These prices ... really?

[cutterx23]

The only time it bothers me is when I can't afford the thing I want haha but price and naming is what it is, like has been said a 100 times now like it, buy it, don't like it, keep it movin, no need to cry over non-spilt milk. Photoshop is the bigger horror, it's one thing to have corals under LEDs which are going to pop more, especially with all the blues on, but the over saturation and creating things that basically aren't even there isn't real cool. Photoshop is great for trying to adjust pics to make them look more like what they do in person, and sometimes you may accidentally go a little too far, but for every pic to be looking like it came from Chernobyl is a bit much. I just try to take it for what it is and at least know that if I buy something looking like that in the pic it's probably not gonna really look like that, just keep the expectations low.


I decided to do a little playing on PS awhile back, I wanted to make a remarkable zoa of my own for my avatar. I present to you: THE PHOTOMONSTAR



This is it originally lol



Now my favorite part about this is that I've actually had people ask me for this zoa wanting to buy it hahaha so we all just need to put on our photoshop goggles and take things with a grain of salt

 

[turbo21]

Answer this.... Were the corals then subpar to the corals of today?

Yes they were definitely subpar to today. I started in 1999 with a 75 gal reef tank. And. There were no where near the amount of colorful corals then as their were now. Zoas were mostly brown and green and the same with acros. Most tanks had Lps that were green and brown too

I will dig up a pic of that tank here in a minute.

The funny part is. The same corals are the same price in the same stores in this area

 

[Pete polyp]

I don’t normally get into these topics but I am going to just make a few comments.
First of all, it usually is the newer person in the hobby who falls for this stuff and call’s themselves collector’s, in most cases it is not the person who has been in the hobby 10 to 30 years.
Most don’t survive the hobby either. They spend so much time hunting down corals and never learning the biology side of things when disaster hits they have no idea what to do… There goes thousands of dollars down the drain they are so discouraged they are gone because they lost all that money...

Half the tanks now adays look like crap.. I like a tank with nice big colonies… How many tanks now are littered with these little frags all over. Frags on frag racks on the side of the tanks, frags all over the sand bed etc. Why bother with a reef and just set up a frag tank and it will be easier to admire the corals then.

Now I am not talking the person who has a occasional collector corals, some of do and dont even know it.. I am talking the person who spends 500 on this 1 cm frag morph that once it is put in different condition will change again...

I agree with this. Is my tank littered with several frags scattered everywhere, yes. Its going to take time for those frags everywhere to grow out and eventually become appropriate sized colonies for the tank size. People tend to think my tank is huge when they see a picture of it and I have to tell them no, its a 29 gallon. No I can't grow basketball sized colonies in a 29. But what I can do is grow nano colonies so that it looks like a scale model of a 300 gallon.

I completely agree that for the majority of the people that will shell out big bucks on corals are new to the hobby. I will also agree that many of these will have their tanks for a relatively short amount of time (a few years at most). This is something that the people who are going to stick around will benefit from. People eventually sell whatever they haven't killed at a loss just to get out.

I do see many "display tanks" now days with "frag rack condos" in them. Its kind of an eyesore to me, but hey if that's what they want then so be it. Something I have noticed about these frag rack displays is that they're constantly selling "ultra rainbow unicorn on acid" frags (normally a single polyp) while the "mother colony" has 3 polyps.

I'm not trying to get off the price topic because I feel its relative when "hobbyists" are fragging frags... I mean "mother colonies"... Because they find people just as infatuated with a certain name as they are and will pay the same price as they do.

I see lots of chalice that are seemingly identical. They're might be an extra dot in the eye or something. And by adding "le" "ultra" "Mickey mouse" before the name one will sell for $500 an eye and the other for $30 an eye. On rare occasions they do find something that has a completely different coloration, but mostly its an insignificant morph that some justify ballooning the price.

 

[Pete polyp]

I agree with this. Is my tank littered with several frags scattered everywhere, yes. Its going to take time for those frags everywhere to grow out and eventually become appropriate sized colonies for the tank size. People tend to think my tank is huge when they see a picture of it and I have to tell them no, its a 29 gallon. No I can't grow basketball sized colonies in a 29. But what I can do is grow nano colonies so that it looks like a scale model of a 300 gallon.

I completely agree that for the majority of the people that will shell out big bucks on corals are new to the hobby. I will also agree that many of these will have their tanks for a relatively short amount of time (a few years at most). This is something that the people who are going to stick around will benefit from. People eventually sell whatever they haven't killed at a loss just to get out.

I do see many "display tanks" now days with "frag rack condos" in them. Its kind of an eyesore to me, but hey if that's what they want then so be it. Something I have noticed about these frag rack displays is that they're constantly selling "ultra rainbow unicorn on acid" frags (normally a single polyp) while the "mother colony" has 3 polyps.

I'm not trying to get off the price topic because I feel its relative when "hobbyists" are fragging frags... I mean "mother colonies"... Because they find people just as infatuated with a certain name as they are and will pay the same price as they do.

I see lots of chalice that are seemingly identical. They're might be an extra dot in the eye or something. And by adding "le" "ultra" "Mickey mouse" before the name one will sell for $500 an eye and the other for $30 an eye. On rare occasions they do find something that has a completely different coloration, but mostly its an insignificant morph that some justify ballooning the price.

Sorry if I was all over the place with this one... Adhd, Alzheimers, or lack of geritol must have kicked in....

 

[turbo21]

Do you think though that it is possible the colors were different due to modern LED lighting, Amino Acid supplements, etc? Pretty sure that helped...

No. I don't think it was lighting or aminos. I ran halides then power compacts and never dosed aminos now or then


I had a buddy stop over back in 2000 and was amazed that he saw a faint purple ring on one of my zoa colonies

I couldn't see it for the life of me lol

 

[turbo21]

Some 1999 color for you

The most colorful thing was coralline algae

And no I didn't photoshop these colors

 

[Pete polyp]

Some 1999 color for you

The most colorful thing was coralline algae

And no I didn't photoshop these colors

Cute!

Most of those corals in that tank are still on the market.

 

[always reefin]

nice guys....lol

 

[pirate2876]

Hagen power heads FTW. I remember when zoas and palys we called "button polyps". And they usually were green or brown.

 

[turbo21]

Hagen power heads FTW. I remember when zoas and palys we called "button polyps". And they usually were green or brown.

You missed the in tank Berlin airlift skimmer. Haha. Man those 802 power heads moved some water

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

Some 1999 color for you

The most colorful thing was coralline algae

And no I didn't photoshop these colors

Dang! And I caught crap for putting a naso in a 180!!! ROFL

 

[sirreal]

2004 and everyone who say it was amazed with all the colors.

 

[sirreal]

Notice the 2 different xenias on the top. I was so proud because they grew so well. This next pic shows my GSP at the top and the most amazing open brain LOL. ya things have changed.

 

[ReefMadScientist]

That Diamond Goby is a beast!!!!

 

[turbo21]

That Diamond Goby is a beast!!!!

Actually that was a longfin sleeper goby. Saltwaterfish.com. Still uses my photo for sales

They get huge. And have an awesome yellow mouth

http://www.saltwaterfish.com/Longfin-Sleeper-Goby_p_928.html

 

[dankreef]

Reading through some of these replies you guys are crazy. It all depends on what you want your tank to look like. If you don't care about getting the coolest looking stuff then go to frag swaps. How much are you willing to pay for something that came from the other side of the world who knows how far under the water and the effort of all of that isn't worth 50$ to you? Are you crazy? You can buy a extremely awesome pack from battle corals and know that your frags arn't going to have pests. They have been grown captive and are going to look AWESOME, and none of your friends are going to know what they are. Thats what its all about. Having unique rare, good looking stuff that you stare at for hours upon hours everyday. If your telling me paying 500$ for like 12+ frags that comes down to like 40$ a frag isn't worth it than you need a cheaper hobby. But don't say that some of the best vendors on this site are ripping people off. Its a free market society, thats how it works.

 

[PaulKreider]

Reading through some of these replies you guys are crazy. It all depends on what you want your tank to look like. If you don't care about getting the coolest looking stuff then go to frag swaps. How much are you willing to pay for something that came from the other side of the world who knows how far under the water and the effort of all of that isn't worth 50$ to you? Are you crazy? You can buy a extremely awesome pack from battle corals and know that your frags arn't going to have pests. They have been grown captive and are going to look AWESOME, and none of your friends are going to know what they are. Thats what its all about. Having unique rare, good looking stuff that you stare at for hours upon hours everyday. If your telling me paying 500$ for like 12+ frags that comes down to like 40$ a frag isn't worth it than you need a cheaper hobby. But don't say that some of the best vendors on this site are ripping people off. Its a free market society, thats how it works.

I think you didn't read the whole thread buddy.

 

[turbo21]

That Diamond Goby is a beast!!!!

You can just see the inside of his
Mouth

 

[dankreef]

I think you didn't read the whole thread buddy.

Just the first 3 pages enough to see my fav vendors that have always done me right getting slammed. If people are willing to take a chance at wild acros and pay whatever for them thats their call.

 

[ritter6788]

No matter what a coral costs I'll bet it's still cheaper than flying to Indonesia and diving for your own. Not to mention the cost of getting it back to your tank alive.

I feel the same way about shipping charges. If I want a coral then $35-$50 delivered to my door is a lot cheaper than me driving/flying to pick it up.