has now moved to be more like vertical. 5G vipers were steadily depreciating but now are up 30% and many selling for over MSRP. C8s are full ******. 90-100k for a base model vette is going to be breaking some hearts when production is caught up.

 

[Fish Think Pink]

Have you seen the price tag on rainbow splice acro ?

I believe it’s somewhere around the $2500 for a small frag .
Someone correct me if I’m wrong .
I know I will never have one .

Even $300-$500 for a Walt Disney ... I will have one some day when or if they drop in price

Black Friday sales - my Walt Disney was $100

 

[vetteguy53081]

The market, especially for high-end/luxury items is very "sloshy" right now. There were a couple big bailouts in the US, and most of that money went to big companies and investors. There's also the continued explosion in the crypto markets and a lot of investments based on questionable principles because government loans will pay for it. The net effect is that the rich are VERY rich right now.