anyone know when is the abc swap
 

Anyone know the date

I think it's going to be 11/18, but I'm not 100%. I tried to pin them down on it. I'll get an answer by tonight.

yeah baby! looking forward to it!

Awaiting confirmation, will know by tonight.

I talked to them about this. They are hobbyists at heart, sprinkled with a dash of hippy.

There is concern with the "corporate" feel, swaps have taken on lately. Admission fees. People who show up as hobbyist sellers who have distributor bought frags and business licenses.

Yes they are a business and have a sale along with the swap, but they too miss the old school, underground feel.

I'm not sure what's to come of all this but I'll keep you guys posted. I'd love to see everyone and get some good stuff. Will see how it shakes out.

Honestly, I kind of agree with them. It was super cool when swaps started getting really big maybe 10 years ago, but then it sorta just got overwhelming and honestly I don't really care if I miss them these days. I'd love to see an old school frag swap where people bring a bucket or two and hang out in a living room over a beer, and the frags are actually just swapped (for other frags) without a focus on the monetary aspect.

I guess I'm just more interested in learning and socializing with other hobbyists versus snagging the latest rare whatever.

Feel the same.


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Had a great time at it last year as a hobbiest. Picked up a nice gonipora (still alive) a slice of pizza, a pop and the kids and I had a great time conversing with others in the same hobby. We would gladly love to attend it again. From the buyer stand point, we were thankful for the hospitality of the owners of the store to host this event for all us fellow reefers.

I don't come to these things for the social aspect, so I'm probably not really the target audience, but...

What if they took the focus away from the frags? Still load up their tanks, keep the sales and promos, bring in food if they want, but just have people come hang out... talk about fish or corals, test Bob's latin, whatever. Maybe have a guest speaker or setup some crazy exhibit tank (obviously cost would/could be an issue), etc.

If people want to swap frags, then let them setup the typical buy/sell thread here and do that on their own... ABC doesn't have to facilitate it, though.

I dunno... just trying to think outside the box a bit. I'd much rather have someone talk for 45 minutes on the basics of water chemistry than to wade through portable frag tank after portable frag tank, each of which looks better and has nicer corals than my display tank has, and none of which I can afford.