I remember when (what a difference a year makes)

[vetteguy53081]

One thing is for sure: THERE IS NO SHORTAGE OF FISH IN CAPTIVITY AND IN THE WILD

I remember a year ago when :

Firefish gobies were $8.99. . . . . . Now 19.99-21.99
Yellow tangs were $24.99 . . . . . Now $54.99 -$74.00
Snowflake eels were $29.99 . . . . . now $59.99 -$75
Coral banded shrimp were $ 14.99 , , , , , now $29.99 -$39.99
6 line wrasse were $ 16.99 , , , , now $29.99 -$39.99
Percula clowns were $9.99-$12.99 . . . . . Now $18.99 - $29.99

THE LIST GOES ON AND AN INDICATION HOW REDICULOUS PRICES HAVE BECOME !!

 

[Waynerock]

Sorry I was watching family guy when I read this

 

[ScottR]

I was just shopping last week after a long hiatus of buying fish. Banggai cardinals used to be $1.25 USD now they’re $6.50 each. May seem cheap elsewhere in the world but that’s a big increase.

 

[fishguy242]

it's all in the shipping ,atm...

 

[Waynerock]

One of my best and earliest reefing memories was back in 2000. My only store was called everything fishy and this guy would come up from Florida with a trailer loaded with 20 gallon tubs full of water an air bubbler and live rock straight from the ocean ( legal or not I can’t say). He would sell the rock to my LFS and we put it In Our tanks. You almost did not need to add anything else to your tank there was so much life in the rocks. Back In those days you did not need to dose anything and even Carbon was a luxury I never messed with. Rocked the old Oceanic 55 gallon with a wet dry sump loaded with bio balls and some kind of crappy fluorescent lights. I remember those days fondly but my tank absolutely never looked the way it does now. Tank was definitely way more natural looking but I do enjoy my current tank more, love the colors. I don’t think any of us could dream of having a tank like this back in those days. Like it or not there is no denying the difference 20 years has made.

 

[vetteguy53081]

One of my best and earliest reefing memories was back in 2000. My only store was called everything fishy and this guy would come up from Florida with a trailer loaded with 20 gallon tubs full of water an air bubbler and live rock straight from the ocean ( legal or not I can’t say). He would sell the rock to my LFS and we put it In Our tanks. You almost did not need to add anything else to your tank there was so much life in the rocks. Back In those days you did not need to dose anything and even Carbon was a luxury I never messed with. Rocked the old Oceanic 55 gallon with a wet dry sump loaded with bio balls and some kind of crappy fluorescent lights. I remember those days fondly but my tank absolutely never looked the way it does now. Tank was definitely way more natural looking but I do enjoy my current tank more, love the colors. I don’t think any of us could dream of having a tank like this back in those days. Like it or not there is no denying the difference 20 years has made.

I too remember that. I remember ordering rock and coral for my tanks at my store and they were big, beautiful and full of color and life and always had macroalgaes on them

 

[fishguy242]

the way back machine

 

[takitaj]

Ironically I was just talking to my fiance' about this last night! Prices have gone way up on everything and skyrocketed on some things. Especially with all the wild new ultra ultra rare unobtainium never seen before (yeah ok) super duper outer space orion galaxy nebula rasta zoanthids.

 

[Waynerock]

I too remember that. I remember ordering rock and coral for my tanks at my store and they were big, beautiful and full of color and life and always had macroalgaes on them

And it was like 1-3.99 a pound! If that

 

[Chibils]

I think some of you guys may have rose colored glasses on! ;Wideyed Prices have definitely increased significantly with all of the supply chain issues at the moment, but even when I was stocking my first tank 15 years ago I used mostly dry rock because I couldn't afford 100 pounds of live rock at $9/pound (LFS prices from every store nearby). And that was for the cooked-in-a-bin-no-life-on type stuff.

 

[Waynerock]

I think some of you guys may have rose colored glasses on! ;Wideyed Prices have definitely increased significantly with all of the supply chain issues at the moment, but even when I was stocking my first tank 15 years ago I used mostly dry rock because I couldn't afford 100 pounds of live rock at $9/pound (LFS prices from every store nearby).

No I just got off the truck ( or trailer in my case) pricing. And yes 20 years ago I could get a basketball sized elegance for less than 100.00 or a frisbee sized long tentacle plate coral for 60-80 bucks. I guess it all depends on where you were and who you dealt with at that time. There where really no online coral vendors back in 2000 and my town had a few great LFS’s. There where some awesome price wars with everyone trying to offer the lowest pricing. I guess video killed the radio star and internet killed the LFS. But I still prefer my tank and crazy colored corals and super efficient lighting now to what I had back then. It was just different

 

[vetteguy53081]

At my store, live rock was $2 a pound and every store had condylactus, sebae and curlique anemones because that’s all there was . $25 elegance coral and no kenyii tree, so colt coral was the thing and around $10

 

[vetteguy53081]

And if you started a tank- i was pretty much damsels

 

[Acros]

It should be because a lot more people (like me) are getting into the hobby during the lockdown.

Same goes for mountain biking. I have been trying to get a Vitus Nucleus VRS 29 for months. They sell out within couples hours of them coming in stock. The always come online at 4am EDT.