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Yeah, I've talked about this subject before...That legendary occurrence whereby a hobbyist somehow beats the system and ends up grabbing an incredibly rare coral or fish from the unknowing LFS...It's happened to many of us over the years- you incredulously grab something that was either mismarked, misidentified, or just passed over as "clearance" or "common", or even outright forgotten, that turns out to be a darn near "Holy Grail" find.
It happened to a friend of mine just a couple of days ago (His name and location will be withheld, lol). He had a hunch, and ended up scoring an incredibly rare Basslet from an LFS that was, on the surface, washed out, dull, and just another grayish fish in the "bargain bin", and it turned out to be an incredibly rare specimen...of course, this jarred some memories and brought up that moral quandary...
We’ve all heard of this kind of thing before: The “Aquarium Urban Myth.” You know, the reefer that supposedly spotted a Centropyge interrupt at Petco, mismarked as a “Yellow Tail Damsel” for $3.00, or the The guy who scored the “Walt Disney” Tennis at the LFS for $15, simply labeled “Acro frag” or something like that. Or, you hear the legend that Steve Tyree once bought off of an entire colony of seemingly dull Acro in the LFS display tank for $25.00, because it was a rare “Purple Monster.”
You know, that kind of stuff.
Koji-san wouldn't mistake a juvenile C. interrupt for a Damsel, but some worker at the transpire or LFS employee just might...
It keeps the hobby moving, talking, and inspires us in- well, strange ways. Much like the elusive winning lottery ticket bought at the local liquor store, such tales have motivated countless reefers over the years to keep looking, keep digging in the LFS and pet shops around the world, looking for that elusive, as yet-un-named rarity that might just be staring them right in the face.
You know how it feels to score something like that, too, right? After your discovery, you compose yourself, then nonchalantly ask the LFS employee to grab it from the tank and bag it up for you, all the while pretending to stifle a yawn, while inside, all that your thinking is “Please don’t let my buddies from the reef club show up right now! Please don't let my buddies from the reef club show up right now...!” You know that they’ll be the first to say, “WOW! How much are you paying for that “Pikachu” frag? That’s like $100! You didn’t get it from the ‘All Frags $5’ tank, did you? That must have been a mistake!”
No, no NO! I mean, you are probably filled with guilt, uncertainty, and perhaps, a bit of apprehension...but this is YOUR moment. Your score...
You rush home with your new found acquisition, all the while praying that you’re not being followed by the LFS employee, who suddenly realized his/her mistake! You even vary the route home, just in case there is someone tailing you! Yeah, you’ve watched all of the Bourne movies..
You race online, and confirm what you already knew: That was a SCORE!
Hmm, not a "Greenish Tenuis" frag? "Pikachu", perhaps?
A mixture of guilt and contentment, right? On the other hand, "they" should have known better, right? Umm, hmm...
We’ve all had this guilty pleasure before; this moral quandary: The exhilaration, dashed with a tinge of guilt at having “beaten the system.” Of course, you rationalize your "triumph" by concluding that it’s better that the coral or fish ended up in the hands of the person best suited for its care: YOU!
As both a hobbyist and a business owner having been on both sides of the fence before. On one hand, you "should know better" if you're in this game- it's your livelihood. On the other hand, we're only human. Mistakes happen, especially at shows or during sales, when there is lots of chaos and people and distraction. You could have put something back in the wrong place, right next to the less expensive, almost look-alike (when the rare coral is not under optimum conditions) species, or simply not caught it when you were shuffling stuff, unpacking a shipment...whatever. Or maybe, you simply couldn't ID the boring soft coral anyways...Human error.
"Ohh, that wasn't a Cirrhilabrus laboutei? What's a "Cirrhilabrus cf. lanceolatus", anyways?
Now, there are just a few "reefers" who live for this kind of stuff. Want to "burn" the LFS to "get back at them for spending all that money over the years"...or to "teach them" some kind of "business lesson." Whatever. They're probably the same kind of guys that hope someone calls in a bomb threat to their work, so they get the day off. Yeah. Few and far in between, mercifully...but out there, nonetheless.
A lot of reefers score cool stuff because they simply see something no one else can see in an otherwise "ordinary" animal. They have a "gut feeling" or hunch about something, and it turns out to be correct beyond their wildest dreams. Nothing really wrong there. Sometimes an ugly duckling simply turns out to be a swan. No more quandary there.
On the other hand, as a hobbyist, do you have a moral obligation to tell the LFS person they screwed up when you KNOW they mislabeled that incredibly rare specimen, or when the new guy nets the wrong one in a crowded tank? I've actually had the good fortune to have had reefers point out stuff like that to me before...usually happens on day 3 of a MACNA, when you're sleep deprived, hungry, and thinking about catching your afternoon flight home. And it's appreciated, believe me.
On the other hand, it sometimes happens when a coral or fish just doesn't show well, and is misclassified or otherwise gives a nondescript appearance that would throw just about ANYONE off. SO, you played a hunch and it turned out to be right. Or maybe, just maybe, you like dull fish...or your significant other felt sorry for it and you bought it to appease him/her, especially after that incident last week, when the calcium reactor overflowed onto the new hardwood floor...Perhaps no one at the LFS would have believed you anyways, because they paid $7 for that wrasse, and probably gave their jobber or employee a hard time about throwing in some "box filler" like that.
Sigh...so, that's the way that "scores" happen. Good, bad, right or wrong...they happen. And some hobbyists win...Perhaps even the LFS feels they got the best part of the deal, because they finally got rid of that grey fish or coral that always looks closed up- good riddance, in their opinion. Kharma, or just a confluence of random stuff?
Sigh...
SO, time for confessions. Who has had such a score? What did you score? And how did things work out?
Pics and stories encouraged!
You take it from here, ok?
And as always,
Stay Wet.
Scott Fellman
Unique Corals
It happened to a friend of mine just a couple of days ago (His name and location will be withheld, lol). He had a hunch, and ended up scoring an incredibly rare Basslet from an LFS that was, on the surface, washed out, dull, and just another grayish fish in the "bargain bin", and it turned out to be an incredibly rare specimen...of course, this jarred some memories and brought up that moral quandary...
We’ve all heard of this kind of thing before: The “Aquarium Urban Myth.” You know, the reefer that supposedly spotted a Centropyge interrupt at Petco, mismarked as a “Yellow Tail Damsel” for $3.00, or the The guy who scored the “Walt Disney” Tennis at the LFS for $15, simply labeled “Acro frag” or something like that. Or, you hear the legend that Steve Tyree once bought off of an entire colony of seemingly dull Acro in the LFS display tank for $25.00, because it was a rare “Purple Monster.”
You know, that kind of stuff.
Koji-san wouldn't mistake a juvenile C. interrupt for a Damsel, but some worker at the transpire or LFS employee just might...
It keeps the hobby moving, talking, and inspires us in- well, strange ways. Much like the elusive winning lottery ticket bought at the local liquor store, such tales have motivated countless reefers over the years to keep looking, keep digging in the LFS and pet shops around the world, looking for that elusive, as yet-un-named rarity that might just be staring them right in the face.
You know how it feels to score something like that, too, right? After your discovery, you compose yourself, then nonchalantly ask the LFS employee to grab it from the tank and bag it up for you, all the while pretending to stifle a yawn, while inside, all that your thinking is “Please don’t let my buddies from the reef club show up right now! Please don't let my buddies from the reef club show up right now...!” You know that they’ll be the first to say, “WOW! How much are you paying for that “Pikachu” frag? That’s like $100! You didn’t get it from the ‘All Frags $5’ tank, did you? That must have been a mistake!”
No, no NO! I mean, you are probably filled with guilt, uncertainty, and perhaps, a bit of apprehension...but this is YOUR moment. Your score...
You rush home with your new found acquisition, all the while praying that you’re not being followed by the LFS employee, who suddenly realized his/her mistake! You even vary the route home, just in case there is someone tailing you! Yeah, you’ve watched all of the Bourne movies..
You race online, and confirm what you already knew: That was a SCORE!
Hmm, not a "Greenish Tenuis" frag? "Pikachu", perhaps?
A mixture of guilt and contentment, right? On the other hand, "they" should have known better, right? Umm, hmm...
We’ve all had this guilty pleasure before; this moral quandary: The exhilaration, dashed with a tinge of guilt at having “beaten the system.” Of course, you rationalize your "triumph" by concluding that it’s better that the coral or fish ended up in the hands of the person best suited for its care: YOU!
As both a hobbyist and a business owner having been on both sides of the fence before. On one hand, you "should know better" if you're in this game- it's your livelihood. On the other hand, we're only human. Mistakes happen, especially at shows or during sales, when there is lots of chaos and people and distraction. You could have put something back in the wrong place, right next to the less expensive, almost look-alike (when the rare coral is not under optimum conditions) species, or simply not caught it when you were shuffling stuff, unpacking a shipment...whatever. Or maybe, you simply couldn't ID the boring soft coral anyways...Human error.
"Ohh, that wasn't a Cirrhilabrus laboutei? What's a "Cirrhilabrus cf. lanceolatus", anyways?
Now, there are just a few "reefers" who live for this kind of stuff. Want to "burn" the LFS to "get back at them for spending all that money over the years"...or to "teach them" some kind of "business lesson." Whatever. They're probably the same kind of guys that hope someone calls in a bomb threat to their work, so they get the day off. Yeah. Few and far in between, mercifully...but out there, nonetheless.
A lot of reefers score cool stuff because they simply see something no one else can see in an otherwise "ordinary" animal. They have a "gut feeling" or hunch about something, and it turns out to be correct beyond their wildest dreams. Nothing really wrong there. Sometimes an ugly duckling simply turns out to be a swan. No more quandary there.
On the other hand, as a hobbyist, do you have a moral obligation to tell the LFS person they screwed up when you KNOW they mislabeled that incredibly rare specimen, or when the new guy nets the wrong one in a crowded tank? I've actually had the good fortune to have had reefers point out stuff like that to me before...usually happens on day 3 of a MACNA, when you're sleep deprived, hungry, and thinking about catching your afternoon flight home. And it's appreciated, believe me.
On the other hand, it sometimes happens when a coral or fish just doesn't show well, and is misclassified or otherwise gives a nondescript appearance that would throw just about ANYONE off. SO, you played a hunch and it turned out to be right. Or maybe, just maybe, you like dull fish...or your significant other felt sorry for it and you bought it to appease him/her, especially after that incident last week, when the calcium reactor overflowed onto the new hardwood floor...Perhaps no one at the LFS would have believed you anyways, because they paid $7 for that wrasse, and probably gave their jobber or employee a hard time about throwing in some "box filler" like that.
Sigh...so, that's the way that "scores" happen. Good, bad, right or wrong...they happen. And some hobbyists win...Perhaps even the LFS feels they got the best part of the deal, because they finally got rid of that grey fish or coral that always looks closed up- good riddance, in their opinion. Kharma, or just a confluence of random stuff?
Sigh...
SO, time for confessions. Who has had such a score? What did you score? And how did things work out?
Pics and stories encouraged!
You take it from here, ok?
And as always,
Stay Wet.
Scott Fellman
Unique Corals
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