Am I Being Scammed?

[NarwhalLover3]

There's this one lfs I go to every now and then, and every coral is at least $15. Even a cluster of some common zoas and plays (like maybe 10 polyps a piece) and they sell shrooms one at a time and the small, pale, red ones are $15. I even asked one day why such common and small amounts of polyps/shrooms are so pricy. The guy responded that shipping's so expensive. I know that's a bunch of crap because they order in large quantities and buy from local people who frag from their main colonies, so the shipping is either little or nothing at all. Am I just being cheap?

 

[Mrc8858]

Depends on the coral. Pieces can range from a dollar a polyp to over $1300 per chalice eye. Shipping can be pretty expensive to but that shouldbt effect his prices really. I sell my corals for $5-$20 a frag depending on rarity and the speed in which it grows.

 

[NarwhalLover3]

That makes sense. I didn't think of the speed if growth.

 

[mr funktastic]

lol thats peanuts. my lfs sells a 10 polyp colony of common green zoas for about $60. a few mushrooms for $40. a small galaxy coral was $79.99. 10-20 dollars for a moderate sized frag is more then reasonable. perhaps you should try searching your local craigslist or whatever site and find the corals directly from other local reefers?

 

[oyf709]

lol thats peanuts. my lfs sells a 10 polyp colony of common green zoas for about $60. a few mushrooms for $40. a small galaxy coral was $79.99. 10-20 dollars for a moderate sized frag is more then reasonable. perhaps you should try searching your local craigslist or whatever site and find the corals directly from other local reefers?

Isn't that a common thing in Canada? Everything here in LFS are over priced compare to US and we probly rarely get any good pieces in western Canada. All rare ones are from local guys that got those coral ship from US long time ago when CITES was not required.

 

[Phranque]

You have to account for the fact that they have paid something for that coral, then they have to account for overhead of the store (salt, water, filtration systems, electricity, payroll, rent, etc, etc) and still try to make a little bit of profit........

Almost all my corals have come from banking trades with local club members, frag swaps, craigslist, etc. Great deals are out there.... best advice I can give is try to find a local forum/club to connect with people around you. I think the most I've paid for any coral in my tank is $20.

 

[kwandrsn]

My lfs which deals only in fish and us huge they have all kinds of corals. Cheapest is $20 frags, they have a small tank with very tiny frags of all sorts of coral for $20 a frag our $50 or 3. But I think they actually propagate theirs

 

[Flyingbulldog]

Canada seems to be pricey. I lucked out and live by 3 LFS. One store carries nothing but salt water and is considered a high end coral store. They have frags and clams that I have only seen online.
Shrums are expensive (and find zumas to be pricey. Pone is the best place to 10 s-shrums for $100.