Does Your Region Make LFS and Craigslist Frags More or Less Expensive?

[Kraff813]

Helllo reefers,

I was recently at a LFS in NJ and saw quarter sized frags of GSP for $30 each. Personally, I felt bad for anyone silly enough to pay that. In NJ you can grab a frag from craigslist for about $10-$15. Obviously online retail is a whole different ball game.

I'm just curious what prices across the county possibly look like for this beginner staple at LFS or the craigslist fragger.

Example: Does a frag in NYC cost more because of the region or less because the abundance of local reefers? Does it cost more in a rural area because of the scarcity or less because of the region? Just a fun thread - shoot some responses!

-Kevin (South Jersey)

PS: I know GSP can vary greatly in color and... plumpness(?), I included a photo of a $12 craigslist Jersey GSP frag.

 

[fish farmer]

Are those $10 Craig's list frags pick up only?

Yes I bought a disk of GSP for $35 at my LFS, some zoas can be $15 to $18. I think I bought three frags at the LFS for around $45, magicians, red people eaters and some pink zoas. Small encrused discs of favias usually fetch $40 to $50. I got a pinky sized hammer frag for $35 several years ago.

The "better" reef store get WWC frags, none are priced, "they range from $40 to $70." I bought some ok looking palys and a brain frag for $80.

I've never looked locally for stuff since reefers are few and far between.

 

[Amado]

I live in NJ and it depends how close to NYC you are. The rent in NJ store will be more than let’s say a store in Ohio or Florida.
So like everything else they have to adjust prices.
I have 3 Reef stores within 5miles from my house.

In NJ you have a lot of people that sell frags from their home. $10 a frag but you have to be careful you buy a $10 frag and then spend $60 trying to clean your tank of algae or aptasia lol

 

[Kraff813]

I live in NJ and it depends how close to NYC you are. The rent in NJ store will be more than let’s say a store in Ohio or Florida.
So like everything else they have to adjust prices.
I have 3 Reef stores within 5miles from my house.

In NJ you have a lot of people that sell frags from their home. $10 a frag but you have to be careful you buy a $10 frag and then spend $60 trying to clean your tank of algae or aptasia lol

Hahha, that's a good point. Aptasia nightmares!

 

[Kraff813]

Are those $10 Craig's list frags pick up only?

Yes I bought a disk of GSP for $35 at my LFS, some zoas can be $15 to $18. I think I bought three frags at the LFS for around $45, magicians, red people eaters and some pink zoas. Small encrused discs of favias usually fetch $40 to $50. I got a pinky sized hammer frag for $35 several years ago.

The "better" reef store get WWC frags, none are priced, "they range from $40 to $70." I bought some ok looking palys and a brain frag for $80.

I've never looked locally for stuff since reefers are few and far between.

Thanks for the input! Sounds like in VT it's a little steeper in costs in LFS compared to NJ where we have many shops in the vicinity.

 

[Indytraveler83]

I live in Northern Indiana. Most frags are fairly cheap here ($5 mushrooms, $15 GSP, $25-30 for a 3-4 head acan, etc). But... I don't have a lot of availability either. The only "named" coral I've ever seen in person is the "Ultra" variants. And an "Ultra" usually causes the price to multiply by 4 or 5 times. ($120 for a 4 head Ultra Acan, $70 for Ultra rock flowers 'nems).

It's also very rare to see elegence, frogspawn or even Trumpet corals. As far as acro, it's all just green, green and a little brown mixed in.

 

[amps]

The prices around Toronto run average but we have a handful of folks flooding the market with $5-10 frags on Facebook. They're rarely healthy and always the wrong color but people scoop up $200 frag packs because they get 15+ 'named' frags. It definitely makes it harder for sellers that rely on import and can't let frags go below cost.

 

[PatW]

I live in Orlando. Our local shops include World Wide Corals, Top Shelf Aquatics and Living Reef all of which sell nationally. Good to have but it doesn’t not drive the price down. I recently bought some corals from Adam at Battlecorals and he easily undercuts those stores.

 

[Wolf89]

People give first sized chunks of kenya tree, gsp, xenia out like candy round here

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Here in Cali, prices tend to be cheaper than they were in Ohio.

 

[Eggs]

I moved from Ohio to Florida a few years back. Florida is much more higher; LFS, Craigslist and private sellers across the board.
Almost all frags are ridiculously priced in Florida.