Has Supply Exceeded Demand?

[katonge]

Are there any local clubs or groups that have frag swaps near Central Florida? Orlando Reef Caretakers Association was great years ago, but they don't have meeting anymore that I know of.

I have been wondering the same thing.

 

[katonge]

I would say it appears to be over-saturated otherwise why are there so many ’sales’ every weekend? I know one of the better known lfs has stopped fragging & growing their own. Too expensive on man hrs I guess & too much competitio.

 

[seamonster]

I was thinking about reefing today and how easy it has become to grow coral out for fragging. It seems more and more Reefers are starting coral fragging businesses these days.

I know not everyone shares the same success, but I think those that stick with it will eventually become successful.

With that said, do you think that the coral frag market is oversaturated, balanced, or not enough?

Well, it does depend on what kind of coral it is.. I grew out a space invader into a very large colony. This is not the easiest coral to frag. Sold some small, accidentally fragged pieces of it, gave some to my lfs too. However, I split it in half accidentally because i had to remove the rock it was attached to due to a hydroid infestation. Anyway, I know that it’s worth at least 500 bucks, and that’s the low end.. each half is worth 250. One frag of space invader is 80 bucks, so do the math… I kept getting lowballed and that’s exhausting, but I had to get rid of them because they were much too large. I ended up selling both for 300 and that’s kind of lame. It does take work, money and resources to grow a coral out, and it takes years, and money is nice for our efforts. But I do not agree on paying a premium price for some coral, and the cost nowadays is overblown. A tiny frag of homewrecker is over 200, and that’s just dang stupid.

 

[Shawnman]

Willing to accept all frags...

 

[Reefer_kano]

Yup, that used to happen a lot with me as well. But now I can't even give coral away in my area because so many people already have frag tanks full of coral, or it is not the expensive "high end" stuff they want.

Well, I have a 180 that is about to go up in the next couple of weeks and I can definitely use a few frags to fill it up

 

[Wild1]

I was thinking about reefing today and how easy it has become to grow coral out for fragging. It seems more and more Reefers are starting coral fragging businesses these days.

I know not everyone shares the same success, but I think those that stick with it will eventually become successful.

With that said, do you think that the coral frag market is oversaturated, balanced, or not enough?

It hasn't dropped the prices, EVERYONE wants to hit a home run with every coral they sell. Just put their name on it or give it a stupid name, and the price quadruples.

 

[ninjamyst]

I have trouble selling gold torch for $50 in Orlando. People rather pay $200 at WWC. LoL. I don't do it for the money. I just have 5+ years old colonies I need to trim. I give out free monti and softies all the time.

 

[santeeeyyy]

It makes me sad, im over in az and I came to one of my lfs that I would go to all the time to check in and I saw colonies that were half dead or had massive growth the last time I was there. To be fair, I feel like its mainly prices that is the real gate keeper around here. And this store owner I know isnt doing it for the money as well. That and I feel like arizona doesnt have that big of a salt water fish community like for example over by cali or florida. Maybe prices and community size?

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

As I said before and will say again, peak reefing is here (has come and gone). It will never be like the wild west days of COVID.

 

[Ef4life]

It makes me sad, im over in az and I came to one of my lfs that I would go to all the time to check in and I saw colonies that were half dead or had massive growth the last time I was there. To be fair, I feel like its mainly prices that is the real gate keeper around here. And this store owner I know isnt doing it for the money as well. That and I feel like arizona doesnt have that big of a salt water fish community like for example over by cali or florida. Maybe prices and community size?

We have an active local club azfrag.org if your not a member we’d love to have you

 

[Doctorgori]

It depends
You can fill up a tank quickly for cheap if you don’t have to have the latest and greatest. What do people do with all the Hollywood Stunner? Xenia gets flush down the toilet. A LFS has corals they can’t give away. Transport the same corals to a LFS in another state and they will sell out as long as they haven’t invaded tanks in that area.

I don’t play the game. It costs the same to grow out a 10$ frag as it does to grow out an ultra rare wing ding bing bang. I will not pay top dollar for a frag. I am not in the position now, but I rarely sold coral to an individual. I would give away more than I sold and to see someone grinning from ear to ear is worth more than a couple extra bucks in my pocket.

It also comes down to keeping up with the Joneses and having the latest and greatest. I feel bad for new people starting out in the hobby. Especially a young kid whose parents work hard for what little they have. All you need to keep a tank is light, water, live rock, and flow. Yet thousands can be spent before biological filtration is understood and don’t understand why the king ding a king frag died.

Okay I’m done, Iol, I think

I don’t play the name game either…. I buy by color , can’t recall paying much over $30 for a frag, maybe $50 for a colony and soon forget the name after mounting….
Supply? Demand? dunno, I don’t even bother shopping at “ top tier” suppliers, heck you are gonna dip ( clean) your frags regardless of source… not impressed with the fancy deep blue photos and “ Apple-ish” store appearance

 

[GoWatchChalice]

If a type of coral grows fast, the commercial value drops fast.

 

[Reefer Matt]

As I said before and will say again, peak reefing is here (has come and gone). It will never be like the wild west days of COVID.

I agree with you 100%. I have seen it in my area, and know some people considering leaving reefing because they can't sell frags like in 2020-2022. I personally have over 300 different aquacultured frags, but I like coral and don't mind having them around. I have difficulty selling cheap or giving away because of the perceived value Reefers place on coral. So I just enjoy them.

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

I have trouble selling gold torch for $50 in Orlando. People rather pay $200 at WWC. LoL. I don't do it for the money. I just have 5+ years old colonies I need to trim. I give out free monti and softies all the time.

Thats funny, I am bordering on throwing torch and hammer in the trash along with a large amount of digitata. but its taking up so much real estate that It is gonna have to go somewhere soon.

I've never asked a penny for any of it. But I cannot give it away. I also have a cristata with a massive pink tunicate colony on it. Nobody wants it. The local shops will take it. But I hate giving it to them for pennies so that they can rip off the next fellow.

 

[albano]

I've never asked a penny for any of it. But I cannot give it away. I also have a cristata with a massive pink tunicate colony on it. Nobody wants it.

If you decide to ship, you’ll have to hire a secretary to handle your PMs!

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

If you decide to ship, you’ll have to hire a secretary to handle your PMs!

Funny thing here is that my final line was "I won't ship" but I erased it.

But I won't ship. I'm considering moving a cut off of the cristata, and hammer into my SPS only. I also have about 50-75 polyps of candy cane or whatever it's called. Any Florida people find themselves in Jacksonville and want free euphylia, digi, say hello

 

[PeterErc]

Supply is building because the pricing became outrageous. The hype and always influencing to buy, bid, auction, made a lot of people money at the expense of the hobbyists. It had to make a swing. It became absurd. Bordering on exploitive behavior governed by greed.

Seems like a casino, slot machine. Whatever “F” key it is to refresh is like pulling the handle. This one is gonna be the jackpot. You gotta pay to play after, instead of up front. Buyer remorse and the walk of shame for spending more than you wanted. The corals arrive, and then what. Need more, just one more hit.
Not calling anyone out or saying this is how it is. I have personal experience with addiction although gambling has not been an issue, yet. I did mess around on eBay , I was like “ I won, I won”. My wife said “ you didn’t win, you have to pay for it”.
I can see how online auctions are a big “hit”. They are cracking down on illegal gambling, busting adult arcades. Unless coral auctions violate some laws I do not see an end to them.

 

[ninjamyst]

Funny thing here is that my final line was "I won't ship" but I erased it.

But I won't ship. I'm considering moving a cut off of the cristata, and hammer into my SPS only. I also have about 50-75 polyps of candy cane or whatever it's called. Any Florida people find themselves in Jacksonville and want free euphylia, digi, and cristata; say hello

I am in Orlando and we can trade overgrown corals =).

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

I am in Orlando and we can trade overgrown corals =).

Post boomarked

 

[Labridaedicted]

Is the market oversaturated? Maybe with some things. I mean, I can't really even give away orange cap anymore. Same with GSP.

As long as the industry keeps with the trend of naming color morphs, though, I don't expect we're ever gonna reach the point that we're completely tapped. It would be nice if we could get back to some of the actual "trading" an "Swapping" that we had back in the earlier days of the hobby.

Things have gotten to the point that they are more accessible and have reduced the complexity of keeping corals, so the number of folks in the hobby has also grown. Whether or not that's proportional to the amount of folks selling is uo for debate.