Texas Coral Fest 9-12-2021

[mwgrable]

 

[RiptideAquaculture]

Just a little bit of the goodies we plan to bring to #Texascoralfest.
Who's going to make it out?

 

[RiptideAquaculture]

 

[Hydrored]

I’ll be there!

 

[RiptideAquaculture]

I’ll be there!

Glad to hear that!!! are you on the hunt for anything in particular?

 

[Hydrored]

Glad to hear that!!! are you on the hunt for anything in particular?

Tenuis specifically, or any SPS that catches my eye really.

 

[RiptideAquaculture]

Tenuis specifically, or any SPS that catches my eye really.

Cant go wrong with that! everyone loves the color on the tenuis. we are coming from Florida so we are really excited to be attending. is this your first year going?

 

[Hydrored]

Cant go wrong with that! everyone loves the color on the tenuis. we are coming from Florida so we are really excited to be attending. is this your first year going?

No, we went last year or the year before? I can't remember with covid. Was a good showing and the raffles were awesome. We like to go even though it's not really targeted towards what I'm looking for, mostly LPS coral and zoas.

This will be my first year attending Aquashella Dallas, I'm excited for the coral and the artwork, already warned the wife to plan for an expensive day lol.

 

[RiptideAquaculture]

No, we went last year or the year before? I can't remember with covid. Was a good showing and the raffles were awesome. We like to go even though it's not really targeted towards what I'm looking for, mostly LPS coral and zoas.

This will be my first year attending Aquashella Dallas, I'm excited for the coral and the artwork, Already warned the wife to plan for an expensive day lol.

Cant go wrong with at a good raffle lol! I know you will find some KILLER SPS with #speedreefer so don't count this show out for SPS.

We attended Aquashella Orlando, as for the first time! I was seriously impressed with all coral that was there.
We made a video about the Aquashella coral eye candy on our YouTube channel.

 

[RiptideAquaculture]

If your a fan of Fat head Dendros!!! we will have a select few, first come first serve

FAT Head Dendro​

 

[TatorTaco]

I’m in AR and a bit confused. I just learned that Reef Currents is on 9/11/2021 in Houston and this event is in Dallas on 9/12/2021

For those “in the know”, which is the bigger zoa and offers more vendors?

If they’re hosted by different people, isn’t is kind of a jerk move to not space this out further? They’re competing against each other. Right?

 

[RiptideAquaculture]

I’m in AR and a bit confused. I just learned that Reef Currents is on 9/11/2021 in Houston and this event is in Dallas on 9/12/2021

For those “in the know”, which is the bigger zoa and offers more vendors?

If they’re hosted by different people, isn’t is kind of a jerk move to not space this out further? They’re competing against each other. Right?

We will be attending both for the first time and I believe there will be overlapping vendors but the venue are about 2-4 hours apart. For a FL boy Texas seems huge!!! So I was thinking it was a good thing because we can really make the trip worth our time (18 hours of drive time to get there. That all being said I’m really not sure which one is gonna be better for Zoas

 

[Opus]

I’m in AR and a bit confused. I just learned that Reef Currents is on 9/11/2021 in Houston and this event is in Dallas on 9/12/2021

For those “in the know”, which is the bigger zoa and offers more vendors?

If they’re hosted by different people, isn’t is kind of a jerk move to not space this out further? They’re competing against each other. Right?

As already mentioned, due to sheer distance/time between them, they really aren't competing too much. I don't believe we get many people driving up from Houston, or even Austin, to the Dallas shows.

As for the show themselves, Reef Currents is a "show", whereas TCF is just a frag swap. The Houston event will have speakers, a bigger raffle and more vendors, it is a once a year event. TCF is 2 to 3 times a year depending on what else is going on locally. You have to consider we have already had 2 Tyree frag swaps this year and we have Aquashella-Dallas coming up in late October.

A lot of the vendors at the Houston show just pack-up and then head up to the Dallas swap. As Riptide already stated, it is good for out of state vendors because they can hit 2 different shows in a weekend. I believe that is a rarity. Only downside is for the TCF customers. We will be getting the "left overs" from the Houston show. I know there will still be plenty to choose from but still I'm sure some really nice pieces will sell in Houston.

TCF has been doing the swap the day after the Houston show for several years. I've never heard any complaints. My only complaint is there is no vip like we sometimes get. For the last few TCF swaps they have offered vip tickets to come shop the night before the swap. All the vendors are not setup but the ones that are there are usually drinking too much and I've gotten some killer deals!

I actually drove down to the Houston show a couple of years ago. It is a great show but it is pain driving down there and back. It is literally bumper to bumper traffic for half the trip if not more.

 

[TatorTaco]

Thanks for the explanation and feedback on your experiences.


I think for something I didn’t plan for, a Little Rock to Houston trip just isn’t in the cards for me this week. Sucks, because I don’t have much of a selection here and I’ve never been to a proper frag swap/expo/show.

 

[Hydrored]

Thanks for the explanation and feedback on your experiences.


I think for something I didn’t plan for, a Little Rock to Houston trip just isn’t in the cards for me this week. Sucks, because I don’t have much of a selection here and I’ve never been to a proper frag swap/expo/show.

Like I said earlier, I don’t know what your interest are but the Dallas swap is definitely targeted more towards LPS, Zoa’s, etc.

It’s a decent swap but if you’re going to buy a bunch of sps frags it may not be worth the drive. I go and show support anyways even though I rarely find something that interest me.

 

[Opus]

Thanks for the explanation and feedback on your experiences.


I think for something I didn’t plan for, a Little Rock to Houston trip just isn’t in the cards for me this week. Sucks, because I don’t have much of a selection here and I’ve never been to a proper frag swap/expo/show.

You need to save up and make plans to come down to Aquashella. My favorite show but I'm also into freshwater and they have that too.

 

[TatorTaco]

At the moment, I’m interested in euphillia and various specialty leather corals.

 

[Opus]

At the moment, I’m interested in euphillia and various specialty leather corals.

There are always a lot of lps including a lot of euphillia. Expect to pay close to normal pricing unless you are buying several things. The last swap the gold torch varieties were mostly $200+ with the nice ones like 24k and banana going for $500 to $700. Also saw some crazy prices on goni's.

As for leathers you are most likely going to be out of luck. I've only seen a couple at the last couple of swaps and they weren't anything special. I assume vendors don't bring them in because they don't sell. If you do make it down, check out Frost Corals. He seems to bring in a lot of stuff that is transshipped and he has a big variety of everything.

 

[Fish Think Pink]

I’m in AR and a bit confused. I just learned that Reef Currents is on 9/11/2021 in Houston and this event is in Dallas on 9/12/2021

For those “in the know”, which is the bigger zoa and offers more vendors?

If they’re hosted by different people, isn’t is kind of a jerk move to not space this out further? They’re competing against each other. Right?

Houston's 8 hours drive from Dallas Fort Worth (Irving) - most other parts of the country, that's like driving to another state...

Thanks for the explanation and feedback on your experiences.


I think for something I didn’t plan for, a Little Rock to Houston trip just isn’t in the cards for me this week. Sucks, because I don’t have much of a selection here and I’ve never been to a proper frag swap/expo/show.

Both Aquashella and Rap A Palooza will be in Dallas this year, and I'm eagerly awaiting the Coral Fest date!! Its going to be an AMAZING YEAR!! Coming up on the 1 year Ice Storm Anniversary, Texas can use extra infusion of excitement these bring!

2022 Coral Fest we're excited for your return in DFW metroplex! Want to mark calendar!