Online vendor Acro frags are sure getting pricey$$$$$$$$$$

[HB AL]

I just spent some time browsing various vendors wysiwyg Acro frags and maybe it’s just me but man where they expensive for a 1 to 2 inch frag. Even ones that didn’t look like anything special were north of a Benjamin, and a lot of them were new corals with new names. Just wondering did I miss something? None were any of the big name ones like the home wrecker, WD, etc. Just tripping on the prices for a small stick. Not long ago the prices were nowhere near what they are now. Gonna stick with my lfs’s for now.

 

[Angryminer_07]

I just spent some time browsing various vendors wysiwyg Acro frags and maybe it’s just me but man where they expensive for a 1 to 2 inch frag. Even ones that didn’t look like anything special were north of a Benjamin, and a lot of them were new corals with new names. Just wondering did I miss something? None were any of the big name ones like the home wrecker, WD, etc. Just tripping on the prices for a small stick.

I’m not big into sps and I have trouble understanding their prices. I’ve been able to snag some cheaper frags during live sales. Otherwise I wouldn’t ever try my luck at those prices.

 

[HB AL]

Ya I’ve participated in a couple of live sales and got some nice Acro frags that way atleast those although not cheap weren’t close to breaking 100$ let alone 2 or 3 hundred.

 

[Guttersnipe]

Yeah. It’s really getting out of hand now. Price gouging seems to be the norm now.

 

[Garia666]

Well my prediction is it Will keep on rising. Specialy with no more corals from Indonesia. A couple of years of now you will long for the days of today

 

[ncaldwell]

Its business, all you can do is shop for deals an be smart about your shopping. There are plenty of deals to be had. If they can get away with slapping a computer generated name on it and sell for 200 then that's their prerogative, and more power to them. Capitalism at its finest, play the game smarter than them is all we can do

 

[ZaneTer]

Alternatively get into frag swapping or giving frags away for free to newbies/friends and those a little less fortunate than ourselves.

 

[lakai]

The overhead to grow I imagine is quite higher then those farms setup in actual reefs. Vendors here grow colonies to sell frags, not grow colonies to sell colonies. Not enough inventory so seems.

 

[Jonreefer]

Yea its ridiculous. Most vendors give these corals some flashy name and then charge an arm and a leg. When they probably paid $20 for the colony and now charging extreme prices for 1" frags.
WWC is the absolute worst at this practice. Then basically it turns all the livestock Buy/Sell into the same thing where some acro pack for 2-3 acro cost $500 ****. I wont pay more than $25 for a frag and I have seen plenty that look the exact same as some of those ones the vendors give a catchy name to and charge insane prices. best practice to help out this robbery is to just stop buying and spending those prices.

 

[HB AL]

Really I’m just tripping on the prices for what’s being offered. I guess if I was in the business I would be charging the same if the stuff was selling at those prices, nothing wrong with making a profit.

 

[Neo Jeo]

Well my prediction is it Will keep on rising. Specialy with no more corals from Indonesia. A couple of years of now you will long for the days of today

I heard the Indonesia band was over now, is that not true?

 

[Broadfield]

Yeah, most vendor corals are too rich for my blood... and I typically spend freely. That's fine though... they have to make their money and I don't think any of them are getting rich off selling coral.

I strictly buy from members on here. Most of the time the prices are fair and there's also the possibility of trading. I think something like this pack is a fair price and a great start to filling out a tank once they grow.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/price-drop-cleaning-the-racks-again-wysiwyg.519301/

 

[ReefWeeds]

I heard the Indonesia band was over now, is that not true?

Not true. There was some progress, but the ban is still in place.

 

[Softhammer]

What’s even more absurd is the prices on Euphyllia and mushrooms. I literally used to throw them away and now they are magical and hundreds of dollars. It’s the same way it was with Acans and chalices in the 2005-2007s. A grand for an Acan? Give me a friggin break, now they are 50 bucks for the same frags. The key is to hoard all crap corals for when they become the next “trend”.

 

[User1]

There is greed everywhere so in the end you just need to set your own limit(s) and be smart about it. The problem with this hobby is that it doesn't have to be this expensive since we can self propagate most if not all corals. It will be interesting to see what the limits are with hobbyists since technically we can control the pricing. If a frag is too much or a re-seller asking too much do business elsewhere. They will either adjust or go out of business. But if people keep saying oh my gosh that Bop bopa-a-lu a whop bam boo Tutti frutti SPS frag is a must have and are willing to pay $800 for it, well, reap what one sows.

 

[Softhammer]

Yep, as long a people are paying it, and they definitely are, why not? The hilarity of it for me is, that it seems the smaller the tank the more money plowed into it. 700 dollar frags going into a setup that didn’t cost 700 to begin with.

 

[cpschult]

Yep, as long a people are paying it, and they definitely are, why not? The hilarity of it for me is, that it seems the smaller the tank the more money plowed into it. 700 dollar frags going into a setup that didn’t cost 700 to begin with.

I feel like you are targeting me with this comment lol.

I’ve got way more spent on corals than I do my set up (25 gallon nano, lots of used equipment).

I’m curious if the OP complains about the rest of his life like about coral prices. It’s equivalent to cars in my opinion. You can get the shiny new car, or you can buy a used/cheaper model, the one that has cheap parts because there are a million of them. If vendors can get what they’re asking, more power to them. Getting “deals” at live sales can be a joke to when prices are only coming down to what they should be. Raising coral isn’t cheap as a living. There are lots of threads on here talking about the costs. Hell, our local store in Milwaukee said his best margin is fresh water fish and supplies, he just likes saltwater. Prices are going to get worse if the Indo ban stays. Won’t be good for the hobby.

 

[Jonreefer]

Anyone buying into these prices are nuts for paying hundreds of dollars on a coral that might decided to in a week just up and die and you are out all that cash.

 

[jda]

They are plenty of reasonably priced coral vendors. Stay away from the chop-it-and-name-it shops and you can do quite well. Even the reasonable priced places have overhead and need to make money, but you could stock a small tank for $500 from places like Boom... and you won't be posting in a year to see who else has WWC or Vivid WhateverBlossom only to find out that you and one other person are the only people who have it and your $200 named frag is now destined for the frag swap or thrown in as some freebie.

As a general rule, if it has a name and you cannot find a dozen photos about it on Google going back a few years, then it is probably a new import, just got chopped and named and probably will be worth nothing in a year. If you are going to spend a few hundred on a named coral, then get one that has been popular for a decade and appeals to everybody (not just trick-light guys... think tenuis).

Yes, indo is gone, but importing is up from Australia, Tonga and have seen some Red Sea stuff. It won't be long before one of these picks up AQ slack, but facilities and stock does not grow overnight.

 

[mta_morrow]

There are plenty of members and vendors selling at reasonable prices.

It’s not difficult to search and wait till you find what you want at the price your willing to pay.

Just like everything else we want, you have to search for the deal and have patience.

And sometimes we just don’t get everything we want.

This is called life.