Peer to Peer: Buying Corals, Fish and other Livestock?

[revhtree]

There are many ways and places that allow you to connect with your aquarium peers to buy and sell livestock whether it be R2R, a local club meeting, social media or other forum. But what is your preferred method/place and why do you like to do your "business" that way? So let's discuss and do me a favor by answering the following question.

1. How and where do you like to buy and sell aquarium livestock?

2. Why do you prefer one way over the other?

 

[Mical]

Most of my "outside buys" are here on R2R. But I did buy some SPS off a guy on craigslist - awesome deal 10 for $100 and he threw in 4 extra and a small cooler.

 

[revhtree]

Most of my "outside buys" are here on R2R. But I did buy some SPS off a guy on craigslist - awesome deal 10 for $100 and he threw in 4 extra and a small cooler.

I need his info! HAHA!

 

[Crabs McJones]

I've purchased coral from users on here and have had nothing but positive experiences. You can get coral a great prices compared to online vendors. Not knocking online vendors, but hobbiests don't have the overhead they have to cover in their prices. I purchased from @epleeds @Reef-Tank @Bpb and a couple others. If you find a great user on here you keep coming back

 

[Crabs McJones]

Most of my "outside buys" are here on R2R. But I did buy some SPS off a guy on craigslist - awesome deal 10 for $100 and he threw in 4 extra and a small cooler.

yyeeaaahhh im gonna need that info

 

[Mical]

yyeeaaahhh im gonna need that info

Here you go -> https://minneapolis.craigslist.org/hnp/for/d/minneapolis-sps-pack-aquarium-fish-tank/7068024631.html

Super nice guy also!

 

[Cully]

I used To sell out of my house from a much bigger system. I’m nervous to ship having never done it before AND I’ve been through the ringer with a few unscrupulous people on EBay regarding reef and non-reef related items. Granted, this is the vast minority of transactions but I’m still hesitant to ship.

Local scene isn’t all that great, not many into SPS, particularly mid, higher end stuff. So I buy What’s pretty and when it’s time to frag, like now..., I’m not really sure what to do. I’m not on any other social media. I would Certainly give good deals to people if i could assure they were NORMAL like me. Stuff happens during shipping etc.

I have However, had nothing but exemplary buying experiences with sellers here on R2R. Great guys, great frags.

 

[CindyKz]

I can get just about whatever I want from members of my local club, so I don't feel the need to go elsewhere much. It's nice that everyone is local too - no shipping.

 

[paraletho]

I usually travel to Houston for higher end stuff. A great reefing community over there. It cuts down on the cost and stress to the animals of shipping.

 

[Roolin_W]

Love buying local, whether from LFS or club members. However, buying from club members needs an extra precaution. Managed to get my first pest this way, lovely red flatworms!

 

[ReeferCrabness]

I buy from local people. Few eBay purchases. All the "great deals" from business advertisers and auctions here are way above my price range. I don't even look here for deals from businesses anymore. Have check out a few private offerings though. May pull the trigger on one of those if I see something I like.

 

[Oliver d]

Will swop with friends but mostly collect my own species of local corals and fish

 

[miyags]

I use to buy online.It was a lot cheaper than LFS. Now I mainly shop LFS. a lot cheaper than online.Go Figure.

 

[sarcophytonIndy]

Facebook Groups is good for meeting local hobbyists

 

[ReefAtlas]

Local frag swaps.
I enjoy browsing the corals and meeting other reef hobbyists. It makes for a fun day and you never know what corals you might find.

 

[motortrendz]

I tend to buy coral more from people on here, but only from those that have been around a while, have build threads and have experience shipping. And that was before al the recent scam issues that have happened. But that just makes me more cautious about who the other person is.. not about r2r itself. I've sold to a few people on here but to mostly local, and on my local club site. I still tend to be more of the old school way of if you come to me and check out my system and you see something you like. I usually just give the person a frag of what they like, (zoas, mushrooms or acros... they just grow back so y not share it) I'm not in the hobby for the money. I'm in it for the enjoyment, and hopefully if I loose that coral in the future, someone will pay it back and hopefully give me a frag of it.

 

[Cwentz758]

I’ve come to realize everyone on this site for the most part is trying to do their best to make corals grow and look the best along with trying to keep fish as healthy as possible. That being said when they decide to sell stuff they’re not doing it as a living or in huge masses (for the most part) compared to a LFS who’s trying to sling livestock in mass which mean usually things are just not as healthy. Not saying LFS don’t try to have things healthy they just have much more volume of things so i guess it’s more of a quality/quantity thing. So for the most part I’m going to try to buy everything local or from here on R2R

 

[fuelman]

the local frag swap scene in Michigan is heavy swaps every month. most have corals that look as good as the best pic's you see online for half the price. plus if i do buy from a online vendor it's cherry corals they are about an hour drive from me. i tried the online live sale here on R2R once i had never bought coral from outside Michigan before but i got 24 acro's shipped from the other side of the county, thought i got a great deal but i got aefw infestation instead. thank god i have a qt tank i lost all of them but it could have been much worse without the qt tank so that was a first time last time for me i just buy local now.

 

[rusty hannon]

There are many ways and places that allow you to connect with your aquarium peers to buy and sell livestock whether it be R2R, a local club meeting, social media or other forum. But what is your preferred method/place and why do you like to do your "business" that way? So let's discuss and do me a favor by answering the following question.

1. How and where do you like to buy and sell aquarium livestock?

2. Why do you prefer one way over the other?

I have only bought from stores or online store s and it s not really a preference just what I've always done. In OKC we had a great friend who owned her store n we helped her often n in return she helped us out slot but since the move to nm we don't know anyone and it took me 20 min to answer your question so buying online hasn't YET been an option and money is always right n as u said buying from stores is expensive so I usually only buy 2to 3 times a year

There are many ways and places that allow you to connect with your aquarium peers to buy and sell livestock whether it be R2R, a local club meeting, social media or other forum. But what is your preferred method/place and why do you like to do your "business" that way? So let's discuss and do me a favor by answering the following question.

1. How and where do you like to buy and sell aquarium livestock?

2. Why do you prefer one way over the other?

 

[Luciferene]

I answered "Prefer to buy from Social Media" but being in Canada, it's really hard for me to find local hobbyist to buy from. There are few posts on Kijiji and FB but there aren't a ton of variety in the right location.