On finding a new love...and keeping the obsession healthy.

Scott Fellman

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A few years ago, I kept Reidi seahorses for the first time. I remember how that felt.

THE FIRST TIME! After a lifetime in the hobby...I can't believe that I just never got around to trying these fish before. They were absolutely...intoxicating. I mean, I couldn't get enough of them. They have amazing personalities, beautiful colors, and are near perfect fishes for those weirdly tall modest-sized, carefully-maintained aquariums we sometimes get stuck with. I completely understand the obsession-inducing quality of these fish.

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Before that, it was the Yellow Assessor (Assessor flavissimus) from the South Pacific. Before that, it was Centropyge hotumatua, the "Easter Island Pygmy Angelfish", which I've written about here before!

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And of course, there were (freshwater) Killifish. Specifically, the genus Epiplatys...and to be exact, Ep. dageti Monrovia, the "Killifish of my childhood." I fell hard for that fish, and it was one of the coolest fish I ever bred. Still love it to this day!

What is it about the hobby that keeps making us try new things, even decades into our hobby careers? It's interesting to me; maybe we like to collect stuff, and trying new fishes and corals appeals to some instinctive "hunter-gatherer" thing in our genes. Or, it could simply be that there is such an incredible diversity of fishes and corals that we just can't help but want to try 'em all!

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Sometimes, I do wonder why certain people obsess with certain kinds of fishes. For example, for the longest time, I thought that the people when were into the big, predatory Lionfish, Morays, and Groupers were missing a few screws! Then, I will spend some time with some obsessed hobbyists, see their aquariums, fish rooms, and systems devoted to these cool fishes, and..I get it!

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It's the same with Mushroom and Zoa/Paly people. They may have chosen to specialize with one type of coral, but most of them have multiple varieties- or in the case of Mushroom enthusiasts- different species. There is so much out there!

And what's really cool to me is the serious fish room of a hardcore fish geek! It's like Disneyland for fishes! And it seems like even the most ardent lover of say, Wrasses, Acropora, African Cichlids or whatever will still have a few random tanks devoted to totally unrelated species...And you'll ask these hobbyists why, and they'll tell you those beautiful words, "Because they're cool!"

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Love that. And that mindset, by the way, has perpetuated the whole "multiple tank syndrome" thing- where we have 30-50 tank fish rooms...I couldn't love it more!

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I spend a lot of time in the reef hobby world lecturing and writing about various topics. There are lots of amazingly talented, devoted hardcore reefers out there. But there is also what I feel is a "dark underbelly" of the reef aquarium world that, in my opinion, is a dark stain on a lot of the really good stuff that's going on there. ("Fellman, SHUT UP about this!" Nope. Not yet.)

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One of the more recent things that I've railed on (yeah, I don't feel good about it) is the Facebook "auction" pages for coral frags. I hate them because, in my opinion, it's created this ridiculous sub-trade for overpriced, photo-manipulated, microchip-sized coral frags of what typically are just subtle color variants of common coral species that can be had at almost any legitimate coral vendor (brick and mortar or online) for a fraction of the price without a stupid name and the accompanying ridiculous hype.

Why does the reef world embrace microchip-sized coral frags of so-called "rare" varieties (which means nothing- just that someone gave a common species a ridiculous name), hacked off the tips of "mother colonies" the size of legitimate frags themselves (like 1.5-2" in many cases!)? It's not that everyone selling coral frags at auction is a greedy, hype-mongering, photoshop-abusing perpetuator of absurdity. Many are cool people. The loudest ones aren't, IMHO. And there is this attitude that makes me want to barf. It's an attitude of craziness that sort of unofficially violates the "unwritten rules" of aquarium hobby "purity", if you will. Yeah, the "shadow economy" of the "auction frag trade" is, in my opinion, ruining the reef hobby, as it perpetuates absurdity.

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This is not the same in other areas of the aquarium hobby. It just isn't.You simply don't see virally-hyped auctions for Plecos or say, killifishes or Lake Tanganyika "shellies", for example. Sure, you'll see some high prices for rarer varieties, but what you see mostly is people selling cool fishes that hey've bred, because they have too many of them- NOT because they're trying to make a ransom on an overpriced specimen. In fact, what I've found refreshingly cool about the freshwater auctions is that you find many times that the seller is almost sadly divesting him/herself of beloved fishes because he or she simply has no space! And of course, when a new fish comes along, they do mysteriously carve out room somewhere for them! Have they just not figured out that you can hype the ^&&*^^% out of something and make money? Or are deeper values present?

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The contrast of course, is that in the coral "auction frag trade", it's not really about love, IMHO. It's about chasing the almighty dollar and the craziness that goes with it. Look, plenty of reefers love to collect different corals and coral frags. That's part of the reeflkeeping game just like a freshwater "fish and egg" auction. No biggie. The difference is that, in the coral "frag auction"game, the real collectors are being forced to pay ransom prices for what I feel are often vaguely distinguished "color morphs" or variations of relatively common corals, like Acropora tenuis, many of which can be enhanced with blue-flavored reef lighting or photo post production (saturation), as we've discussed ad naseum here. And it causes a lot of confusion when the same coral is given 4 different absurd names by 4 different people. A sad standard that we've created for ourselves.

Again, we need to reject this garbage...in my opinion.

Anyways, my point here is not to bash the reef world (well, maybe kick it in the shins until it gets a bit more sense- I'm well known for doing that). The point was to celebrate the wonderful trait that virtually all aquarium hobbyists share: The delight over trying new stuff, and to point out how easily it can be ruined by just a few people who don't seem to get it.

It's amazing to me that we can still find new delights in a hobby that we've been in all of our lives in many cases. It amazes me that many wonderful people generously share, trade, and outright give away fishes and corals that they're obsessed with- simply because they want others to enjoy them (and perhaps, to make room for more cool stuff!).

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It's an honor to be a part of this wonderful hobby, and to be in the presence of a group of people who, despite occasionally needing a kick in the butt, overall are wonderful, talented geeks with a great love for what they do, and an appreciation for what they have.

Okay, need to get back to setting up that new tank...I'm going to get some frags...

No matter how your interests change or evolve: Stay honest. Stay obsessed. Stay generous.

And most important-

Stay Wet.



Scott Fellman

(Thanks to Joe Caparatta at UC for the typically awesome UC coral pics...)
 
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Flashy Fins

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Whenever I read this stuff, I'm so glad I prefer LPS corals like brains and scolys, stuff that is rarely fragged. I may not make any cash or have much to trade from coral growth, but I don't have to worry I'll only be able to afford 1" nubs of the corals I want.

If I were into SPS, I'd seek out no-name mini colonies and skip all the hype over tiny cuts. The nicest aquariums I see have large corals, most of them common. There isn't any joy in a box full of stubby frags, at least not for me.
 

melypr1985

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I never have participated in those auctions. They get way too high, too fast for me to be a player. I prefer my LFS and other reefing friends as a coral source. My LFS purposely doesn't buy "named" corals to save money for both store and customer. Of course, friends are always willing to trade or just give a frag to another friend. Well, the good ones are lol ;)
 
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Scott Fellman

Scott Fellman

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I never have participated in those auctions. They get way too high, too fast for me to be a player. I prefer my LFS and other reefing friends as a coral source. My LFS purposely doesn't buy "named" corals to save money for both store and customer. Of course, friends are always willing to trade or just give a frag to another friend. Well, the good ones are lol ;)
EXACTLY! The good ones always are!
-Scott
 

Retro Reefer

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Good stuff Scott, I understand supply and demand completely on tangible items but to me a lot of the "rare" coral sales seem so artificial because we have a few overzealous coral venders that are creating the whole cycle.. Supply = there slightly morfed common coral / Demand = all the talk, hype, "cool" names and photo shopped pic's that are plastered across the web playing right into there plan to empty the pockets of hopeless reef junkies that are sitting at home wiping the drool off of there iPad so they can get a better look at that $59 a polyp supercalifragilisticexpialidocius flaming blue Zoa but if you buy two or more polyps they will give you a discount :D I have a single polyp of alien eye that morphed into a powder blue color with a purple center but I have no desire to frag it, glue it to a plug, come up with a crazy name, take an amazing picture, photo shop it, spread the hype then charge somebody $500 plus shipping for it because to me that just seems unethical.
 
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Scott Fellman

Scott Fellman

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Good stuff Scott, I understand supply and demand completely on tangible items but to me a lot of the "rare" coral sales seem so artificial because we have a few overzealous coral venders that are creating the whole cycle.. Supply = there slightly morfed common coral / Demand = all the talk, hype, "cool" names and photo shopped pic's that are plastered across the web playing right into there plan to empty the pockets of hopeless reef junkies that are sitting at home wiping the drool off of there iPad so they can get a better look at that $59 a polyp supercalifragilisticexpialidocius flaming blue Zoa but if you buy two or more polyps they will give you a discount :D I have a single polyp of alien eye that morphed into a powder blue color with a purple center but I have no desire to frag it, glue it to a plug, come up with a crazy name, take an amazing picture, photo shop it, spread the hype then charge somebody $500 plus shipping for it because to me that just seems unethical.

Well stated, Retro. I guess the reality is, there is no one person that has the responsibility to call out the absurdity..I think we all do, whenever we see it. Believe me, just because a few people despise the practice doesn't mean it will ever stop. A lot of people hate my incessant "whining" about the topic. However, I'm using my right to speak my mind on a topic that I think is harming the hobby greatly. I don't think there is any "vast conspiracy" perpetuated on the hobby by "them"- I think, rather, it's that we've cultivated this fertile environment for absurdity, and with more an more people entering the game and seeing "opportunities", the sad standard of "Facebook Frag Commerce" that we've created IS having significant influence on the greater hobby, potentially driving up prices, lowering expectations, and generally detracting from some of the more enjoyable parts of the hobby and our reefing "culture." We are reaping what we sow here. Again, that's just my opinion, but I think it is worth at least putting it out there, so that perhaps some new or relatively uniformed hobbyist doesn't make the mistake of thinking this garbage is what the reef keeping hobby is all about!

Woosh!

-Scott
 

maroun.c

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To make it worse it seems that people buy just to resell or frag and resell and this shows on most tanks we see posted where we rarely get to see tanks with large mature colonies that have shaped up to show their real beauty. A large percentage of tanks feels more like a frag tank or better yet like a frag rack where frags land in to be resold for profit or just to be grown so they can be fragged again.
Those tanks are very colorful that is true but I'll take a tank full of large maybe less colorful colonies any day as that is the sole measure of long term success.
 
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Scott Fellman

Scott Fellman

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To make it worse it seems that people buy just to resell or frag and resell and this shows on most tanks we see posted where we rarely get to see tanks with large mature colonies that have shaped up to show their real beauty. A large percentage of tanks feels more like a frag tank or better yet like a frag rack where frags land in to be resold for profit or just to be grown so they can be fragged again.
Those tanks are very colorful that is true but I'll take a tank full of large maybe less colorful colonies any day as that is the sole measure of long term success.
Yeah, a "Mother Colony" is not a frag. :eek:
 

Chibils

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As time goes on and our hobby grows, it seems to get more any more expensive. Instead of a $150 PC fixture and a Turboflotor, people are jumping into the hobby with $1500 LEDs, Vortechs, and expensive skimmers.

It's a major upgrade, undeniably. Radions and Vortechs are orders of better than the junk we had 10 years ago. And don't forget the $600 Apex!

It's easier than it ever has been to have a reef tank, and to be successful. But it's also way more expensive. I think that has fed this mentality. It's an expensive toy, and getting more expensive every day. People see hobbyists buying the nicest looking corals and turning it into a business that pays for their hobby... By doing their hobby! It's a win-win to many people, and I can't blame them. People see it as a way to cut costs on their activity. If they pay $250 for a 1" frag and turn it into a new $250 frag in a month, then they got a "high end" coral for free!
 

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