Calling out all vendors... Ultra Rare Super Toxic Holy Garbage...

[Cichlid Dad]

Thousands:

Bounce mushroom sells for record $6,000 for a single polyp! | Reef Builders | The Reef and Saltwater Aquarium Blog

There was a lot of news to come out of this last weekend’s Reefapalooza in Costa Mesa California but the coral heads were all talking about one thing: a single ginormous polyp of the infamous Bounce…

reefbuilders.com

We need a urine test! Looks like he's been juicing!

 

[Rawsreef]

I try to trade mostly for corals. The only time I buy a coral from a vendor is when a "high end" coral is discounted enough that I feel it's worth it, which is not too often.

 

[Pntbll687]

Dear Vendors,

Your use of the words Super, Ultra, Rare, Holy, OG, Rainbow, Unique, ETC is absurd. I am seeing labels placed on coral that is nothing short of blah and mundane. But I guess those words don't command high dollar amounts. For all those that insist on selling Zoanthids at such high prices PER POLYP, for the vendors that are selling coral at hundreds and thousands of dollars based on a name. You are pricing people out of the hobby.

I understand capitalism. I understand that there are some instances when it costs more to import and grow a coral, cultivate it. But I refuse to believe that the greed that i see in this hobby today is anything short of just that GREED...

Wake up hobbyists... Live sale, flash sale, they aren't really sales. and these are the same vendors selling 1500 coral at an average price of 50 a coral every 2 weeks during these "sales". Not to mention the product they sell in between. For those of you that math is hard, that is $112,500 for each flash sale at that price. Even if they only do one a month or one for every holiday or other event like "back to school sale".... They are still doing 12 to 20 of these sales a year. They are robbing us blind as hobbyists.

There is so much more that can be said... but until hobbyists are no longer willing to pay these prices and go back to the trade them if you have them mentality, eventually this will end up being a hobby for the ULTR SUPER RARE HOLY OG RICH people....


Anyone want to buy a super ultra rare og Tiger torch?

Ok

So I'll play the flip side.

Am I not supposed to use the name a wholesaler/distributor uses for an item??
Here's a list of terms used by wholesalers to describe items (just from the acan lord section, because they're my favorite)
- B Grade
- A Grade
- Ultra
- Rainbow
- Green
-Neon Green

They then get into "named acan lord frags, I stay away from these as they are highly priced and not the type of thing I sell in my market.
- Rocket Booster
- Pot of Gold Rainbow
- Bombshell

I 100% agree with the live sale stuff. Items are on sale more often than not, and this can be reported to the BBB, and consumer protection groups. Having an item "on sale" more than 50% of the time is deceptive marketing as the sale price is the regular price. There are some finer details that need to be met in order for prosecution to be brought against companies for this, such as the the sale price being the same or closely similar all the time.

I don't think the hobby turns into just the rich being able to do it. Local swaps are the way to go. My last swap I had over 100 corals for $10, probably 100 more for $20, and a couple COLONIES for under $200.

Deals are out there, you just need to look harder

 

[Lionfish hunter]

What does gross margin have to do with the topic of the predatory Coral name game?

Adding FLAIR WORDS to an ordinary coral which should command an ordinary price, then adding 50% because of the Name does nothing but price consumers out.

When is it downright Lying? There is a certain vendor here who sells single, Barely pinching heads of a torch as two heads. Is that okay? I don't think so. Two is a number. It means something. It's verifiable. I can count to 10 with my hands. Why can't they count to Two with their eyes?

When's the last time we saw an ordinary RFA listed for $20? 2 years ago, that was the standard. Today, Everything is rainbow, super Ultra $45 minimum. The coral is the same.

Inflation is a thing. Shipping cost is a thing. Those have gone up. We agree.

Every coral is not rare, super or Ultra. They can Just be coral. We'll still buy them.

I’ve gotten to the point where I automatically don’t want anything with the word rainbow in it. At least with acros. Every rainbow whatever I have is just light pink brown all day long until my tank goes straight blue. Then it is rainbow, for about 2 hours a day.

 

[StatelineReefer]

I’ve gotten to the point where I automatically don’t want anything with the word rainbow in it. At least with acros. Every rainbow whatever I have is just light pink brown all day long until my tank goes straight blue. Then it is rainbow, for about 2 hours a day.

It's a rainbow of tan, brown, and beige, I dunno what you thought they meant...

Oh, right, no sarsasm indicator.

That said, I don't run eye-shattering blue either, so most of those corals get to sit on vendor shelves.

 

[Cichlid Dad]

I’ve gotten to the point where I automatically don’t want anything with the word rainbow in it. At least with acros. Every rainbow whatever I have is just light pink brown all day long until my tank goes straight blue. Then it is rainbow, for about 2 hours a day.

I know it's personal preference, but I really can't see the attraction to all of these rainbow anything. I look at tanks that are really a "look what I can afford" display for unreal looking coral instead of a natural looking reef tank. I don't like the Windex tanks that display them. Give me a real reef looking tank any day.

 

[joefishtank]

I know it's personal preference, but I really can't see the attraction to all of these rainbow anything. I look at tanks that are really a "look what I can afford" display for unreal looking coral instead of a natural looking reef tank. I don't like the Windex tanks that display them. Give me a real reef looking tank any day.

The look I'm going for in my tank is a tide pool or a shelf near the surface. If you are ever awake before the sun comes up while the sun is coming up everything is blue for a few minutes. I want my tank windex so when people look at it and it looks like an alien world they never experienced before. I can show you my reef with natural sunlight if you want.

 

[averagesteve]

I was just on a social media, and saw an ad by a well known vendor about an acro that "far exceeds the growth rate of all other acros" and "if you want something that grows very fast, this is the one" so I found it on their site and a single 3/4 inch frag is $90... If it grows so fast and can be farmed so easily, why is it so expensive? I feel this this is the greed that OP is talking about in the original post. There is a small, owner ran LFS inside a closet in a pet store near me that sells the fast growing frags for like $10-$20.

"Just buy from the local guy then" well I do but the selection is limited.

 

[11f150]

I have to agree with OP. Live sales lately have really taken the "sale" out of them. They pressure fast checkout in order to "win" the coral. Theres nothing won there. Some of these nubs being posted are $500+ "on sale"

 

[Troylee]

I have to agree with OP. Live sales lately have really taken the "sale" out of them. They pressure fast checkout in order to "win" the coral. Theres nothing won there. Some of these nubs being posted are $500+ "on sale"

I’ll never do another live sale after I got burned from wwc on a crazy acro back in the day.. it looked like todays home wreckers.. I won it fair and square and then I was told it died … the weirdest part is another well known reefer who was affiliated with them back then ended up with a identical one… this was easily 10 years ago and it was a crazy price back then.. it’s always been a cash grab..

 

[GoVols]

A green slimer, red digi, garf bonsia, red dragon, monti caps, pc rainbow, and ora red planet could all be had for 150$ and would make an incredible tank.

+ 1

 

[joefishtank]

As some of you may know I started a YouTube channel to document my progress in this hobby. I finally reached the point where fragging some of my coral makes sense.

The first coral I fragged was a rainbow mushroom from TSA. It was around $75. I've had it for 3 months and it moved off the frag plug leaving 3 babies behind. I still need to grow them out for them to be viable to be sold.

The second was a dying acan. $20 for 3 booger sized frags that a normal person wouldn't buy. I saw it survive for months in a state of poor health in the fish store. The amount of time I would need to regrow it to be sold is not worth it. I would rather give it a crazy name and mark it up and keep it. Basically I want to save it and sell the lineage and also make nft versions of it.

I think if I wanted to make a profit right now I would be more like a coral chop shop. Buy colonies to frag and sell. I could see that working as long as the colonies survive and I'm able to make sales whether that be online or in person.

 

[Troylee]

As some of you may know I started a YouTube channel to document my progress in this hobby. I finally reached the point where fragging some of my coral makes sense.

The first coral I fragged was a rainbow mushroom from TSA. It was around $75. I've had it for 3 months and it moved off the frag plug leaving 3 babies behind. I still need to grow them out for them to be viable to be sold.

The second was a dying acan. $20 for 3 booger sized frags that a normal person wouldn't buy. I saw it survive for months in a state of poor health in the fish store. The amount of time I would need to regrow it to be sold is not worth it. I would rather give it a crazy name and mark it up and keep it. Basically I want to save it and sell the lineage and also make nft versions of it.

I think if I wanted to make a profit right now I would be more like a coral chop shop. Buy colonies to frag and sell. I could see that working as long as the colonies survive and I'm able to make sales whether that be online or in person.

The coral chop shops is exactly what the garage guys are doing lol.. I have bought from a few of them cause it’s way cheaper than stores… obviously no over head to pay.. but I still buy from local stores also..

 

[RickChen]

When I'm looking at the US aquarium online shop, the price shock me every time. I never understand why you guys give the name rainbow to the coral that only have two colors. lol
The coral prices in my country are much lower than the prices in the US, especially soft coral. For example, GMK zoa will only cost you 7USD in Taiwan. Soft coral can grow really fast so soft coral in our country usually regard as a trash, some times nobody wants it even it is free.(by the way you can get wwc og bounce mushroom for 100USD, although it is really small )
But on the other hand, because the prices are much better in the west, so most high end corals and fish would sale to the west but not to Taiwan. You guys have much more high end corals that we don't have.