Do You Think Reefing Should Be Exclusive And/Or Expensive?

[KrisReef]

Do You Think​

(Reefing)​

Should Be​

Exclusive​

(And/Or)​

Expensive?​

Let's break this down.
First question, "Do you think?" The answer is obvious, and the more important question might be something like, "Do you think well, or not?" The answer to this first question is going to shape the rest of the answer, and not getting this question asked and answered correctly, up front, is going to waste a lot of time, discussion, and thinking about stuff that isn't important, ime.

Reefing is an interesting topic for most people who visit this site, but what it means is going to be somewhat unique for everyone who is doing it. Add this fact to the functionality of the first question regarding "thinking" and then you can read the answers supplied from respondents and better understand some of the things written in the replies.

"Should be" is an interesting twist on the thoughts swirling around the universe of what "IS" vs what "OUGHT" to be. The decisions about what IS or what OUGHT to be all rightly belong to any of a number of entities, generally thought to be either God, the King, or The Government who have the say and power to enforce these decision, weather we like them or not. This fact is often contrary to the answers that people will come up with when trying to answer simple questions we discussed briefly earlier like, "Do you think?"

Exclusive and Expensive, most hobby corals are found exclusively in the tropics and sometimes the people who collect them there are insanely poor, while the land in the tropics can be insanely expensive. Collecting corals from reefs can be free, but often the King or the Governments that rule over the tropical reefs restrict collections with laws for doing these things.

So, the hobby is already most of these things, and I am glad there is a hobby but I don't like to think to much about costs or the Kings and Governments that often confound the issue in such a god-forsaken manner.

 

[Northern Flicker]

It's exclusive because it's expensive, and we don't have any control over market forces so I am not really sure what we think about it matters.

What I do think is that there is a monopoly on the dry goods side which is not good for your average hobbyist, and I also think we're going to see a contraction in the hobby and prices over the next few years. A lot of "it's my first reef, I chose a Red Sea Reefer with $1600 lights" types starting to sell on marketplace these days from the COVID boom.

 

[areefer01]

It's exclusive because it's expensive, and we don't have any control over market forces so I am not really sure what we think about it matters.

Actually we do have control. If the price is too high don't pay for it. It is as simple as that. I don't mean to be blunt about it but honestly if one shops around or waits for sales low prices can be found. The problem is when someone wants a "holy grail torch" or some boutique chop shop coral with a made up name then deals are more limited.

Don't get me wrong because I understand your point. But you don't have to pay 140 US dollars for a 1" frag from a social media person. You just don't.

Side note I have to say that I've not seen many Flickers this past winter. In fact I haven't seen as many the past few years. Maybe the area I moved to does not have as many mature trees. I ended up doing a few small hikes in the Sierra's to finally see a few Beautiful bird.

 

[Northern Flicker]

Actually we do have control. If the price is too high don't pay for it. It is as simple as that. I don't mean to be blunt about it but honestly if one shops around or waits for sales low prices can be found. The problem is when someone wants a "holy grail torch" or some boutique chop shop coral with a made up name then deals are more limited.

Don't get me wrong because I understand your point. But you don't have to pay 140 US dollars for a 1" frag from a social media person. You just don't.

Side note I have to say that I've not seen many Flickers this past winter. In fact I haven't seen as many the past few years. Maybe the area I moved to does not have as many mature trees. I ended up doing a few small hikes in the Sierra's to finally see a few Beautiful bird.

I agree with you on the coral side, but on the equipment side, I feel like we get hit with the unavoidable reef tax. I need to add some lighting to my set up and it's challenging to find anything under $1000 CAD.

The hope is that the COVID boom ending causes a re-balancing within the hobby here. Might be a bit painful for some operators but healthy for consumers I hope.

We just started getting Flickers regularly where I am, not sure why. I always saw them up north of here, but the last two summers we are seeing them more and more around. They are so interesting!

 

[Dorsetsteve]

This segment of the aquarium hobby has always suffered from a level of elitism, often it’s described as its own hobby. There will always be some people who want to gate keep it by some manner or means, probably to make themselves feel better, I don’t know.