Where Have The SPS Gone??

TopNotchCorals · Jun 3, 2010

I had been out of the hobby for about 6 years before recently jumping back in. I was a big time sps head and everywhere I went it was spsspspspsps but now every site I go to now has very limited SPS for sale.I get to sites and look at the different categories and it has 79 items in the lps section and 4 in the sps section:cry:I am now finding my tank slowly filling with lps now:xd:.I am just wondering what happend in the past 6 years that sps is becoming what seems to be a thing of the past and how can I and others that are on the same page bring them back,or is it just me:tongue:

WT INC · Jun 3, 2010

bayreefer said:
I had been out of the hobby for about 6 years before recently jumping back in. I was a big time sps head and everywhere I went it was spsspspspsps but now every site I go to now has very limited SPS for sale.I get to sites and look at the different categories and it has 79 items in the lps section and 4 in the sps section:cry:I am now finding my tank slowly filling with lps now:xd:.I am just wondering what happend in the past 6 years that sps is becoming what seems to be a thing of the past and how can I and others that are on the same page bring them back,or is it just me:tongue:

its coming back!! does anyone agree?

soccerbag · Jun 3, 2010

It will be back....all of these crazy chalices started coming in and that's what everyone started buying. It was the best way to make some money in the hobby. I think the market just got saturated with all of the ORA (which I LOVE) corals and the "named" SPS pieces. It is starting to come back around with a lot of the wild colonies coming in. I know what you mean though. My display is SPS dominated and I spent a crapload for the SPS I have in there. Sad thing is, I could pick up a SPS pack these days for $250 that would eventually fill up my whole tank. It's just supply and demand. People are just more likely to buy some crazy LPS stuff right now. As much as I love my SPS, they will never be as colorful as my LPS frag tank. Between favias, blastos, chalices, etc, there are so many cool color morphs out there (and continue to come in). And they can be kept under basic lighting.

All of that being said, it is a great time to pick up SPS right now. There are deals abound. I almost want to start a new tank. For $400-500, I could stock the whole tank with beautiful frags that would've cost me over $2K a year or two ago. Crazy hobby but that's what I love about it.

Tenacious716 · Jun 3, 2010

In my opinion, SPS has/will always be in higher demand. They aren't easy to keep alive and require constant care, which is why I think a lot of the Zoas & LPS are 'trendy' at the moment. I'm in the process of stocking my tank with SPS and the nicer stuff I find certainly isn't cheap. We're just crazy enough to go through hell to grow/keep them! :D

TopNotchCorals · Jun 3, 2010

wetthumbfrags said:
its coming back!! does anyone agree?

I know your site is really like one of the few sites out there with more sps than lps and you do have a good share of lps also and that makes it more rounded out,but what Im talking about is the sites that pretty much x out the sps and its a shame as this hobby has much more to offer but just isnt showing that anymore.

soccerbag · Jun 3, 2010

You make a good point Bayreefer....most vendors will stock what will sell quickly (and what they can make $ off of). what the heck does a great job at stocking some great SPS. A lot of sponsors here post soeme great SPS and nobody even comments. A blasto / chalice is posted and they get pm's out the wazzou....I know if I were a vendor, I would likely fall in line too. You gotta do what you gotta do ya know? There are plenty of sponsors on here and online that still specialize in SPS though. I would like to see it make a full comeback as well....but I also have a slight chalice addiction....lol

TopNotchCorals · Jun 3, 2010

soccerbag said:
It will be back....all of these crazy chalices started coming in and that's what everyone started buying. It was the best way to make some money in the hobby. I think the market just got saturated with all of the ORA (which I LOVE) corals and the "named" SPS pieces. It is starting to come back around with a lot of the wild colonies coming in. I know what you mean though. My display is SPS dominated and I spent a crapload for the SPS I have in there. Sad thing is, I could pick up a SPS pack these days for $250 that would eventually fill up my whole tank. It's just supply and demand. People are just more likely to buy some crazy LPS stuff right now. As much as I love my SPS, they will never be as colorful as my LPS frag tank. Between favias, blastos, chalices, etc, there are so many cool color morphs out there (and continue to come in). And they can be kept under basic lighting.

All of that being said, it is a great time to pick up SPS right now. There are deals abound. I almost want to start a new tank. For $400-500, I could stock the whole tank with beautiful frags that would've cost me over $2K a year or two ago. Crazy hobby but that's what I love about it.

I hear what your saying SB,and I agree with you on the whole color thing between the two,but there is nothing like watching your sps growing new branches and its base spreading on your live rock:)

WT INC · Jun 3, 2010

bayreefer said:
I know your site is really like one of the few sites out there with more sps than lps and you do have a good share of lps also and that makes it more rounded out,but what Im talking about is the sites that pretty much x out the sps and its a shame as this hobby has much more to offer but just isnt showing that anymore.

i am really surprised that not many sites carry good qty of SPS . Wait until there are less supply of SPS coming in ( Global warming, Oil spilled , limitation of permits etc ) , there will be a big shortage of SPS .

soccerbag · Jun 3, 2010

wetthumbfrags said:
Wait until there are less supply of SPS coming in ( Global warming, Oil spilled , limitation of permits etc ) , there will be a big shortage of SPS .

Very good point. Like I said, it's a good time to buy: )

TopNotchCorals · Jun 3, 2010

soccerbag said:
You make a good point Bayreefer....most vendors will stock what will sell quickly (and what they can make $ off of). what the heck does a great job at stocking some great SPS. A lot of sponsors here post soeme great SPS and nobody even comments. A blasto / chalice is posted and they get pm's out the wazzou....I know if I were a vendor, I would likely fall in line too. You gotta do what you gotta do ya know? There are plenty of sponsors on here and online that still specialize in SPS though. I would like to see it make a full comeback as well....but I also have a slight chalice addiction....lol

I understand there is a mighty dollar to be made and don't get me wrong I am not here to criticize any vendor out there,but I am just curious and wanted to know if it was just me as I said I was out for a while and now its like a whole new ballgame.Oh and +1 on the chalice craze thing lol:)

wishntoboutside · Jun 3, 2010

Craig,
great point the lps trend and aussie influnece has changed the hobby. Many of the old peeps have left the hobby as well. Making some sps even more rare. I do think it is funny that peeps will hmm buy a chalice Frag for 250.00 and up but can not justify buying a quality colored stick for 75.00 and up. I was also bummed to read that Rommel from ultimate Frags was closing his doors. In my opinion sps is back. I still enjoy my sticks and always want more. As far as the search for more vendors will adapt or leave when there single eyed rim chalice no longer sell at top dollar. If anything I never really got into the chalice craze until recently with watermelons for more color. I just uped my sps collection and some are finally comming out of hiding-).

Ian · Jun 3, 2010

There's plenty of nice sps available. Between the old school pieces plus all of the great Aussie corals coming in, Im not sure they've gone anywhere.

Now hard core SPS keepers are another story....

TopNotchCorals · Jun 3, 2010

wishntoboutside said:
Craig,
great point the lps trend and aussie influnece has changed the hobby. Many of the old peeps have left the hobby as well. Making some sps even more rare. I do think it is funny that peeps will hmm buy a chalice Frag for 250.00 and up but can not justify buying a quality colored stick for 75.00 and up. I was also bummed to read that Rommel from ultimate Frags was closing his doors. In my opinion sps is back. I still enjoy my sticks and always want more. As far as the search for more vendors will adapt or leave when there single eyed rim chalice no longer sell at top dollar. If anything I never really got into the chalice craze until recently with watermelons for more color. I just uped my sps collection and some are finally comming out of hiding-).

Richard/MobileAquatics also another site with a wide variety of sps and some really nice ones too:)

TopNotchCorals · Jun 3, 2010

Ian said:
There's plenty of nice sps available. Between the old school pieces plus all of the great Aussie corals coming in, Im not sure they've gone anywhere.

Now hard core SPS keepers are another story....

Really Ian??I beg to differ:)By the way(off topic)nice grafting monti you posted earlier:)

WT INC · Jun 4, 2010

wishntoboutside said:
Craig,
great point the lps trend and aussie influnece has changed the hobby. Many of the old peeps have left the hobby as well. Making some sps even more rare. I do think it is funny that peeps will hmm buy a chalice Frag for 250.00 and up but can not justify buying a quality colored stick for 75.00 and up. I was also bummed to read that Rommel from ultimate Frags was closing his doors. In my opinion sps is back. I still enjoy my sticks and always want more. As far as the search for more vendors will adapt or leave when there single eyed rim chalice no longer sell at top dollar. If anything I never really got into the chalice craze until recently with watermelons for more color. I just uped my sps collection and some are finally comming out of hiding-).

Like Richard, we have also uped our SPS collection big time this year and i feel there is still a lot of $$$ to be made in SPS. I have been selling my SPS more than LPS believe it or not , even my most expensive Mother of Pearl acro , i sold 4 frags @ $ 195 in may ,so definitely not only LPS makes money, anything unique /colorful will make you money.
I think its the way to go to have collection of everything , when sale goes down on one type , the other one will pick up . So, yah, i agree this is the good time to start collecting SPS now.

wishntoboutside · Jun 4, 2010

bay reefer thanks for the compliments.
I think another thing that has made a change is some peeps just dont have the patience to test and be on it inregards to being an sps junkie. I think it one joining the hobby will go into lps for color. acans, chalices, brains of all sorts. SPS may just die the first day for some especially if from a chop shop. Some learn the hard way on this. ORA has done a great job on chosing hardy corals to promote there corals. Bugs.. red and worms are atacking the hobby for some that are careless and this may cause them to go the other route. my first tank was zoas and mushrooms. I still have some zoas and unique mushrooms but i like small polyps and polyp extention. This has let me into a new hobby of photography. Something I thought i would never fall into. now if i can ever get that macro lens i want. life will be perfect =).
I will also say STEVE GARRETT you are my idol. =). if one saw his outdoor farm they would understand.

Ian · Jun 4, 2010

bayreefer said:
Really Ian??I beg to differ:)By the way(off topic)nice grafting monti you posted earlier:)

Thanks man! Personally I'm a big fan of nice mixed reefs like SDguy's. He has some nice sps colonies up top and some great ops filling out the bottom...

TopNotchCorals · Jun 4, 2010

Ian said:
Thanks man! Personally I'm a big fan of nice mixed reefs like SDguy's. He has some nice sps colonies up top and some great ops filling out the bottom...

Don't get me wrong,I like me some lps too and own some:)I am far from one sided.This is just something that I have taken notice to since getting back into the hobby.