This hobby is getting even more ridiculous with pricing......

BRS
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Top Shelf Aquatics
Guys, let's keep this thread on topic. Comments on both sides of the debate are welcome, but if you're not talking about this topic, then please start another thread. Comments that are off-topic will be removed.
 
Top Shelf Aquatics
If we buy it they will keep selling it to us. No different from a car to clothes buy what you like nobody is making you spend your money. Shop around or have something to trade happy deal hunting
 
When I started out I had green star polyp and xenia cause thats all I could keep alive. Now after two years of learning I can grow corals.
I spend a lot of time on my tank, and sometimes I feel like rewarding myself with a special coral. The really beautiful pieces are often expensive, and I've bought several from the well known vendors because I'd rather pay a little more in the hopes that I'm less likely to bring a pest into my system.

I've also started a reef club so that we can hang out, learn from each other and swap corals. I've given a bunch of corals and fish away to friends and newbies. Anyone near Westchester NY, give me a pm with your name and e-mail and I'll add you to the list. Look us up on Facebook, called Westchester Reef Club. Post a photo and introduce yourself!

Thanks for reading,

Howard
 
Armydogracing said:
Why does everyone think colonies are super cheap through a wholesaler.... yes some are $30 or less but they look like crap. A disk of good palys consisting of like maybe 20 polyps costs around $300 plus depending on colors same goes for other corals.
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So how come we see examples such as the CB Speckled Krack which was selling for $1000 pp a few months ago, yet the exact same polyps came on sale in the UK (from the same supplier) at £25 pp. At least 2 vendors in the UK got them and they all paid the same price.
There is trying to make a living which is fine and there is full blown robbery, which is just wrong.
 
ReefBot Lab, Automated Water Tester
I don't think its robbery to ask a high price. If its too high people won't buy.
I think its robbery to photoshop pics. I don't mind looking at a photo in actinic, but I'd like to see one in midday lighting also.
 
25 years ago was cheaper due to no regulations. Farmers could just take from ocean "no overhead". Today, thank god, it's gotten more regulated and in turn more expensive.
 
Top Shelf Aquatics
It's the hype that I think is just wrong ..like charge whatever you want , some things are definatley worth it but just say what it is . Ultraberry , vine ripened super strawberry shortcake is not needed . Then the Photoshop when in reality it's just a plain ol SSC . Ultra toxic nuclear swamp thing radioactive green slimer ...it's just that stuff that bugs me. In reality you can make money but now you're just gouging people that are ignorant .
 
I have not read through the whole thread so please forgive me and let me first declare I have been in this hobby about 36 years now, not quite as long as Paul B on here, kudos to him. I am also in the UK. Some facts as I remember them, In the late 1980s a single metal halide fixture like a Tunze HQI pendent was over £300 (about £374) a replacement lamp was over £70 ($87) that was around 30 years ago. Now come forward to 2016 and I can buy a replacement HQI lamp cheaper. That is just one example, there are others like skimmers for instance. Sure some things have got more expensive (we didn't keep SPS corals back then we didn't have the knowledge, we kept soft corals instead) while others have got cheaper or prices have not not increased inline with inflation.
Equipment, generally has got better and more reliable IME. In the UK at least there are more people now keeping marines than in anytime in my marine keeping lifetime. Some SPS frags here cost as little as £8 each (about $10) from an LFS others more expensive of course depending mainly on rarity. Of course the above may not mirror what is happening in the US but much of your equipment is cheaper in the US than the UK, the exceptions seem to be European brands which are either a similar price or a little more.
 
Bulk buying with friends and local reef clubs help take some of the sting out of livestock prices....in my area we dont see the rare stuff at the lfs..if we want the goods we have to pay or ban together and work out a bulk price
 
Deltec
I have lots of coral I can barely give away. Montipora, Acropora, Pocillopora and others. Beautiful pieces that no one wants because everyone has seen it for years. Most corals I paid $20 a frag for years ago. You could stock a fantastic reef tank just for $40 from me at a frag swap. Yet the same people who won't want something ordinary, even for free, pay $200 for a little booger just because it is the latest fashion and then complain prices are going up.
 
Marquiseo said:
When I first started 6 years ago, $100 got me at least 6 nice, multi-colored corals. Presently, $100 is almost the same as the value a dollar in this hobby....worth nothing. You can barely get just 1 coral with $100. Once shipping is factored, you will breach the $100 threshold. Also, corals went from colonies, to snack size, to bite size, to residue. When does the madness stop?
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Don't know if the madness will stop with the advent of the world wide web, coral exporter can now get on the web and see what their coral are selling for at retail level. So if they're getting $3.00 for a coral and the retail is selling for $30 they the exporter will increase their price to let's say $10 and so on. It also seems like the more popular a coral is the higher the price. Just MHO.
 
BRS
BradB said:
I have lots of coral I can barely give away. Montipora, Acropora, Pocillopora and others. Beautiful pieces that no one wants because everyone has seen it for years. Most corals I paid $20 a frag for years ago. You could stock a fantastic reef tank just for $40 from me at a frag swap. Yet the same people who won't want something ordinary, even for free, pay $200 for a little booger just because it is the latest fashion and then complain prices are going up.
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I'd buy ordinary, there's not wrong with ordinary. I'd just bought a 3 or 4 rare pieces, hobbyist need to keep in mind that the vast major of Reef in the wild are made up of ordinary ... Acropora, Montipora, Pocillopora etc. Hell if your shipping cost is reasonable. Hell I'll buy for you!
 
george1381 said:
Hey I'm on the same side. I just think we control the prices. But I have sympathy for the LFS owner
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We did control the prices to some extent if we'd tell retail I'm not going to pay $300 for a unique or rare piece of coral, the exporter would lower their prices because the message from the retail would be I can't sell a coral priced that high. My pet peeve is that coral have gone from colonies, down to 1 1/2 studs over the years. But it's not just the corals that are getting expensive it the equipment as well. You would think that prices would be more reasonable for such a small segment of the hobby.
 
Tidal Gardens
I'm on the "supply/demand" side here.

I have a theory that the true value (i.e. Price) is only known after someone actually pays for an item, or exchanges something of known established value.

Here is an experiment to test my theory:

I'm offering for sale, 1 (one) 6-inch Green Wall hammer coral (sp. Euphyllia ancora) for the price of:
$3.14159 million dollars US. I'll throw in free shipping.
​
Serious inquiries only ;)

I'll keep everyone posted if my experiment results in establishing a new ceiling in coral prices. If you don't hear from me, please conclude that the price of hammer corals has not suddenly inflated.
 
BradB said:
I have lots of coral I can barely give away. Montipora, Acropora, Pocillopora and others. Beautiful pieces that no one wants because everyone has seen it for years. Most corals I paid $20 a frag for years ago. You could stock a fantastic reef tank just for $40 from me at a frag swap. Yet the same people who won't want something ordinary, even for free, pay $200 for a little booger just because it is the latest fashion and then complain prices are going up.
Click to expand...

Dude, all the corals are beautiful to me, if I lived closer I'd take you up on the offer!
 
BRS

IF YOU HAD TO TAKE A REEFING EXAM, WOULD YOU PASS?

  • Yes!

    Votes: 32 45.7%

  • Not yet, but I have one that I want to buy in mind!

    Votes: 9 12.9%

  • No.

    Votes: 26 37.1%

  • Other (please explain).

    Votes: 3 4.3%
See comments…

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