How does everyone get into selling coral?

[thall17]

How do most get in to selling coral? Do you import or just buy colonies from other online sellers and frag? I know some will say they grow their own but I have not heard of many corals that have a signigicant growth rate where you could be fragging on a regular basis.

I just see many sellers online FB/TickTock/etc and just wonder how they obtain the many frags...

 

[tbrown]

Lots of grow out tanks with massive or multiple colonies.

A lot of sellers start with wholesale corals and frag those, then save a few frags back to grow out.

 

[twentyleagues]

How do most get in to selling coral? Do you import or just buy colonies from other online sellers and frag? I know some will say they grow their own but I have not heard of many corals that have a signigicant growth rate where you could be fragging on a regular basis.

I just see many sellers online FB/TickTock/etc and just wonder how they obtain the many frags...

Mine grew and I needed to frag them, so I did, those grew as well and I fragged them some more plus the ones that had been the parent colonies had the audacity to continue growing as well. Soon I had more frags than space so I started listing them on the now mostly defunct MR forums. It was enough to get me a couple hundred bucks a month and I was not selling things for the prices people usually ask for stuff. Went to a couple frag swaps with a small set up back then too. Started that by helping at a friend's table so he could go look and use the bathroom if needed. He sold mostly acrylic stuff and a few high-end coral frags from his tank. Eventually we split the table fee 70/30 and I had my frags there. I also regularly bought systems from people getting out of the hobby kept what I wanted and sold the rest off. Cherry corals started out of his house and then started importing more and more and is now a pretty big business. So I guess there are at least two ways but when stuff starts growing and getting crowded its eventual evolution in this hobby if you are at least decent with it. You will be surprised just how fast stuff can grow once its really happy.

 

[Fish Fan]

Cherry corals started out of his house and then started importing more and more and is now a pretty big business.

I learned that World Wide Corals started in Vic F's garage too.

 

[chazman113]

I'm trying to start now, infact, full disclosure, I'm trying to post to threads so I can get up to the amount that unlocks the marketplace. My biggest problem seems to be finding a community near me (lower Delaware, USA) that does swaps or would be good moral support. In my general life experience I've found you definitely need to surround yourself with the right people and have a hefty amount of luck. Today I was going to transfer some frags to my standalone display tank and realized my heater died overnight. Hopefully that luck starts coming!

 

[ChrisfromBrick]

r own but I have not heard of many corals that have a signigicant growth rate where you could be fragging on a regular basis.

I just see many sellers online FB/TickTock/etc and just wonder

Its super easy if you have a tank over 50 gallons and you want to just make some money back for your dry goods etc. Also, once your system stabilizes after a year year and a half, things start to take off. Just buy a big frag rack with 40+ holes and go for it.

Now, doing it for a side hustle or full time job requires very large capital expenditures of thousands per month from an importer. A guy that does this part time runs weekly FB auctions, spends approx 18 grand per month for coral and supplies but makes that back plus 5 grand of revenue. He is also a firefighter in NYC so its a nice gig. His house was pretty dang nice.

I bought a 100g tank recently so that I can have a somewhat impressive display plus have more than enough room to keep multiple magnetic frag racks. If I sell anything, its usually BELOW what most people sell for. I like to give back to the hobby. Havent sold anything here on r2r but I probabbly will in the future. Just FB market.