whats in a name
This is a very interesting discussion that I just have to hop into. So many issues to address, where should I start?
Let's start with why things like zoos and seemingly "unrare" corals are so expensive now.
It all started when growers started giving names to every polyp and morph under the sun. It was okay when we were naming a few truly rare corals/polyps like PPE or Purple Deaths. But then over the last two years there was this subconscious decision in the reefing community that even brown ugly zoos needed a name. lol This led to the naming of other corals that were previously unnamed.
Being an ebay seller I know that ebay is partly to blame because people were getting good money for named polyps compared to unnamed ones. Its a good marketing ploy. I mean I usually give my ricordia morphs interesting names so they standout, but I try to avoid calling everything rare unless it is.
On ebay everything is fair game to a certain extent because you're trying to get people to notice your listing out of the hundreds. But I don't think that same principle should be used when selling on various boards especially home grown stuff.
I also agree that polyp prices have gotten way out of hand, a lot of the palys out there aren't even that rare if you live somewhat near a good wholesaler.
Aussie corals I understand because of where they come from and the trouble/time/money it takes to import them. The cites alone are expensive. However calling a bunch of non-aussie corals "aussie" just to get a better price is bad, but its a capitalist country and you can just expect thats going to happen especially when most hobbyists can't tell the difference from Aussie and non-aussie.
I also think selling things for a super high price just because everyone else is, is also a bad practice.
For example, cespitularia is supposed to be really hard to keep and very rare, so that's why Liveaquaria and others sell a 1.5" frag for $100+ .
I acquired 2 large colonies of cespitularia this past summer and mine have proven not only easy to keep but very fast growers. I'm able to get a few nice frags off of them each month and at the rate they are growing it will probably go up. Instead of selling my frags at the same price as everyone else, I started them at nearly half that.
Its rare but its not hard for me to grow so I'd rather my customers pay less in case it doesn't make it in shipping, etc. Unfortunately a lot of other sellers don't feel that way.
I think as a grower if I no longer feel one of my corals is "rare" then it is best to sell it lower even if the market is still high. The main problem is a lot of sellers get greedy and forget about being a hobbyist and treating other people that way.
What is a problem is certain corals in this trade really have gone up in price at the wholesalers yet the market price has not gone up proportionately. Like red and blue discosoma mushrooms, frogspawn, hammer corals, regular looking zoanthid rocks, acroporas, etc.
I guess these are more expensive because of their weight and freight cost. Its gotten to where I rarely buy frogspawn and hammers to resell because they are so expensive wholesale and their doa/infection rate is high. Box fees are also very high on trans-ship orders.
So that covers that question pretty well.
As far as the sea running out of corals if everybody bought tons, thats really not true. With all due respect Fragmaster you need to read some books by Eric Borneman, Julian Sprung, and other good marine biologists. There is this belief among a lot of less experienced reefers that we are depleting the reefs and thats why everything is going downhill.
The main cause of decline on reefs around the world is pollution, agricultural runoff, global warming, commercial fishing/shrimping, etc. The aquarium trade has very little impact on the marine environment compared to these other factors.
Also, I don't know what wholesaler you're going to but I definately don't see big heads of merleti or other large corals being brought in anymore. If anything in the past few years I have seen a much larger amount of bali cultured sps, mushroom rocks, clams, echinophyllia/chalice, etc.
When I first got into the business a few years ago there were a lot of large acro heads coming in, but they had a high doa rate, now I only see a few per year. Same thing with dyed leather/colt corals/anemones/pagodas, I used to see tons of them. Now a lot less are brought in because wholesalers realize that retailers can't or don't want to sell them.
I'm actually quite proud of how much the hobby has changed in the past few years in regards to caring about what is being brought in and its long term survivability. There is still a whole lot of room for improvement, but its happening.
Much of it is the reefing hobbyists' responsibility as well. If more people would educate themselves from the beginning about what corals/fish are hard to keep instead of saying "I buy 3 so at least one of them has a chance of making it" (I'm quoting someone I know regarding hard to keep wrasses) then us retailers wouldn't feel obligated to sell them. Elegance corals, gonioporas, non-photosynthetic gorgonians, sun corals, carpet anemones, mandarin fish, etc all get brought in all the time in order to feed hobbyists' desire but I'm sure at least 60-70% of these die. I don't think that they shouldn't ever be available, just not in the amount they currently are. Many people think of corals like a floral arrangement that can just be changed out a couple times a year.
I try to only sell corals/fish that will stay alive for the longterm instead just for a few week/months and advise my less experienced customers against buying something I know they can't keep. They lose less money and more marine life is saved. But you have to remember that most stores are in it for the money and won't change their buying habits unless you do.
There are a lot of funny rumors going around about ricordia and there's a lot that hobbyists don't know about that trade. It might seem like they're rare or threatened because a few very stupid people have collected them in state protected waters and make it on to national news. But I don't think ricordia will be going away any time soon and a lot of that trade is subject to hurricanes, etc.
Well thats my lecture for the night, off to bed with me.
