coral price

[bcjm]

Is it just me or do you think the price of corals has gone up?  I have not bought any corals for a while. Yesterday I browsed couple of venders' websites seeing their prices are ridiculous.   Again, it may just my impression.   2-3 years ago you can get decent corals for less than $30 but now you can't touch them for at least $50-$70.

[Gatortailale]

supply and demand  ???   Plus shipping costs have gone up some.  Also, IMO there are more people in the hobby, more demanding aquacultured corals.

 

Biggest thing I think driving prices is the market.  Vendors list these high prices and people pay  it to get the rare looking stuff.   Color is everything, rare color = big money.

 

Just my $.0000000000000002

 

Craig

[SDBDRZ]

I agree with Craig, it is supply and demand.  The hobby has grown a lot over the last several years and people are willing to pay rediculous prices to get what they perceive to be rare or exotic.

[bcjm]

I can understand vendors charges more for rare and exotic pieces.  But some on-line stores want >$70 for common and easily propagated soft corals.  It just makes no sense.  People can get these frags from club members and cost close to nothing.  They grow very fast in most tanks.

[michaelg]

I agree- prices have gone up a lot.... I think it has been pretty well explained.  People are willing to fork over some serious $$$ for corals.  They don't even give it a second thought.  As the hobby has grown, as has this percentage.  Given the number of pieces like this, it is kinda funny.  For some chuckles some time, go to the vendor experiences forum at RC.  Some of those people are just plain silly.

 

I will pay a price to an extent- but with all the great corals in peoples tanks around here, have not found much need.  So we as a group tend to be the opposite extreme- a bunch of patient types who don't want to spend much.

 

$150 for a 1" frag of any stoney coral is just plain rediculous and I would never pay it for any piece- it just isn't worth it to me (and I happen to place some value in my life if my wife ever found out).  But- if you look back over some threads a while back about people looking to order some frags, I listed some decent hobbiests that are doing this and charging no more than $20/frag.  The frags I picked up from rich durso were awesome- an unusual plating montipora (almost ready to start fragging) and an all purple staghorn.  Both are true troopers and have pulled through the past months like champs.  I think I paid about $50 for 3 different frags with the shipping.  Was well worth it.  Unfortunately, it will be a while till he has more.  Another good place to look for trading with hobbiests is frags.org (some people there are only looking to trade).

 

I would like to conclude that the prices around here are not too bad....perhaps with some more shopping locally and talking to the owners, we will see an increase in what is offered.  To some degree this is limited though due to the cherry picking practice that exists out in LA.

[xabo]

Roozens has even increased it's prices. They say it's due to an increase in shipping charges since 9/11.

[AquariaUSA]

There was a slight increase in freight charges since 911, and a few security taxes ($2-5). Considering a lot of what Rs brings in is transhipped, that is where some of the increase is, but you are looking at much cheaper corals per piece (almost 1/3 to 1/4 the cost versus WSI) with the added Indo cargo charge ($50-150) per 100lbs. with repacking. I would think there are other reasons for the increase (perhaps demand and customer flow has picked up) and when retailers can make a profit (and realize it) they will jump on it, with good reason.

 

I too am appalled at some of the prices seen at some LFS and the online guys regarding some easy to grow soft coral species. Certain "rasta" leathers and other species of sinularia or neptheids have not really changed in price on the lists, but the markup has been outrageous for a few years (sometimes 5x or more above cost). To my knowledge I have only seen two wholesalers charge more for these species than the majority of others for the same quality. This is clearly a coral species (or group) that can be easily propagated, and should be, thus lowering the costs, and need for wild collection. However, you tend to see tanks full of them priced at $50-100 a pop for Medium/Large specimens! And most of the size is water

 

Some online vendors prices have gone up, and others (mainly online shops who are PartTimers looking for a quick buck as a second job) are selling for rockbottom prices to try for volume. IMO they should not have been given wholesale account status for most of them claim they only sell corals "as a side thing, and not their full-time job" which means they are more hobbyiest then business.  The others are seemingly getting into the unethical business of "chop-shopping" where they purchase wild coral for sale as "captive frags." I was on a site the other day that was trying to sell A. efflorescens or solit. frags from a wild colony, and they called it aqua-cultured. Most that know these two species, know they are not very easy to frag without causing excess mucous production (which can wipe out some neighboring corals) and tissue recession on the bowl. Propagation is best done from corallite stands that grow out from the main bowl. I know of at least 5 online retailers like this, which is unfortunate, because if it continues everyone in the neighborhood will be on eBay, Yahoo, and online selling chopped up corals for pennies on the dollar, which will only increase the wild collection of corals that should have been kept in the ocean! They are already doing this with quality live rock, although they are making like $.50 per lb. without ever touching, screening, or curing the rock. You pay less, but the rock is far from good quality (although still seeded), and the environment definitely suffers.

 

What corals were you looking to buy for under $30? I think pricing depends totally on the species (how hard it is to get), the overall quality/coloration, and the demand (zoos and ricordias are pretty hot again, which increased prices across the board). What sites?

 

When all else fails, be sure to look locally first, especially for captive bred corals!