petplanet Posted April 28, 2006 Report Share Posted April 28, 2006 What do people think a fair price for a coral is? I am not talking a retail price but a fair price to pay for home grown corals. For example, I think LPS corals should cost more than SPS corals. Harder to divide, less likely to reproduce but SPS generally need better conditions to thrive. Would $20 for a 10cm high finger coral attached to a rock be excesive or to cheap? What about mushrooms? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted April 28, 2006 Report Share Posted April 28, 2006 I'd say $20 would be a very good price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suphew Posted April 28, 2006 Report Share Posted April 28, 2006 Theres been a few go on trademe lately, be a good place to look for market prices. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misnoma Posted April 28, 2006 Report Share Posted April 28, 2006 I never balked at $25 for a frag really.... given same things are $100 in shops for fully grown. If you are confident something will grow in your tank, that makes $25 a good deal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke Posted April 28, 2006 Report Share Posted April 28, 2006 I would agree $20 - $25 as you can't be sure it will grow. Other wise $lots pet shop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted April 28, 2006 Report Share Posted April 28, 2006 What do people think a fair price for a coral is? I am not talking a retail price but a fair price to pay for home grown corals. For example, I think LPS corals should cost more than SPS corals. Harder to divide, less likely to reproduce but SPS generally need better conditions to thrive. Would $20 for a 10cm high finger coral attached to a rock be excesive or to cheap? What about mushrooms? $20.00 is too cheap. To look at it from a commercial angle from my own experience, I decided to start a garage aquaculture business, breeding & selling corals. Over a roughly 2 year period I raised and sold around 250 smallish frags. They included sps lps and softies. So that was a total take of $6,250.00, or near enough. Expenses are a bit hard to quantify because some were shared between the frag selling venture, and my hobby. However I think $4,000.00 would be a pretty fair estimate of total expenses over the 2 years. If that sounds hard to believe, just bulbs for the system cost around $1,000.00 per year. So I gave it away, if I turned the profit into hourly rate it would not have been enough to employ someone to do it. So - IMO looking at it strictly commercially $25.00 is not enough. Trade Me prices do not reflect commercial reality. People raise & sell a few, or sell what's spare, for the enjoyment of it. As they would pay the cost of running their tank anyhow, they do not need to recoup all their expenses. If they get $5.00, it's $5.00 they would not have otherwise had, and expenses are unchanged. IMO to raise & sell frags commercially and make what would be considered normal business acceptable profit, a price of 40 ish dollars per frag would be needed to the producer. And by the time it goes retail it's likely to be more than what people would pay. But in the US, captive raised corals are sold at a premium, there are enough people over there who will support captive breeding by paying the extra, to do their bit for conservation. But to most people, the $$$ is the bottom line, regardless of ethics. However I did meet a lot of cool people out of it, and learned a lot also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted April 28, 2006 Report Share Posted April 28, 2006 Can't edit so I'll have to add, I forgot to say the frags were sold for $25.00 each, regardless what they were. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted April 28, 2006 Report Share Posted April 28, 2006 At $40 I think I'd rather spend $120ish for a full coral instead of a frag. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted April 28, 2006 Report Share Posted April 28, 2006 That sums up the problem. What a person thinks they should pay, does not bring down the actual cost of production. We are influenced by what we pay for imported corals. growing them here from scratch, in a system that is expected to pay for itself, cannot compete. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misnoma Posted April 28, 2006 Report Share Posted April 28, 2006 I always liked the idea of getting frags because I could grow them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted April 28, 2006 Report Share Posted April 28, 2006 New to the game but from what i have seen twenty to twenty five dollars is the going rate for small frags. These are great for someone just starting who is still learning and wants to try keeping hard corals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted April 28, 2006 Report Share Posted April 28, 2006 i assume we're all talking about a 'frag' here (which i usually see as a 1" to 3" offcut) if so i agree, i think $20 - $25 is a good price and fair for both seller and buyer. as we all know this is not a cheap hobby so having something to cover costs helps. however im not in it to ripoff my fellow reefer. also, what goes around comes around, im sure the buyer will provide the same favour back in the future if they have a frag you want. i agree with ira too, $40 is too much. at $40, you would expect a decent size 'frag', eg: an sps at least 4" with several branches. its not hard to know when you're getting ripped off speaking of which I have plenty of xenia frags if anyone is interested. decent size for $25 will put an ad up in private t&e soon with a pic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted April 29, 2006 Report Share Posted April 29, 2006 "$40 is too much. at $40, you would expect a decent size 'frag', eg: an sps at least 4" with several branches." Easy enough with xenia. But if you'll grow me decent size sps at least 4" with several branches, I'll take whatever number you can do for $40.00 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petplanet Posted April 29, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 29, 2006 I could do ten right now. Got the $400.00..... I think half the retail price for any coral is a bargin, even if it is smaller. For example you might pay $90 for a pearl bubble, newly imported, stressed to the max, or you could pay me $40 for a small one that has been grown in a tank. You know its history and it is fully aclimatised to tank life. It would have a much better chance of long term survival. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cookie extreme Posted April 29, 2006 Report Share Posted April 29, 2006 have a look at trade me under "others". lots of small acro's and others for under $20. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted April 29, 2006 Report Share Posted April 29, 2006 I could do ten right now. Got the $400.00..... Sure! Of course you did aquaculture these from scratch yourself, right? Just in the back of my mind there is a little suspicion you may be trying to sell me imported corals. A whole different ball game and much cheaper to do. The point I have been making is relating to the cost of aquaculturing corals, not importing them, as per your origional question. have a look at trade me under "others". lots of small acro's and others for under $20. I suspect that the seller will not be making enough money from this to pay off his system, pay wages, and make a profit as well, as a commercial business would have to. Anyhow, the origional question was what do people think it is worth. The consensus seems to be $20.00 or a little more. So the answer to the question is $20.00 or a little more, by majority rule :lol: . Of course, at this level we need not wonder why nobody is actually doing it commercially in NZ, even though I know several who would love to do it full time, just the small problem of how to not go bankrupt trying is stopping them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petplanet Posted April 29, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 29, 2006 Sure! Of course you did aquaculture these from scratch yourself, right? Just in the back of my mind there is a little suspicion you may be trying to sell me imported corals. A whole different ball game and much cheaper to do. No, brought someones tank and it had a couple of huge SPS. They do not transport well at that size. I am going to break them up into about 10cm branchy chunks and let them settle for a month to make sure they are ok. I have a finger coral that is about to get the scissor treatment and mushrroms galour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted April 29, 2006 Report Share Posted April 29, 2006 I see! Didn't think it would be a viable price if you had raised them yourself. BTW I saw that auction, you got a good score. But actually, I'm still interested, can you put a decent pic of the corals? Just to see if there is anything I don't have. One thing though, remember that normal shop price for such 4" + sps would be $80.00 upwards. But if you'll take $40.00, well hey! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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