How Do You Decide Where to Buy Your Corals?

[Kipp's Corals]

Hey everyone,

I’ve been curious about something and wanted to hear your perspectives.

When you’re shopping for corals, what’s the biggest factor in choosing where to buy from?

• Do you tend to stick with the bigger, well-known vendors — even if the prices are higher — because you trust their reputation and shipping process?
• Are you drawn more to the “eye-popping” neon colors in the photos that make a frag irresistible?
• Do you only shop for specific species or frags you’ve been hunting for, regardless of who’s selling them?
• Or maybe it’s about local vs. online — where you know you can see things in person first?

I’m interested in the why behind your buying habits. Is it trust, price, rarity, color, past experience… or a mix of everything?

Looking forward to hearing what drives your decisions — this should be an interesting mix of answers!

 

[Waters]

I normally shop by price/frag size/availability.....then I factor in the vendors reputation.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Usually it’s about price, and how much I trust the vendor.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Price and availability, and my experience with that vendor. If I have a negative experience somewhere I never go back.

But these past few years I buy almost exclusively from hobbyists... the actual hobbyists that sell to the LFS's.

 

[rafaelicibaci]

1 - I prefer stores using aqua culture, farm instead of stores that just import and sell.
2 - I research store reputation on forums, groups, google messages, etc. then I give a try, shop 2-3 corals to verify if it comes with pests, good/bad health
3 - I am always using a Coral QT for average $$ corals. Only shop expensive corals from a store I already know and buy.
4 - I do avoid deliveries, I prefer to pick it up if possible.
5 - Prefer In store purchases because I like to ask the kind/brand of lights the coral was, parameters, if coral is used with ULN nitrate, phosphate.. if they feed, what products they use.
6 - There are some coral stores that only sell on-line, so I wait for a reef paloza to buy some frags, ask the seller contact and talk with them. Before buying massive amounts online using this store.

 

[jackson6745]

Acropora specifically, Heath and price. Buying aquaculture frags, especially at a premium, I want to see decent colors, encrusted plugs, smooth tissue, normal tubular coralite shape, and an active growth tip. Anything else is a compromise and makes it worth less or not desirable all together. Buying wild, looking for some basic health and must be a good price since I have to get it tank established which isn’t always easy. In the end, the vendors corals and consistency will speak for themselves, determining my decision to shop
With them.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Perhaps it is just my tank and my preference to not spend a lot of money on a tiny frag, but I have had better success with corals I get locally. Those can be significantly larger and cheaper for the same thing.

 

[Featherweight]

Ethics and vibe. Then quality and price. Not all frags are equal.
If you seem shady or act like a prick, it's a no. If you doctor photos, nope. If you don't heal up frags, no thanks.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hey everyone,

I’ve been curious about something and wanted to hear your perspectives.

When you’re shopping for corals, what’s the biggest factor in choosing where to buy from?

• Do you tend to stick with the bigger, well-known vendors — even if the prices are higher — because you trust their reputation and shipping process?
• Are you drawn more to the “eye-popping” neon colors in the photos that make a frag irresistible?
• Do you only shop for specific species or frags you’ve been hunting for, regardless of who’s selling them?
• Or maybe it’s about local vs. online — where you know you can see things in person first?

I’m interested in the why behind your buying habits. Is it trust, price, rarity, color, past experience… or a mix of everything?

Looking forward to hearing what drives your decisions — this should be an interesting mix of answers!

I prefer local reefers but otherwise go by: Feedback-Price- Size and guarantee

 

[exnisstech]

For online purchase the first requirement is realistic / believable images. A over saturated coral cut and pasted on a black background get an immediate exit from the site as does egg crate and frag plugs that aren't the color they should be.

 

[Kipp's Corals]

Thank you all for your responses. Please keep them coming!! :)

 

[Kipp's Corals]

Hey everyone,

I’ve been curious about something and wanted to hear your perspectives.

When you’re shopping for corals, what’s the biggest factor in choosing where to buy from?

• Do you tend to stick with the bigger, well-known vendors — even if the prices are higher — because you trust their reputation and shipping process?
• Are you drawn more to the “eye-popping” neon colors in the photos that make a frag irresistible?
• Do you only shop for specific species or frags you’ve been hunting for, regardless of who’s selling them?
• Or maybe it’s about local vs. online — where you know you can see things in person first?

I’m interested in the why behind your buying habits. Is it trust, price, rarity, color, past experience… or a mix of everything?

Looking forward to hearing what drives your decisions — this should be an interesting mix of answers!

I prefer local reefers but otherwise go by: Feedback-Price- Size and guarantee

@vetteguy53081 love seeing your name pop up I hope all is well!!

 

[vetteguy53081]

@vetteguy53081 love seeing your name pop up I hope all is well!!

Thank you. Good to see you online also

 

[Kipp's Corals]

Perhaps it is just my tank and my preference to not spend a lot of money on a tiny frag, but I have had better success with corals I get locally. Those can be significantly larger and cheaper for the same thing.

It is an absolute honor for you to comment on my thread. Thank you so much for everything you do for all of us!

 

[BrettMallette]

I have very little as far as local. One store 30 mins away that has a very sketchy selection of fish (theres at least a cpl with ich or flukes every time i go in there) and no coral. Another 4 hours away that tends to only have good selection first thing in the morning tuesdays amd wont hold things. When i started ordering online tried several and whichever had the best "product" i stuck with. Both dealers just so happen to be on Youtube so get to see their shops dang near weekly via vlog. They both have exceptionally good customer service and things get delievered within 24 hrs every time.

 

[ColorMeGone]

I have bought a few pc's from a FS about 1.5hrs away but they have gone past downhill in my book over the years. It's better for me to order online from a few vendors that have nice stuff and do not rip you off on shipping also.

 

[realwizer]

As someone else has mentioned, believable images is a big one for me. But even more importantly are images under different lighting conditions. Only a few vendors in my experience show both actinic and white lighting.

When seeing only blue/actinic, what filter was used? How much editing was done? And so on. If the coral is named and a good price, and I know what it looks like from others or hobbyist photos, I will still purchase if the vendor is quality.

What is quality? I don't want pests like flatworms. So I now stay away from chop shops that tend to get large volumes going in and out and may have less than ideal quarantine processes. Dipping is not perfect...

 

[Kipp's Corals]

As someone else has mentioned, believable images is a big one for me. But even more importantly are images under different lighting conditions. Only a few vendors in my experience show both actinic and white lighting.

When seeing only blue/actinic, what filter was used? How much editing was done? And so on. If the coral is named and a good price, and I know what it looks like from others or hobbyist photos, I will still purchase if the vendor is quality.

What is quality? I don't want pests like flatworms. So I now stay away from chop shops that tend to get large volumes going in and out and may have less than ideal quarantine processes. Dipping is not perfect...

Thank you so much for this! I try not to edit images! I’ll focus on getting different lighting conditions in the product images :)

 

[BrettMallette]

If ya havent checked out Tidal Gardens or Fragbox they have some pretty quality videos as far as how they run things around their shops. Than also has quite a few podcast interviews where he explains his process for the massive facility he has. As well as his movement from a greenhouse setup to a massive warehouse facility. As does White Corals.

 

[Reef_Aquatics]

I choose to buy mostly from more well-known vendors with a good reputation as they would be less likely to risk their reputation by selling bad corals/fish.