is it just me or have people gone nuts?

[onegreenray]

i mean a year or two ago you could buy a colony of nice colored zoas for 40-60. now they are that much for a polyp.

so they add a silly name and now its outrageous prices.


amazing what people will pay for these things now a days.

acans are just as bad, used to be the corals no one wanted in the pet store...lol

[capture]

Sorry no one has responded. It's probably because there have been many threads like this recently and we have all discussed, debated, agreed and disagreed on this topic. (I agree though!)

Not trying to shoot this thread down but I think this forum has moved from complaining/debating this topic to caring for zoanthids. We have agreed that prices and means of obtaining zoas are as individual as the zoas themselves.

Please, stick around though.

[mrpenguin]

They have realised that people are buying them .... so they raise the price knowing that people will still buy them no matter what they charge for them.

People in places like Canada is paying especialy alot because we are so far away from where they come from and having them shipped here is even more expensife ....

Frag and trade that is the answer !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[onegreenray]

i only buy now from my local fish store. i used to get alot online but the crazy prices have done nothing but i think drive people back to there local fish stores and clubs.

kinda funny when it used to be the online vendors that where out competting the local guys.

i can get better deals locally then online now...lol

[onegreenray]

if a mod wants to move this to the general discussion forum thats cool with me.

[dark_stranger]

I agree, as a seller of zoa's i hate the concept of trying to put each zoa varient in it's own name basket. Zoa's appearence changes with many parameters, including light, etc & therefore one zoa may look like the "RARE - random name" in one tank, but may look like something completly diff to someone else. I also dont understand the $/£xx.xx for several polys that may either die in transit or even never open up once in the display tank.

[the808state]

Your post is in violation of the terms and conditions of use of this web site and has been edited. Further violations will result in revocation of your posting privileges.

[Skeptic_07]

I'm an LE human. isnt that something?

i agree.. hate the expensive prices. They should all cost the same! If only things were that simple...

[Kigs]

I wholeheartedly agree. But while you're at it, can you guys start a thread with same content in the LPS Forum and the SPS Forum? I think if we're going to complain, we should complain in every aspects of the hobby, not just single out the Zoanthid aficionados. Here are the links.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/forumd...s=&forumid=332

http://reefcentral.com/forums/forumd...?s=&forumid=73

[onegreenray]

i can understand the high prices on some of the sps. since they are not the easiest to keep. but zoas are the easiest to keep and most of the time come from whole salers with no water at all. xenia was at some point considered the big ohhhhhhh. but that at least had a good reason it is a horrible shipper. but ah i am off the soap box...whos next.

[myreefcentral]

it's ridiculous...giving them different names for different color variation that aren't that different and the prices can be at one end of the spectrum just for a little tint of a different color. whammin' watermelon & eagle eyes...what's the difference, they both look the same to me yet they're both priced differently. and $20 per polyp...ouch...what happened to the days when you can get a whole colony for $20...it's almost as if zoas are becoming designer zoas...

i think i'm going to name my whammin' watermelons some exotic name and sell the frags for some extreme exotic price and classify it as SUPER RARE...i'll call'em "pink versace" and sell it for $200 a head...classify them as super rare designer zoas...

[Skeptic_07]

its good marketing. as buyers we should be wary of this.

[RevHtree]

ZOAS ARE NOT EASIER TO KEEP! Sorry for the caps!

I have a tank full of sps and lps and my zoas and palys are far more difficult to keep happy.

Certain morphs granted are easy, but others are as tough as any coral in the hobby. Misconception that zoas are noob corals especially since most collected and in local fish stores are full of NUDIS. I've been keeping them for years and still scratch my head sometimes....

[Skeptic_07]

rev makes a good point. They may thrive in less than optimal conditions but once they are upset, it seems really tough to bring them back. Its nearly imposible to figure out whats wrong with them sometimes.

[onegreenray]

in my dealing with zoas i have always had them thrive. but thenagain i am ocd when it comes to maintence. its true any thing can be hard to keep.

alot of these so called specs we all go by are just averages of all the reefs around the world. no two reefs are the same. so some corals may do better then others.

heres a comparison for you ...its like paying 3.75 a gallon of home heating oil or 5.00 a gallon for diesel at the pump. not much of a difference just marketing.

[cthedaytrader]

I think zoos are for the most part much easier to keep than sps, sps can be very finicky with lighting and flow.

However, my experince is it can be much harder to keep zoos and sps in the same tank, mainly because they do have different requirements, most zoos from my experince can do very well with lower lighting and too much light can fry them, and can tolerate a "dirtier tank"

Zoos can be difficult to get them to grow quickly though.

As far as names, having left the hobby and come back it does suck now that people are selling them so high, even fellow hobbyist. There main benefit that I do understand with the names is some corals can really become a currency that you know what you will be able to get for them money wise, trade wise. But now that eveyone is naming there own its getting ridiculous espeically since there are so many similar morphs.

I do think you see more an more hobbyist almost becoming mini retailers and giving tiny frags to fellow reefers. I really wonder if they really want profits or they are fellow hobbyist spreading corals for the right reasons. Thinngs have changed from a few years agao thats for sure.

[Skeptic_07]

definitely, it seems like everyone is trying to make a profit off thier tank. I wasn't here a few years ago, well i was but not reading the selling forum, it wasnt always like this?

[phljess]

I guess it comes down to how you look at it. If your in the hobby to grow coral then just buy anything and keep it. I am sure you can find plenty of zoas, sps, or lps which are cheap. But if you are a "collector" you will have to pay for the ones that are hard to obtain. If you wait long enough though all of them decline in price eventually so I guess those who do not want to pay top price for coral need to just wait for them to go to clearance. There is something new that is hot for a while but then it fades eventually.

[onegreenray]

very well put.

[RevHtree]

Honestly since a January frag swap I have lost one sps frag and that was because a cap grew into it. In the same time frame I have lost 3-4 zoa frags...

[MUCHO REEF]

"i mean a year or two ago you could buy a colony of nice colored zoas for 40-60. now they are that much for a polyp.

so they add a silly name and now its outrageous prices."



It's not just you my friend,

Originally posted by phljess
I guess it comes down to how you look at it. If your in the hobby to grow coral then just buy anything and keep it. I am sure you can find plenty of zoas, sps, or lps which are cheap. But if you are a "collector" you will have to pay for the ones that are hard to obtain. If you wait long enough though all of them decline in price eventually so I guess those who do not want to pay top price for coral need to just wait for them to go to clearance. There is something new that is hot for a while but then it fades eventually.

I have to respectfully disagree with this my friend.

"But if you are a "collector" you will have to pay for the ones that are hard to obtain."

It seems that hobbyist have been replaced by the word " collector". I disagree that you have to pay top dollar for the ones that are hard to obtain. I purchase a 2 inch colony of the large purple palys with 13 full dime size adults heads on a 2 inch rock for a LFS last week for $ 49.99. They sell from $ 50 to $ 100 in some places. There is but one explanation for this.


To date, I estimate I could have made over $ 20,000 in the past 3 years since the advent of names and sky high prices. Yes, that is true and that is the street value of what I could have sold my polyps for that I either gave away to help a newbie out or sold for $ 1 to $ 3 per polyp. I put on 3 polyp last week on one frag. Those polyps sell for $ 50 a piece, $ 65 a polyp on Ebay. That's over $ 200. Well, I better stop, this topic has been discussed many times and my opinions are known, so I'll leave this one here.

Hobbyist are being replaced with retailers. Nothing wrong with making a dollar to help support your expenses to run your tank. But when your entire tank is a frag tank and every new polyp is fragged and sold for gain, well, oops, I did it again.

I have to disagree, zoas and plays are not hard to keep. Again, if the time, money and effort that is placed into names and prices was equally placed upon education and knowledge, this hobby would be a breeze.

You're right Skeptic, it's good marketing.

Buy some vibrant colored polyps, get a good digital camera, set up a take, have 1 year in the hobby, get a polyp to grow, give them a cute names, and you're a ZOA GOD.

Mucho Reef

[Eklikewhoa]

ZOA GODS FOR LIFE MAN!

[jcgso]

Hey just look at the price of PPEs. WHY? There's nothing special about them, but look at what people are willing to pay. Only 4-5 years ago, Zo's were some of the most affordable corals listed for sale here and on other sites. I put a lot of the blame on zoaid.com. Then again, just look at the price of acans and all the Aussie corals that seem to be the current fad. I guess if people are willing to pay the ridiculous prices, it will continue.

[Skeptic_07]

Pure marketing. this website http://www.zoanthids.net/ MAY have played a role. hell, it worked on me. I want polyps like that because, i saw that site way back when i knew nothing. I just cannot bring myself to pay the price right now. I wont do it until i've got a few more years under my belt. Unless i can find them cheap, which probably isnt going to happen. Oh well, i just have to be patient.

[flyyyguy]

Im not going to touch on the price or naming thing as im bored with the conversatiomn....but I am going to touch on the difficulty thing.

Zoas are NOT easier than sps imo and I am a sps guy first and foremmost. When i lose an sps....there is usually a reason, unlike polyps which just go with no rhyme or reason to it. No, I never had this problem when I didnt care about them and only kept a dozen diferent kinds. But now that I have lots of different kinds, they are surely harder and more fickle than sps in a super stable system. I hardly ever lose any sps colonies or frags.........I cant say the same about my prized polyps

jmo