Is anyone else frustrated with the "per polyp" game?

[MTBake]

Here in florida, Duncan goes for $10 per head! I gotta start exporting to where you are

Same price here in Illinois. $10 per head.

I get better prices at my lfs than online. Their stock is limited though.

 

[Michael Llabona]

I think we can all agree you can have a great tank with cheaper corals. I for one get sucked in for the occasional overpriced acro... But some times I get steals. Ex. SC OP for $20 and a RR Pink Cadillac for $20. When I frag and sell locally I wont over charge people. I figure I'll make my money back once I frag it 4 or 5 times. When I buy an expensive coral it's because I like it. It's not to make a profit. I'll make my money back on it, but it will take a year and I get to share it with locals.

 

[UM Aquarium Club]

Definitely understand the point of view of the pricing of some corals being pretty crazy with zoanthids at $100s+ per polyp but one of the things that has definitely changed is the availability of options for coral. From the experience of stocking tanks for our club as well as a personal tank it has never been hard to find "no-name" or types of coral that are now so common from people selling them that you can get a frag plug for <$5 with multiple heads.

 

[ca1ore]

My strategy for not buying silly named, and priced, zooanthids is to keep fish that eat them. Rather tempers one's enthusiasm.

 

[VR28man]

VR28man, I don't have an easy answer for that... supply and demand?

That’s what caused the problem in the first place...

There are several vendors mentioned in this thread, and many site sponsors. ORA is also pretty good source, the bit on the pricey side to get it direct from them.

https://m.liveaquaria.com/category/3354/ora-corals?c=3352+3354&s=lh&start=1&page_num=1&count=24

Heck, if u lived in dc i might give some of my 30 Palythoa mutuki polyps (trade name green implosion paly, among probably others. Maybe i could call it NeedsMoreCheap Green Polyps and charge only $9 Grown from 2 I got Thanksgiving 2017).

 

[AdamNC]

Auctions and live sales are going to be your best bet. For $200.00 I got 7 acros and 1 Acan from a recent auction and live sale. Averages out to $25 a frag with the Acan having 2 heads. To me that’s a decent amount to pay.

 

[User1]

Same price here in Illinois. $10 per head.

I get better prices at my lfs than online. Their stock is limited though.

I've not looked local for Duncan's but online at Divers Den for example has with 5 heads for a buck twenty ($120.00) and another couple with 8 to 12 pushing $200. Granted it is DD but was just using it for a reference. Side note - is it me or do they have a poor choice for soft corals (seems mostly zoa's).

 

[MTBake]

I've not looked local for Duncan's but online at Divers Den for example has with 5 heads for a buck twenty ($120.00) and another couple with 8 to 12 pushing $200. Granted it is DD but was just using it for a reference. Side note - is it me or do they have a poor choice for soft corals (seems mostly zoa's).

Funny you mention that about DD's soft coral selection. I thought it was kinda low in variety as well when I looked at it earlier today. Then again, I haven't checked thier site in 6 months or so. I usually order a 'build your own reef cleaner pack' every 8 months or so and that's when I check out the rest of the site. Just to see if anything interests me.

 

[User1]

Funny you mention that about DD's soft coral selection. I thought it was kinda low in variety as well when I looked at it earlier today. Then again, I haven't checked thier site in 6 months or so. I usually order a 'build your own reef cleaner pack' every 8 months or so and that's when I check out the rest of the site. Just to see if anything interests me.

I've been going by the site the last couple of months looking for some soft corals and I can't really find enough to make placing an order worth it. Not bagging or complaining in that regard - just that I can't find what I'm looking for But yeah - it isn't just you. I've been scouring their site for a bit now trying to piece an order together and failing. That is when I said ok - let me move to LPS...

I did find an elegance but I need some soft corals

 

[Kremis]

If you dont like the game dont play it, I personally have many zoas over 70pp just because I like having nicer, more colorful corals

 

[Dragonreef202]

Corals are priced for people who'll pay. I look for sales. Even then you the size of the frag is another thing you have to hope is decent/

 

[Bastray]

I pay no attention to it. If I go on a site with over priced, to me, corals, I leave the site and look somewhere else. I've always been able to find something I like that is also within my budget. Just takes a little extra time and some restraint.

 

[Musovski]

Personally, i never buy coral from online vendors, i prefer buying from other reefers. However, my taste in coral is simple because i like all coral. Whether im spending $1000 on an acro or $5 on a kenya tree frag.

 

[Pola0502ds]

What i don’t understand is how someone comes up with the price. The grand master krak for example, to me it looks like a hallucination morph and i can think of so many others that are much nicer than it. And i have seen it in person. Same with the strats, i can think so many more polyps that are under $50 bucks that look so much nicer yet they are so expensive around $500pp. But what it really comes down to is, as long as people pay the price, that price will stay there. First you create a buzz around it and then its all about supply and demand, its that simple. I can tell you from experience, the majority of the way to get people to pay those prices is to sell online because you can reach the collectors and people willing to pay that price. Whereas at frag swaps, not everyone is running around buying $200pp zoas. It is a bummer that most of us can’t afford a lot of the higher end stuff but it is what is, this is America, you can sell whatever you want at whatever price you want, as long as there’s a buyer. And I don’t think it will get any better, just worse actually. All the collectors have internet and facebook too, so they see what this stuff is selling for so they too are jacking up the pricing which will in turn jack up the price at the consumer.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Irritated perhaps not but have noticed especially those who have a polyp of lets say a rasta and there are 7 heads and the price say $8.00. Then you add to cart and go check out to find a note which indicates......$8 per polyp. So it is Not $8 but $56.00 Add shipping then it is now $96. Add 6 more frags and divide it, and you now have spent $200 and it is now average of 28 per frag.
It pays to shop around. there are always better prices- you just need to go on a little hunt. It pays to search for the many weekly live auctions from R2r vendors each Saturday.

 

[jabberwock]

Naming zoas is like naming strains of marijuana. "The Skywalker", "Cinder block" or the "Purple Creeper". Funny marketing stuff right there.

"Joker Muncher Green Bay Star Pickles"...

I personally like my local fish stores $10 frag pile. It is also buy one get one half off, so $7.50 a frag. When they frag, there are "leftovers". They don't put them on plugs or anything either. Just a chunk of rock and some coral attached, and if you are lucky, a couple micro brittle stars! I got 3 different flavors of 35 zoa polyps last week for $15.

Edit to add: I am in with the fragging guy, so he let's me know. "I am going to cut on Thursday, better stop by on Friday!"

 

[Saveafish]

I feel you. Its hard to find big corals. Try find 1 polyp floating in a 400g tank.

 

[kichimark]

It all depends on what you are looking for and how fast they grow. I remember meeting one of the two guys that named the Utter Chaos paly many years ago when they were going for 180pp. Now, you can get them around here for 10pp. At the time though they were new and exciting and many folks in this hobby want to latest and greatest. Couple that with supply and you get the classic supply and demand. Today it seems like everyone has them so you have that. I am a big LPS person and I love blasto's which tend to take forever to form new heads so I can understand the prices on them.

What bothers me the most is when people change the names of corals to make an extra buck or what not.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Should I check my attitude or are there other folks that get irritated with this?

I have a modest household income; when I go to a frag swap/show with 1k I want more than 10 corals.

My intention is not to bash any specific vendor! just curious if I'm the only one out there...

For me not irritated, but surprise and sad. Today went into my LFS. 1 Dendro head for $50. O' well. Things have changed

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Should I check my attitude or are there other folks that get irritated with this?

I have a modest household income; when I go to a frag swap/show with 1k I want more than 10 corals.

My intention is not to bash any specific vendor! just curious if I'm the only one out there...

One more thing, we live in a free-market society. In a part of the world,where money makes the world go round. If someone wants to charge $1,000 a polyp. More power to them, in our side of the world we all got to make a living. Bummer