Where to sell or trade my coral

[hrdneglcry]

Hi. I have sevral coral pieces. Almost all is soft. Some I got for free. A lot that were given to me were supposed to be lava lamps. I have some Palythoa Grandis. And some regular mushrooms. What should I be asking for this stuff. I'd like to sell or trade and get some more fish. I do like alot of it like the gsp. Especially since I have grown admnd raised of lot of my corals from smaller frags. I have some nice rocks of red rhodactis. I know the private market is cheaper prices. But I'd like to get decent prices. These are supposed to be lava lamps and that is a discosoma behind them. Then the red rhodactis and just some regular mushrooms. And a whole rock of lava lamps. Not trying to get rich just want to ask fair value and not give away cheap.

 

[BanjoBandito]

If you can and are willing to ship you can use the classifieds (or even for pickups) on forums (much like this one) or approach your local fish store and ask about trading them for merchandise. Frag swaps and reef clubs sometimes have auctions and sales you can get involved in. You can search online for the corals and get a decent idea about prices.

 

[jfoahs04]

Do you have a local or state reef club? In my experience those are the best places to coordinate selling/trading coral. It saves me the shipping cost/packaging and is a good way to build relationships with other area reefers.

Pricing depends on what you want to do. My approach is to look at what a similar coral costs retail and charge 25-50% less than what most online retailers are charging. It gets me a little cash and helps me free up space. I'm not going get rich selling coral, and they typically move pretty fast when priced well below retail. For some fast growing and widely available coral (some palys, xenia, common mushrooms, etc.), I'll just give it away (or trade it if there's a willing party). Some people do charge the same amount as online retailers. They're certainly entitled to do that, but they often end up moving their pieces a good deal slower unless it's a pretty rare or high-demand coral. What you want to do is up to you, but I'd start by looking at what those would cost on a popular online retailer and go from there.

If you want to post to online marketplaces, you will need to make sure you pack/ship well or that there's enough demand nearby for local pickup. Shipping is added cost, time, and effort. Maybe you're willing to do that, but as a hobbyist, I'm not willing to deal with the added complexities and complications that come with shipping. Some LFS will take coral as trade for credit (I've done this a few times too).

 

[ZombieEngineer]

I would not expect to get much to be completely frank. Most of what you pictured are the kind of invasive kind that are mostly only seen in "beginner" tanks.

Maybe 5-10 per head for the rhodactus since those aren't invasive and a lot of people collect those but they are widely available so prices are pretty low on these.

The trumpet mushrooms, you would be lucky to get $20 for the entire rock.

We have a DBTC thread on my local reef forum and I've seen it take months to give mushrooms like the trumpets and the no name palys away for free to someone.

Your best bet for the mushrooms might be to find a lower end LFS that doesn't sell crazy collector frags like walt disney and see what they will give you as trade for fish and snails. High end places like Aquatic Art in Denver won't take frags like these at all.

 

[hrdneglcry]

I would not expect to get much to be completely frank. Most of what you pictured are the kind of invasive kind that are mostly only seen in "beginner" tanks.

Maybe 5-10 per head for the rhodactus since those aren't invasive and a lot of people collect those but they are widely available so prices are pretty low on these.

The trumpet mushrooms, you would be lucky to get $20 for the entire rock.

We have a DBTC thread on my local reef forum and I've seen it take months to give mushrooms like the trumpets and the no name palys away for free to someone.

Your best bet for the mushrooms might be to find a lower end LFS that doesn't sell crazy collector frags like walt disney and see what they will give you as trade for fish and snails. High end places like Aquatic Art in Denver won't take frags like these at all.

Thanks to all. I was told the ricks I have with the larger shrooms were lava lamp shrooms and that those were pretty desireable. They have a swirl in the middle and change colors I read. Here is a pic of the ones I am referring to. I basically just wanted to know what to ask so thank you. Still wondering if this is a lava lamp shroom and if that is a desireable coral.

 

[ZombieEngineer]

Still wondering if this is a lava lamp shroom and if that is a desireable coral.

It doesn't look like it to me. Lava lamp have very pronounced large green bubbles.

 

[hrdneglcry]

It doesn't look like it to me. Lava lamp have very pronounced large green bubbles.

I think maybe they are. My lighting is not a lot of blue so my colors don't show as much. But I found several pics online and mine appear to be these and these places ask a lot per head.

Here are two links. Let me know. Maybe I will try to add some blue led and see if they change. I know my gsp only lightly glows so my blue isn't strong.

Discosoma Lava Lamp

1 mushroom coral Care Level- Easy Flow Rate- Low to Moderate Lighting- Low to Moderate

thecoraldragon.com

Lava Lamp Mushroom

Lava Lamp Mushroom Coral

rickscoral.com

And here is another of mine I think I see green

 

[ZombieEngineer]

I think maybe they are. My lighting is not a lot of blue so my colors don't show as much. But I found several pics online and mine appear to be these and these places ask a lot per head.

Here are two links. Let me know. Maybe I will try to add some blue led and see if they change. I know my gsp only lightly glows so my blue isn't strong.

Discosoma Lava Lamp

1 mushroom coral Care Level- Easy Flow Rate- Low to Moderate Lighting- Low to Moderate

thecoraldragon.com

Lava Lamp Mushroom

Lava Lamp Mushroom Coral

rickscoral.com

And here is another of mine I think I see green

If they are, good rule of thumb is you can get 25% to 50% what they sell for at an LFS more often than not 25%. Getting 50% is usually for very high end stuff like walt disney, jawbreaker mushrooms, sunburst anemones, etc.

That would get you maybe $5-10 a head like the rhodactus.

 

[jfoahs04]

I think maybe they are. My lighting is not a lot of blue so my colors don't show as much. But I found several pics online and mine appear to be these and these places ask a lot per head.

Here are two links. Let me know. Maybe I will try to add some blue led and see if they change. I know my gsp only lightly glows so my blue isn't strong.

It might be. But if you're going to sell it to other reefers as a "Lava Lamp Mushroom," you probably want to be more sure than "maybe." It's not like you're Cherry Corals or WWC and have been creating your own names for colonies you've aquacultured for years and are photographing them under the same lighting you always use. The name they choose isn't a scientific name, and the coral is going to look different in your tank than it does in their photos, but at least if you buy a frag of CC Blue Sky Burning Zoas from Cherry Corals, you can be fairly certain that you're getting exactly that.

But this mushroom? It might be a Lava Lamp. It looks kind of like it to me, but not enough for me to be really certain. If you're going to ask for same price as (or even close to) a retailer that sells Lava Lamps, you should be just as certain as they are that you're selling the same product. The uncertainty is one of the reasons most these things go for such a significant amount lower than retail. Personally, I'd reasonably expect to pay about $5-15 per head of that mushroom and if It was priced in my club at $15 it might not sell for a few weeks.

 

[hrdneglcry]

It might be. But if you're going to sell it to other reefers as a "Lava Lamp Mushroom," you probably want to be more sure than "maybe." It's not like you're Cherry Corals or WWC and have been creating your own names for colonies you've aquacultured for years and are photographing them under the same lighting you always use. The name they choose isn't a scientific name, and the coral is going to look different in your tank than it does in their photos, but at least if you buy a frag of CC Blue Sky Burning Zoas from Cherry Corals, you can be fairly certain that you're getting exactly that.

But this mushroom? It might be a Lava Lamp. It looks kind of like it to me, but not enough for me to be really certain. If you're going to ask for same price as (or even close to) a retailer that sells Lava Lamps, you should be just as certain as they are that you're selling the same product. The uncertainty is one of the reasons most these things go for such a significant amount lower than retail. Personally, I'd reasonably expect to pay about $5-15 per head of that mushroom and if It was priced in my club at $15 it might not sell for a few weeks.

Ok I agree. I don't want to be selling wrongly. The guy told me thats what they were. I never heard of them before that. Some of the others do have stripes. Again its kind of why I posted. I am not looking to sell falsely as lava lamp but not looking to sell lava lamp as nuisance mushroom. The guy was a serious coral keeper and gave me three red lava lamps also. I believe he believes they are. He called them higher end coral. He was getting out and let me have them. Not a ton but enough for my two tanks. I am not huge into corals. I like them. But would like to have more fish and would like to speak with some certainty if I try to trade these or sell them.

 

[Mark Bradley]

My LFS trades for credit - in fairness they are usually frags from corals bought from him or corals he does not already have (as he propagates them). The amount I get is roughly 50% of what he will sell them for.

 

[Tired]

I have two LFS near me, and they usually also give store credit worth 50% of what they'll sell it for. The upside of that is that all you have to do is take the corals in, and bam, you're done. Actually finding a buyer is on them.

 

[doubleshot00]

Make sure you sell them the same price as the store does.

Hope some get this joke.