Does community even exist anymore?

[Lbrdsoxfan]

I respectfully disagree with this statement. Livestock has gone up this year by alot. I recently sold a show size Blonde Naso I purchased a little over 2 years ago for $50 at about 2 inches or so. Thinking I was going to bring another one in and start all over. That was until I found out the same size fish is now $150 locally. Just one nassarius snail is going for 3 bucks now when they were about a dollar less than a year ago. I was floored when I went to replenish my janitorial staff. Lol. I picked up a flame angel 3 months ago paid $90. Same fish now is $125.

All about location and sourcing. Here in the Los Angeles area, prices are overall lower on fish, as the LFS's I visit aren't moving fish as they used to.

Being the gateway to the Pacific and the hub for ornamental fish, helps a lot.

This is a recent listing from a local store I frequent, no one touches those prices locally, but they are real.... If you can find it cheaper he will match it.

 

[doubleshot00]

Why would prices come down when a box of little debbies used to cost $2.50 2 years ago now cost $5.

 

[ninjamyst]

great places to support too. Thanks for sharing for anyone looking!

I do agree that there are some ridiculously priced corals out there and some vendors also charge a lot for common corals. But I think that just shows the healthy competition we have now in the hobby. If you are buying all your corals from WWC regular price, then yea...don't do that =P

 

[fishguy242]

All about location and sourcing. Here in the Los Angeles area, prices are overall lower on fish, as the LFS's I visit aren't moving fish as they used to.

Being the gateway to the Pacific and the hub for ornamental fish, helps a lot.

This is a recent listing from a local store I frequent, no one touches those prices locally, but they are real.... If you can find it cheaper he will match it.

And that is on the wholesale level , you'd be floored seeing the import level pricing...

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

And that is on the wholesale level , you'd be floored seeing the import level pricing...

Trust I know the importer pricing, I have a alternate source for that. The prices listed are for a small LFS, it's ALL retail.

 

[ninjamyst]

All about location and sourcing. Here in the Los Angeles area, prices are overall lower on fish, as the LFS's I visit aren't moving fish as they used to.

Being the gateway to the Pacific and the hub for ornamental fish, helps a lot.

This is a recent listing from a local store I frequent, no one touches those prices locally, but they are real.... If you can find it cheaper he will match it.

Wow....that copperband price is insane!

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

Wow....that copperband price is insane!

All day, they are runts, usually 2-2.5 inches and you need to QT the hell out of it if your not a risk taker like me, lol.

 

[jda]

LFS in my area had lowest sale summer and falls in 5-6 years. One has not sold a $100 coral in months. Fish prices are down. Most having to sell fry goods near cost. Getting by on maintenance.

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

LFS in my area had lowest sale summer and falls in 5-6 years. One has not sold a $100 coral in months. Fish prices are down. Most having to sell fry goods near cost. Getting by on maintenance.

This.

 

[Gundy]

Maybe I’m just pessimistic but I think there is a recession in the near future. U.S. Consumers have over a trillion dollars in credit card debt and that’s what is keeping the economy going. When the economy finally crashes, prices on fish and corals will drop drastically. Depending on how severe the recession is, you will probably see some LFS go out of business and many will struggle. A recession will also drive many hobbyists out of the hobby and perhaps create new lower pricing as the demand will decrease substantially.

 

[jda]

Look at this place. A few years ago, many pages in this forum would cycle a day. Now, one page, if that. The signs out there that the hobby is in a recession.

 

[BARNAKEWLZ]

Why would prices come down when a box of little debbies used to cost $2.50 2 years ago now cost $5.

They know we would actually pay $7 for those dang Zebra Cakes. That marketing is too good

 

[ninjamyst]

Black Friday sale prices on just equipment alone is insane this year. 50% off sicce pumps. Most I have seen in the past year is 25% off. A lot of vendors are reporting huge decrease in sales this year. You can easily look up their financials since a lot of them publicly discloses them.

 

[Gill the 3rd]

Prices in my area have definitely dropped over the past year. I also agree the hobby is slowing down in general. The fish stores used to be pretty crowded, now they are pretty empty. One of them is even closing down.

 

[flashsmith]

We don't see prices like that on the East Coast. I live in WWC and TSA land. If they're selling a common fish or frag for top dollar everyone else is too. Including garage sellers. Believe this. It's way cheaper for me to order from the West Coast on everything even after paying overnight shipping. Demand has dropped but prices have gone up in my area. These shops gotta make increased rent and utilities so dropping the price on everything just doesn't make good business sense. As a business owner myself I would rather be known as good at what I do rather than be the cheapest.

 

[ninjamyst]

We don't see prices like that on the East Coast. I live in WWC and TSA land. If they're selling a common fish or frag for top dollar everyone else is too. Including garage sellers. Believe this. It's way cheaper for me to order from the West Coast on everything even after paying overnight shipping.

Was at TSA today. Picked up a nice red acan for $4. They also have fire fish for $10 and lots of other doorbusters. I get tons of $10-$30 frags from WWC store on a regular basis ...

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

We don't see prices like that on the East Coast. I live in WWC and TSA land. If they're selling a common fish or frag for top dollar everyone else is too. Including garage sellers. Believe this. It's way cheaper for me to order from the West Coast on everything even after paying overnight shipping.

That's the blessing here, were flooded with LFS's. Thus more saturation, more competition. From my house, in a 8 mile circle there are 5 of them and they all have been around 25-30+ years.

 

[flashsmith]

Was at TSA today. Picked up a nice red acan for $4. They also have fire fish for $10 and lots of other doorbusters. I get tons of $10-$30 frags from WWC store on a regular basis ...

So they have a couple specials on common corals that most of us can't give away and common fish once a year. I'm talking about day to day operations. Do they have any torches or scolys as doorbusters? Of course they don't. It's a sad state when we look forward to our annual 10% off..lol

 

[ninjamyst]

So they have a couple specials on common corals that most of us can't give away and common fish once a year. I'm talking about day to day operations. Do they have any torches or scolys as doorbusters? Of course they don't. It's a sad state when we look forward to our annual 10% off..lol

Indo gold regular price is $150 a head. This weekend discount is 35% off all euphyilla. 25% off goni, 50% off acros, 20% off everything else. You can't expect businesses to run selling only $10-$20 frags. They cater to all budget but if you want their holy grail torch for $50, that's a you problem.

 

[NoAhoysLeft]

I am not quite as rich as some others in the reefing hobby, meaning I have had to take several months to save up even for my 15 gallon first salt aquarium. Seeing how bad the 'reef tax' is on certain items that really have no business being that expensive, has made me lose a little bit of faith from the get-go. For context, I started my aquarium not long ago.

Talking about curating a community, I think if my coral ever succeeds to the point where I could frag it and sell it, I would rather just give it away to beginner reefers nearby. It feels almost criminal for me to even fantasize about selling anything that I can just grow in my tank for 'free' especially if it's a cheap coral (GSP, xenia, et cetera).

I might be talking out of my behind here, time will tell, maybe I will get my hands on something I feel like I could sell. For now though, it feels absolutely shameless and low, the way it feels like every single reefer feels compelled to become the next biggest frag factory and sell everything they get their hands on. I understand wanting to recoup some losses from tank setup or running costs, or heck even just make a buck off it, but the frequency and the high prices for seemingly no reason has me feeling a bit discouraged.

The reason I feel this way is because I keep trying to start discussions with people on Facebook as a beginner reefer, but 75% of the time when I try to start a casual DM about how enjoyable this hobby is, or ask for tips and tricks, all I get in return is a short conversation followed by a a barrage of grail torch videos clearly indicating the only reason people even talk to me in the first place on Facebook is to try and sell me something because they saw I was new and needed to fill my tank.

In short, this hobby has felt very impersonal so far. I want those connections and I want the community. So far, I've found that by using forum and Discord instead of Facebook. I will also make a point to try and heavily scope out any sellers I buy from in the future.