Rant: State of the Hobby

[ReefGeezer]

I DIY'd a fuge last weekend and then went about finding some Cheato. I hit up my local Facebook Group and got two quick responses. To my surprise, Cheato is now a commodity, at least in my local area... and by the prices they wanted a rare commodity. I used to give the stuff away or throw it down the drain! This hobby has gone insane!

 

[brandon429]

buy the chaeto low, sell high sounds like a transient market better get in quick

 

[Mical]

LOL (laughing with you not at you) Yea, every so often something in this hobby gets absurd - say like torch prices.

On another note I'ld avoid the Facebook sources (which is a whole nother thread)

When I get in one of those irritated moods, I refer to this and it brightens my day.

 

[Saltyreef]

Its unfortunate that times are tough for a lot of people.
Ive been to the point where i see dollar signs on everything i have.....

Im sure if you search hard enough, youll find locals offering it for free.
I used to....it was going in the garbage other wise.

I do feel your pain!

 

[ReeferSteve]

Where are you located? In my local reef club there’s 5-6 people currently giving it away hand over fist. I’ve never seen anyone charge for it except for algae barn lol

 

[Bob Weigant]

In our area it’s pretty much always free

 

[FactoryKTMmotocross46]

I would never get chaeto from another reefer even if they wanted to pay me to take it. No offense to anyone, I wouldnt take it from myself, way too risky to get some bad stuff.
Algaebarn macroalgae

 

[WVNed]

The people that would give you some for free like me don't go to the places where people sell it because we think those people are silly.
These days there are a lot of people that don't know or care what something should cost. They just want it and will pay.

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

Agreed... reefers also used to give each other a break on frags but now everyone fancies themselves a vendor and tries to make their money back on the first frag they sell...

 

[monti mike]

LOL (laughing with you not at you) Yea, every so often something in this hobby gets absurd - say like torch prices.

On another note I'ld avoid the Facebook sources (which is a whole nother thread)

When I get in one of those irritated moods, I refer to this and it brightens my day.

Rare Indo pacific anemone. Evil!

 

[andrewkw]

This is just a local thing. Honestly I would typically sell it for $5 for as much as you wanted when I used to use cheato. Why? Because a lot of people never showed up, or came at inconvenient times, or asked me to drop it off ect. If it was someone I knew or we were trading frags sure free is fine but there is some headache involved sometimes.

 

[Sierra_Bravo]

I would feel embarrassed to ask for money in exchange for chaeto.

 

[Zoaologist]

My local group in Las Vegas is always giving it away for free.

 

[ZoWhat]

Pay for the chaeto by check....then turn them in to the IRS.

Lololololololololol

 

[hoju74]

When I first started, a guy in my local club gave me a gallon freezer bag bursting with it for free.
I have come up empty asking at other times though.

 

[Duffybubbleboy]

Yeh, I think it starts with algae barn and brs pushing them, “oh my cheato is clean” yeh well it’s still sea weed and not worth $40 bucks..


Algae barn is being kinda ridiculous claiming they are the only ones with clean Algae... BRS was just trying to help sell more algae. Brs saying it’s a mistake to get algae even from the local hobby store was nothing but a blantent way to get people to buy from their “friends”. Now more and more people are like well well my algae is “clean”....


I don’t like how some people just say things to sell things , like we all couldn’t survive with out algae barn. I don’t buy from them for this reason. I even steer away from brs for these obvious bandwagon style of pushing product that excludes smaller shops...


You don’t need to buy from algae barn,,, that’s why it’s expensive. To assume all of their Algae is completely “clean” and everyone’s algae is dirty was a lame trick... stop doing that none-sense brs. It’s lame... I see so many people just repeat what ever brs says regardless, it’s annoying..

Buying a bunch of semi dead algae from the algae barn is why all these people think theirs is worth money.


Stop pushing the online retailers as the only legitimate source of algae and the prices will go down.

 

[Crimsonphoenix]

I DIY'd a fuge last weekend and then went about finding some Cheato. I hit up my local Facebook Group and got two quick responses. To my surprise, Cheato is now a commodity, at least in my local area... and by the prices they wanted a rare commodity. I used to give the stuff away or throw it down the drain! This hobby has gone insane!

My lfs charges $20 for a fist or small baggie size and $10 for half here in central Florida.

 

[grisha]

How about dudes with 3 month old tanks selling designer zoa at crazy prices. And ea, they grew it from single polyp

 

[mikeintoronto]

I don’t sell it and I don’t offer it for free. I’d rather just toss it out. But if someone puts out an “ISO chaeto” or they’re stopping by to buy frags, they’re welcome to pick up a shopping bag full of it. I throw a couple bags away every month so I cringe a bit when I see people selling it.
There are even corals I won’t sell anymore (e.g. Hollywood Stunner) because it just feels like I’m ripping people off when I do.

 

[sp1187]

chaeto shortage caused the DOW to drop 1200 today.
on another note, I buy asterinas. $10 per 100.