Is the hobby dead in CT?

[Tacticool-Reefer]

I'm a local, was in the hobby for yrs, got out and now I'm diving head-first down the rabbit hole.

What I've noticed is that it seems, a lot of locals posting about "getting out" selling this or that.

I guess I'm just trying to gauge the pulse of the hobby/community in CT?

 

[duberii]

I'm a local, was in the hobby for yrs, got out and now I'm diving head-first down the rabbit hole.

What I've noticed is that it seems, a lot of locals posting about "getting out" selling this or that.

I guess I'm just trying to gauge the pulse of the hobby/community in CT?

Before the pandemic, CTARS was going strong! Fragtoberfest was a really big event and a bunch of retailers came and it had a pretty strong turnout. Apparently, reefing is seasonal- people tend to get out of the hobby in the summer and people tend to join in the winter. I sure hope this isn't a dying hobby!

 

[Tacticool-Reefer]

Before the pandemic, CTARS was going strong! Fragtoberfest was a really big event and a bunch of retailers came and it had a pretty strong turnout. Apparently, reefing is seasonal- people tend to get out of the hobby in the summer and people tend to join in the winter. I sure hope this isn't a dying hobby!

I completely agree and understand it’s a very seasonal type of hobby. I also think it’s going to take some creative thinking to get folks back to being more active within hobby. I’ve visited a few stores this past week and it just seemed like they wanna run their stores under the status quo. I get that time is money and I get that local mom and pops are very limited in resources, but I also don’t understand why they don’t seek alternative means for advertising and drawing more people. Doing more photo opportunities with their stock and posting it to places like this, offering curbside pick up for people who don’t want come inside the store, for both dry and wet goods, there’s tons of apps out there that they could leverage in order to drive more business.

Is the reef club still doing the tank of the month, are they still doing photo of the month? I mean it just seems like all activities have ground to a halt but no one‘s considering, and this is just my opinion, alternatives.

 

[duberii]

I completely agree and understand it’s a very seasonal type of hobby. I also think it’s going to take some creative thinking to get folks back to being more active within hobby. I’ve visited a few stores this past week and it just seemed like they wanna run their stores under the status quo. I get that time is money and I get that local mom and pops are very limited in resources, but I also don’t understand why they don’t seek alternative means for advertising and drawing more people. Doing more photo opportunities with their stock and posting it to places like this, offering curbside pick up for people who don’t want come inside the store, for both dry and wet goods, there’s tons of apps out there that they could leverage in order to drive more business.

Is the reef club still doing the tank of the month, are they still doing photo of the month? I mean it just seems like all activities have ground to a halt but no one‘s considering, and this is just my opinion, alternatives.

The two stores closest to me are wet pets and Aquatic wildlife- both of them have an Instagram at least and are offering curbside pickup. As for the reef club, I'm not sure- I know that CTARS is short-staffed at the moment, which makes it hard to do much of anything. Maybe I can offer a hand sometime soon- I've been meaning to get more involved. I think the hobby is more fun if there's a more open flow of frags and such, which I'd agree is a bit lacking (at least around where I am).

 

[Tacticool-Reefer]

The two stores closest to me are wet pets and Aquatic wildlife- both of them have an Instagram at least and are offering curbside pickup. As for the reef club, I'm not sure- I know that CTARS is short-staffed at the moment, which makes it hard to do much of anything. Maybe I can offer a hand sometime soon- I've been meaning to get more involved. I think the hobby is more fun if there's a more open flow of frags and such, which I'd agree is a bit lacking (at least around where I am).

That’s very good to know and encouraging as far as those two local fish stores you noted. I follow the Colechester pet store and I’m encouraged by her attempt to keep people posted via her live video feeds. I have to admit I really do miss talking to other hobbyist and seeing how they set up and do things differently from what I do. To me it’s all about the community interaction. I will agree outside of the forum, with the whole Covid scare, that’s not something that’s probably feasible currently.

 

[jd06351]

I don't think the hobby itself is dead, but it's changed from how it used to be. There's a pretty active group on FB that I belong to, and I'm many other CTARs members also. It's the CT Saltwater addicts group. There are always frags/trades etc up on there.

 

[Awesome Dennis]

Had to dry my arms off to say hey!

 

[G Santana]

I know what you mean, 25 yrs ago I would make the rounds to a number of small specialized shops and got to pick what I wanted, 7 months ago or so I started looking for shops and most are gone and what's there aren't worth it.
I am looking to visit larger stores but that means a long drive and I won't be going anytime soon

 

[jayspadesreef]

I'm a local, was in the hobby for yrs, got out and now I'm diving head-first down the rabbit hole.

What I've noticed is that it seems, a lot of locals posting about "getting out" selling this or that.

I guess I'm just trying to gauge the pulse of the hobby/community in CT?

Yeah CT’s pretty dead I’ve looked hard for other hobbyists but I haven’t found much luck I really would enjoy a bigger community of reefers

 

[Tacticool-Reefer]

I know what you mean, 25 yrs ago I would make the rounds to a number of small specialized shops and got to pick what I wanted, 7 months ago or so I started looking for shops and most are gone and what's there aren't worth it.
I am looking to visit larger stores but that means a long drive and I won't be going anytime soon

This is just my two cents and take it for what it’s worth. But to add to what you wrote here I couldn’t agree more. Personally I feel shops are more inclined to deal with patrons based upon their bottom lines as opposed to building an actual rapport with them. I have encountered numerous owners in my travels and most seem to want to talk about is their bottom line and why things cost so much as a post to building a relationship with their patrons. That is very disheartening and if anything pushes customers away instead of bringing them in. Again just my two cents take it for what it’s worth which ain’t much lol

 

[galantra]

Where did everything go, I feel as a whole the hobby has change from prices to deals even the knowledge provided is it the same like it used to be. Many places don’t last for long and if they did the adjusted for customer sales solely.

 

[arctictwist]

Im just getting back in after a little over 10 years out. Im pretty sure I saw just as many "getting out sales" then as i do now. The boards are less active, but that seems to be a trend in the hobby. People are migrating to facebook. Which, i honestly dont get. The format doesnt work for things like build threads and such. The amount of stores does seem to be down... but thats also par for the course right now. All small business is struggling to stay alive this year.

 

[Tacticool-Reefer]

@arctictwist I’ve seen the migration to Facebook and I have to agree with you it just does not work. Most of the stuff there is users just trying to sell their wares and I see a lot of the old familiar scam artists are still in play on those Facebook sites. In retrospect I also see a lot of the good guys have also flip the switch to try and get more exposure via Facebook. IMO, at the end of the day it seems more like a buy/sell/trade site, than anything else, that is of course until you come up against a Facebook algorithm which prevents you from selling live animals, a.k.a. coral, and shuts your page down.

 

[arctictwist]

@arctictwist I’ve seen the migration to Facebook and I have to agree with you it just does not work. Most of the stuff there is users just trying to sell their wares and I see a lot of the old familiar scam artists are still in play on those Facebook sites. In retrospect I also see a lot of the good guys have also flip the switch to try and get more exposure via Facebook. IMO, at the end of the day it seems more like a buy/sell/trade site, than anything else, that is of course until you come up against a Facebook algorithm which prevents you from selling live animals, a.k.a. coral, and shuts your page down.

Gotta love those FB algorithms! Yea it is mostly B/S/T but I did see what looked like someone posting a build. Unfortunately its just a bunch of pictures with no real explanation in one post.

 

[EvanDeVita]

I'm a local, was in the hobby for yrs, got out and now I'm diving head-first down the rabbit hole.

What I've noticed is that it seems, a lot of locals posting about "getting out" selling this or that.

I guess I'm just trying to gauge the pulse of the hobby/community in CT?

I’m still here! I only joined December 2019, but I’m here!

 

[kgstei]

I routinely check this site and it definitely does not get the activity that it used to. And yes Facebook is a horrible place to run a group like this. That being said all it really takes is more participation in this group to get things rolling again. Back when I joined this was a great place to learn about the hobby and it could be again. Is really no need to start a new group when you have one already in existence. I just hate the name of the group CTARS. I much prefer Connecticut Reef Club

 

[Tacticool-Reefer]

@kgstei, who runs CTARS now?

 

[kgstei]

@kgstei, who runs CTARS now?

That's a good question. I've seen post from them but I don't really know who's who. And I don't know how to find and tag people here. @A.Jones may be able to help. @Good_vibes_reefing

 

[kgstei]

One volunteer position for someone who is computer savvy would be to clean up this page. A great first step to reboot the club.

 

[Tacticool-Reefer]

One volunteer position for someone who is computer savvy would be to clean up this page. A great first step to reboot the club.

100% agreed
Clean up needs to take place on a lot of the old vendors that are no longer active within the club. Updated list of the current club BOD would be a good start as well along with current club preferred vendors. Maybe something like participation points could also be awarded to individual members on a quarterly basis with some sort of an award around that?