Is there such a thing anymore?

[CMD2213]

I’ll post some stuff every now and then but, it’s a slap in the face when u have high end coral/ equipment for $300 (can sell on R2R for $350-$400 easy). Then someone will offer you $60 for it. HELLO! the set price is $300 not $60 Plus they get mad when you say no or will offer you $80 lmfao!!!. A hole $20 more come on. It’s like why even post it with dose type of offers. If you can’t pay $300 then offer $280 not $60. Make a offer that’s fair. Am not saying everyone is like that but some people on here are crazy cheap.

I don’t mean to offend anyone but come
On $60!!! Really all I can do
Is lmao





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so really would you take $45.37

[newellio]

That's why I often throw stuff in the trash or give it to goodwill rather than try to sell it on Craigslist. People always offer way less than half of what I am asking. BUMS!!!

I always try to be a good buyer here or Craigslist. Whatever the price is, that's how much money I bring and that's how much I pay. Oh yeah that's another thing idiots do. They agree on a price, show up at your house and say "uhhh I only brought $50 is that enough?" No you frickin loser

If someone shows up and says they didn't bring enough, send them home. I bet they find that extra.

[cboltsd]

I agree to a certain extent with the comments here. Don't forget It's also about progressing in the hobby. To keep obtaining better pieces and equipment, you need to continue to sell the pieces at market value. Giving things away is not always the answer. Most collectors ensure the lineage of a piece continues through trades or helping out a buddy. Coming down in price is a reasonable request, but not to the point where it's laughable or insulting. Collectors also put an extraordinary effort into their husbandry with passion. I think people should also realize that before just throwing a number at someone.

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[Mps]

Here is a good example of why we should charge a lot for the pieces we buy for a lot... this winter was my first tank crash. I lost all my sps except my strawberry shortcake which i had to cut down to nubs to save. I lost 11 acros. Im never making that money back. Its not as simple as buying a named piece growing it and making it all back on frags.


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[Livinlocal]

Here is a good example of why we should charge a lot for the pieces we buy for a lot... this winter was my first tank crash. I lost all my sps except my strawberry shortcake which i had to cut down to nubs to save. I lost 11 acros. Im never making that money back. Its not as simple as buying a named piece growing it and making it all back on frags.


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Agreed. A lot of people overlook the husbandry and time it takes to actually grow high end coral. Everyone just sees a dollar amount and nobody puts into account the time and energy it takes to produce said corals. Also, almost everyone overlooks the electricity cost. The guy trying to buy a $200 WD for $40 doesn’t put any of this into consideration. My system costs $400 a month to run, not including what the rest of my house costs. This is another reason collectors don’t drop the prices from $100 to $8.

[dizzyjay]

I’m definitely not suggesting to lower the asking price, I guess I just don’t understand why a seller wouldn’t use this channel as well as r2r; it’s free to use. The only reason I can think of is because you’d have to post it at the same price in both places.

[Livinlocal]

R2R is free as well, not just SDR.

For the most part, sellers use both channels(for those that ship), I think everybody is just selective on what they want to post and where.

For instance: if the going rate for a frag of a specific piece of sps sells for $200 all day on R2R, but never sells for more then $75 on sdr, why would anyone want to post it on sdr? The only people that would, are the people who aren’t comfortable shipping coral.


Also, you do not have to post the same piece for the same price. When I do end up posting the same coral on both sides, I typically charge a little bit more for the coral on R2R. This isn’t because I am greedy and want to charge them more, it’s because of the convenience. When I sell locally, it’s a quick easy transaction. When I have to ship coral, I have to buy a box, Packing material, tape, special bags, my time to package everything, and pay to have the package picked up and shipped. To charge the same price would not benefit the seller. This is something else that is often overlooked

[Tapio]

One question comes to my mind and that is, are we hobbyists first and do this for the love of reefs/fish or collectors and taking a more business approach to trying to gather as many small species as possible. Which typically leads to tanks with small sticks without any show pieces. I for one have always admired reef aquariums with nice fully grown colonies. Large colonies does not even have to be grown out of some expensive special name coral to look stunning. When do we get to see a large homewrecker or Walt Disney colony in San Diego? A nice fully grown cheap orange Montipora can look fantastic with all the swirls.

[OCDreef]

I feel you on some of your comments but I just think you're missing the point on your definition of being a hobbyist. Oregon Tort colonies were few and far between in SD when they were first coming out as well. But as soon as they became well enough distributed there was less of a compulsion to frag and sell them to make some cash to reinvest into the hobby, so naturally people are more likely to let the colonies grow out. I think we all know no one is really making money here, but if we can sell a frag of Disney or Homewrecker which there is high demand for then isn't that a good thing even if it does come at the expense of your colony size? Don't get me wrong, I don't like looking at a stump any more than the next guy but it sure does help to get a little cash back when you are a collector and you're trying to save up for that new killer piece or need some new equipment. Just because you like variation doesn't mean you're not a true hobbyist. There are just differently focused hobbyists I would say. Also many of us have smaller tanks and simply don't have the space required for full size colonies and a fully grown out purple stylo colony as nice as they may be just blows the whole space budget out the window in addition to it not being worth anything lol.


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[cboltsd]

I think part of being a true hobbyist is pushing the boundaries with new and innovative techniques and corals. If you have enough variety of corals, you soon realize some are more finicky then others and you really need to put the effort into husbandry into growing the piece before giving up on it like some do. I enjoy trying to pursue the difficult corals to see what growth and color can be accomplished and feel it's more satisfactory than growing out a huge colony that's easy to grow.

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[Tapio]

I feel you on some of your comments but I just think you're missing the point on your definition of being a hobbyist. Oregon Tort colonies were few and far between in SD when they were first coming out as well. But as soon as they became well enough distributed there was less of a compulsion to frag and sell them to make some cash to reinvest into the hobby, so naturally people are more likely to let the colonies grow out. I think we all know no one is really making money here, but if we can sell a frag of Disney or Homewrecker which there is high demand for then isn't that a good thing even if it does come at the expense of your colony size? Don't get me wrong, I don't like looking at a stump any more than the next guy but it sure does help to get a little cash back when you are a collector and you're trying to save up for that new killer piece or need some new equipment. Just because you like variation doesn't mean you're not a true hobbyist. There are just differently focused hobbyists I would say. Also many of us have smaller tanks and simply don't have the space required for full size colonies and a fully grown out purple stylo colony as nice as they may be just blows the whole space budget out the window in addition to it not being worth anything lol.


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Hi Jonas! Perhaps my choice of the wording "true hobbyist" was not the most correct and is not what I meant. People who collect things are of course hobbyists, regardless of what they collect. So I agree that collecting coral species is a hobby. However, for me the focus has always been to create a reef display that mimics a natural coral reef. So I try to create something that I have seen myself while snorkeling for several years in Fiji. Similar to public aquariums that display select habitats. I do like lots of different corals even in such a display and I search for new interesting corals to have diversity. By attempting to create a particular reef environment, I feel that I learn more about the various species than to just randomly add more stuff that don't naturally occur in the same natural locations.

So this is just my perspective and I respect that of other hobbyists. There are many ways to create a reef aquarium. Tank size to me is not what matter most either, as I have seen many beautiful small reef aquariums. However, there is always a point when a particular tank can't support more stuff including fish before the animals start to suffer, but that is another discussion.

[OCDreef]

Hi Jonas! Perhaps my choice of the wording "true hobbyist" was not the most correct and is not what I meant. People who collect things are of course hobbyists, regardless of what they collect. So I agree that collecting coral species is a hobby. However, for me the focus has always been to create a reef display that mimics a natural coral reef. So I try to create something that I have seen myself while snorkeling for several years in Fiji. Similar to public aquariums that display select habitats. I do like lots of different corals even in such a display and I search for new interesting corals to have diversity. By attempting to create a particular reef environment, I feel that I learn more about the various species than to just randomly add more stuff that don't naturally occur in the same natural locations.

So this is just my perspective and I respect that of other hobbyists. There are many ways to create a reef aquarium. Tank size to me is not what matter most either, as I have seen many beautiful small reef aquariums. However, there is always a point when a particular tank can't support more stuff including fish before the animals start to suffer, but that is another discussion.

That's cool Tapio, thanks for the response! And fwiw I totally agree with most of what you said, especially about tank size not supporting an over abundance of inhabitants (there IS a tipping point especially when it comes to fishes), but at this point there are so many new types and different color variations within species that I would rather have a bunch of small, unique, growing colorful pieces than just a few big typical ones. And by the way I still have a nice grown out colony of your Pearlberry from way back in the day. It's still one of my favorite pieces and has always done better for me than the ORA one. I miss seeing those frags at the shop because you always used to bring them in and I hardly ever do.


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[Tapio]

That's cool Tapio, thanks for the response! And fwiw I totally agree with most of what you said, especially about tank size not supporting an over abundance of inhabitants (there IS a tipping point especially when it comes to fishes), but at this point there are so many new types and different color variations within species that I would rather have a bunch of small, unique, growing colorful pieces than just a few big typical ones. And by the way I still have a nice grown out colony of your Pearlberry from way back in day. It's still one of my favorite pieces and has always done better for me than the ORA one. I miss seeing those frags at the shop because you always used to bring them in and I hardly ever do.


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When I set up my new reef I had to chop down most of my large colonies. It just became too difficult to mount them in good places in the new reef. I also sold off some good old standards and am currently stocking up on medium priced interesting ones that I never had. Part of the makeover I guess. I am also recovering from a major back surgery I had in November so that has also slowed me down. Recovery will be very long but I am starting to feel better and I have again been able to work on my reef. Luckily my buddy Ron (Reefrf) has been great in helping me out. I have started to sell some coral again but it will be a while before I am back to full frag production, lol. Yes I remember that Pearlberry in your tank doing great. I asked what it was when you told me it was from me!

[OCDreef]

Ahh, well best of luck for a speedy recovery buddy and I think we basically are on the same page. And I'm sure Ron will take care of you if you ever want to start that Pearlberry again, but if for some reason he doesn't want to or can't frag it at the time (which i doubt) 😉 then i would gladly cut you off a chunk at no charge of course. Take care, and sorry Doug, we totally hijacked your thread. We will try to produce more frags for you! 😂


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[Tapio]

Ahh, well best of luck for a speedy recovery buddy and I think we basically are on the same page. And I'm sure Ron will take care of you if you ever want to start that Pearlberry again, but if for some reason he doesn't want to or can't frag it at the time (which i doubt) 😉 then i would gladly cut you off a chunk at no charge of course. Take care, and sorry Doug, we totally hijacked your thread. We will try to produce more frags for you! 😂


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Yeah sorry for the hijack Doug 😎


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