The coral stock market has crashed....

[revhtree Verified Admin]

The coral stock market has crashed....for certain types of corals, certain named corals, etc..

I saw a photo of a certain coral today and was thinking about how this certain coral was so hyped at one point that it was demanding hundreds of dollars per every few heads and the colors were GREY or GRAY (depending on where you are from)! But now even the most coveted colors can be had for a much lesser price. Many people "bought stock" so to speak in these corals and are now left with low valued shares. But who are we kidding we're not in this for the money, we're in this for the love of the hobby right?!

A local fish store was cutting up these, brand new to the market, Australian Acan Lords and getting $25 a head. Exactly like the one pictured above!

We have all seen coral that goes through stages of popularity where the prices rise and fall depending on who is selling it, what other corals are hot at the time and other variables. So it's not always wise to sell when the "coral stock prices" are low.

With that is mind what are some corals that come to mind that at one time were hot and heavy on the hype train but for now have seemed to have been derailed?

Another question is what bitcoral I mean coral do you see currently moving on an upward trend?

 

[stylaster]

It does seem to go in spurts, right now SPS and shrooms seem to be the hot thing. Awhile back it was chalices and zoas

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

It does seem to go in spurts, right now SPS and shrooms seem to be the hot thing. Awhile back it was chalices and zoas

Any named pieces in particular?

 

[Kamden Uelton]

I buy from the $20 section and let the corals color up

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

I buy from the $20 section and let the corals color up

Well played! HA!

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

I was going to buy BitCoral.com for fun but someone already got it! HA!

 

[Fin]

Seems that I can remember when Duncans first came on the scene, they were rather pricey (by the standards of the day). Now, not so much.

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

Many people "bought stock" so to speak in these corals and are now left with low valued shares. But who are we kidding we're not in this for the money, we're in this for the love of the hobby right?!

I think it depends. Some people are in this just for the love of reefing. Some people I think are in it purely for the money; I think these would be the types that buy "stock" in rare frags with the end goal of making profit. Then, I think there's a crossover population of reefers who really love reefing, but are a bit more entrepreneurial. These reefers do some mental math and figure out that if they can buy the thousand dollar coral and frag it just once or twice a year, they could maybe pay for their hobby. Frag it once? A thousand dollars profit. Frag it twice? Two thousand dollars profit.

This, however, is a rather primitive equation. It doesn't take into account the expenses or equipment depreciation, nor does it account for your time. I think Uber is a good example of this. Before expenses and taxes, drivers can make anywhere between $25 and $40 an hour. Sounds great, right? It is, until you factor in the expenses, depreciation and taxes. After all expenses are paid, including depreciation on your automobile, earnings look suspiciously closer to $7 per hour. That's less than minimum wage. You don't feel that, however, because you're essentially consuming your car to make money. You're turning your car's usable lifespan into money here and now at the expense of longevity. There's nothing wrong with working for near minimum wage. I worked two jobs for a few months and one was below minimum wage. We just shouldn't think that we're making $40/hr with Uber when net earnings are closer to $7 an hour. Let's just be realistic about what's going on.

My point is not to badmouth Uber; I just mean to say that I don't think most hobbyists with an entrepreneurial spirit really calculate the cost of growing corals for profit into their profit. If you like growing something in your tank and selling cuttings of it for money, that's fine. It's really a stretch to call this a "business" though. Actually making a profit and running a business in your display tank is a lot more complex than buying an expensive frag and growing it out. If you're going to be sophisticated with your coral fragging business, you need to factor in wear and tear on your equipment, your electricity costs, and your consumable goods costs (salt mix, dry dosing powders, liquid additives, coral foods, etc).

I don't mean to dissuade people from trying to make a few bucks with their frags. I simply mean to say that there's a lot more that goes into your COGS (cost of goods sold, frags in this case) than just the cost of the original frag. If we can manage to keep a level head when dreaming our entrepreneurial dreams of coral frag riches, maybe we can force retailers to lower the prices on these beautiful, rare, and in my opinion overpriced, frags.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

What corals do you guys think could see some popularity increasing soon?

 

[DSC reef]

What corals do you guys think could see some popularity increasing soon?

I'm always on the lookout for the next hot trachyphillia. They stay pretty consistent though

 

[chris k.]

I take my wife shopping and she picks out what corals to buy. So she is not interested in names just colors and type.

 

[Ranjib]

Vargas Cespitularia, aka blue xenia. Was hyped a lot, and now its common. It grew so much in my tank I had to frag aggressively and give it all away

 

[Ranjib]

Pretty much all hard to keep and slow-growing acros have maintained consistent price (like gold ), not exactly what you asked, but I think thats relevant, as it provides a consistent baseline

 

[alton]

This funny because I sold $200 worth of GSP to a LFS a month ago. Frogspawn for me is still a great seller at $25 for a two headed frag to fish store. I normally do not sell to individuals, too many headaches. I would rather drop off some frags and pick up two buckets of salt in exchange. SPS buyers want the latest greatest $100+ for a 1/2" frag. For SPS I go to my buddy Ty Farmer and get his best that never dies for less than $40 for a good size frag because I don't care how rare it is, just that it looks awesome in my tank.

 

[dansreef]

This hobby and the trends are pretty amusing sometimes. Pretty soon... there will be the equivalent of Evian Water in bottles for our tanks... Actually.... I think that already exists.... I have seen people looking for pedigrees for their fish and corals.... We have seen corals in high demand one minute.... and given away the next. I recently saw some SPS coral frags... less than a 1/2" and smaller in size over $500. Really? Yeah Who hasn't seen prices for nems go nuts? I saw a sunset BTA going for $1,500? I have heard they can go as high as $2,500.... Crazy!

What is the next fad...? I would say color! Anything that can take the views of our tanks to the next level in color will be hot. If it is hard to find, hard to keep... and hard to reproduce, then the sky will be the limit. Oooh.... I think my sunset BTA just split....

 

[ca1ore]

It's simple supply and demand people. A 'new' variant comes along and commands an absurd premium. If, as many do, it proves easy to grow the supply increases exponentially and the price falls accordingly. If one proves hard to grow, the supply grows correspondingly slowly and the prices fall only marginally.

 

[brandon429]

I cannot wait for the market on junk bounces to tank, im in like shark.

 

[Dennis Cartier]

Funny I was just thinking about this. I have been looking over the Rainbow Chalices available in my general area. Most are the size of the fingernail on my baby finger, and go for $350++ a frag.

What we need is a Coral Public License (CPL)tm

If all the reefers that purchase these high end frags were to give the first 2 frags away to other (competent) reefers with the understanding, that by getting the frag for free, that they will also give away the first 2 of their frags for free to other reefers. It would both help to moderate the insane prices that the coral vendors demand, and to prevent the loss of genetically unique coral specimens. Similar to what Mike Paletta has spoken about in the past (The Reefer's Code).

I worry that the ridiculous prices that vendors are charging, is putting many of the "special" specimens in the hands of those with the means (money), but not necessarily the skill, for the most unique corals to thrive and become available to all.

Dennis

 

[XNavyDiver]

I buy from the $20 section and let the corals color up

This is exactly what I do also. I can't bring myself to buy a Picasso, so I buy the paint by numbers corals and wait and see what they evolve into.
As its only my wife and I that see the corals, we're perfectly happy with them.
Corals are only worth what people are willing to pay for them. So I stay away from the runway fashion models, and stick with the Target sticks.

 

[pa1ntbru5h]

Right now it's all about finding wild rainbow tenuis and saturating the crud out of them and sell for $$$ for 1/2"
But people are gobbling it up left and right