Platygyra or another "brain coral"?

[livinlifeinBKK]

Here is the big BUT....so an acantho is around 2000 baht what equals 57$. The average Thai montly income is 39000 baht and that's 1130$. That's 13560 a year. The average Us Income is 53490, so 4 times more. Same in Australia. Here it is 69888 au$ a year. Now those coral prices fall into order a bit more too. I love the acantho too but the prices scare me...

It's not quite that simple... hobbyists here are much higher on the socio economic scale than an American hobbyist for example. There are far fewer but those who are in the hobby have higher relative affluence than the average American or Australian. You'd be pretty hard pressed to find someone here making the average salary who has a saltwater tank. I know this doesn't prove anything necessarily but they actually do sell Australian Scolys for absurd prices sometimes and they always are bought. If you think 2,000 is scary, I've seen Scolys for 18,000 and people buy them. It's almost only those with high economic status who are in the hobby here. People working at 7-11 wouldn't even consider it for a second.
I worked out the percentage cost of an Acantho in comparison to the figures you gave for Thailand and the US and it still is almost twice what it is here. Also take into account the inflation in America ATM. As for Australia, I don't know enough about their current economy to say much.

 

[Kmst80]

It's not quite that simple... hobbyists here are much higher on the socio economic scale than an American hobbyist for example. There are far fewer but those who are in the hobby have higher relative affluence than the average American or Australian. You'd be pretty hard pressed to find someone here making the average salary who has a saltwater tank. I know this doesn't prove anything necessarily but they actually do sell Australian Scolys for absurd prices sometimes and they always are bought. If you think 2,000 is scary, I've seen Scolys for 18,000 and people buy them. It's almost only those with high economic status who are in the hobby here. People working at 7-11 wouldn't even consider it for a second.
I worked out the percentage cost of an Acantho in comparison to the figures you gave for Thailand and the US and it still is almost twice what it is here. Also take into account the inflation in America ATM. As for Australia, I don't know enough about their current economy to say much.

The point I tried to make is that 2000 baht ain't that much cheaper considering the income difference.
By the way it took me 10 years to start saltwater because when I did the budget I could never afford it. Went back into freshwater meanwhile but this time I jumped into it 2 years ago coz of my quit smoking fund.
It is a very expensive hobby no matter where you are, but usually hobbies are expensive.

 

[KrisReef]

Nothing justifies a $500 price tag aside from the fact that someone will pay it. What I mean is that it's not the cost of transportation, payment of the divers, license payments, or anything like that which makes it impossible to sell for less than that.

Some of these corals are so beautiful I feel like people are paying to collect living art. I resist because I don't want to buy things that are so expensive and delicate when a tank mishap can wipe it out and I will never hear the end of it from my dear spouse, not to mention the guilt for killing something I was supposed to be caring for.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

The point I tried to make is that 2000 baht ain't that much cheaper considering the income difference.
By the way it took me 10 years to start saltwater because when I did the budget I could never afford it. Went back into freshwater meanwhile but this time I jumped into it 2 years ago coz of my quit smoking fund.
It is a very expensive hobby no matter where you are, but usually hobbies are expensive.

I know what you mean, I was just pointing out that to a majority of the hobbyists here, 2,000 baht really isn't that much since most of them come from high income backgrounds. On the other hand, there are plenty (probably the majority) of middle class Americans making up the hobbyist population. If you took a poll of 100 random hobbyists and asked the Thai hobbyists if they saw a problem with the 2,000 baht price or if it was hurting their back pocket much, I really doubt you'd get the same answers you'd get from American hobbyists for example. Most of the participants here are few but affluent, whereas in America there are plenty of regular people who simply couldn't afford $500 for the same coral. And like i said, it does take up more than twice as much of the total yearly income using those figures.

 

[Goaway]

No, but we can finance our coral now... Funny aye?

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

No, but we can finance our coral now... Funny aye?

That's cool that they let you guys finance corals like everything else really expensive! Here the shops are reluctant to even take a return or trade, whatever it may be.

 

[Goaway]

That's cool that they let you guys finance corals like everything else really expensive! Here the shops are reluctant to even take a return or trade, whatever it may be.

Saltwater life is fickle. Or collected poorly from whoever we are getting fish/coral from.

Have you been able to see the shape of fish that make it into the stores there?

Every week our lfs gets a new fish shipment in, they are in such poor health. And he has to get them back into shape so someone will buy them. He has to treat for disease, and hope they eat.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Saltwater life is fickle. Or collected poorly from whoever we are getting fish/coral from.

Have you been able to see the shape of fish that make it into the stores there?

Every week our lfs gets a new fish shipment in, they are in such poor health. And he has to get them back into shape so someone will buy them. He has to treat for disease, and hope they eat.

Here they are generally very healthy (in appearance at least) and will readily eat. One of the shops posted a video of him feeding a relatively newly imported mandarin mysis which it ate readily. I highly doubt he spent too much time focusing exclusively on those few mandarins since he gets big shipments weekly.

 

[Goaway]

Dang, so we are getting the shorter end of the stick.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

I

Dang, so we are getting the shorter end of the stick.

Think it's because of the stress from transporting them such long distances. When I worked at a shop in Orlando I experienced first hand the many fish that would die within a week of being delivered.

 

[Goaway]

That could very well be it. I am just not used to seeing them so thin. It's only been these past few years as well. I'd say from 2018 to now. Since 2020 is when I returned to the hobby.

2020 or 2019.. I don't remember..

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

That could very well be it. I am just not used to seeing them so thin. It's only been these past few years as well. I'd say from 2018 to now. Since 2020 is when I returned to the hobby.

2020 or 2019.. I don't remember..

The prices are clearly due to the location and I'd assume the same about the health... especially for pod eaters.
Check out these two clams. They only want 650 baht each. I already have had a clam for 2 years at least now and he's grown a good bit.
Also idk why but this shop thought for some reason there would be a high demand for hellfire anemones!

 

[Goaway]

The prices are clearly due to the location and I'd assume the same about the health... especially for pod eaters.
Check out these two clams. They only want 650 baht each. I already have had a clam for 2 years at least now and he's grown a good bit.
Also idk why but this shop thought for some reason there would be a high demand for hellfire anemones!

I don't know why anyone would want a hellfire anemone. But yes, a lot is factored into our cost. With shipping being so expensive right now, it's just pure madness. If we want it, we have to pay the cost for it.

There's a lot of reasons for these chop shops to charge hundreds for frags. I just miss when we could get the colonies for the same price of a frag. I'll get over it.

Acantho, scoly, cynarinas were always expensive here. Except greens. Those are on the cheaper end. Unless someone doctors up the photo to make it look like it's worth more than 100. And they do that a lot.

Those are very beautiful clams.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

I don't know why anyone would want a hellfire anemone. But yes, a lot is factored into our cost. With shipping being so expensive right now, it's just pure madness. If we want it, we have to pay the cost for it.

There's a lot of reasons for these chop shops to charge hundreds for frags. I just miss when we could get the colonies for the same price of a frag. I'll get over it.

Acantho, scoly, cynarinas were always expensive here. Except greens. Those are on the cheaper end. Unless someone doctors up the photo to make it look like it's worth more than 100. And they do that a lot.

Those are very beautiful clams.

Yes, I used to work for a very well known aquarium shop in Orlando and know firsthand the expenses. Some of the corals (Scolys from Australia come to mind) really are making a pretty penny though. I don't have a problem with them making good money whatsoever but it's not 100% true that the cost is purely due to shipping and other expenses. If that were the case then why have prices for Australian corals increased while at the same time more pieces are collected and imported every year? I e actually went so far as to review their expense reports they have to submit to the government.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

In an attempt to minimize backlash from that last comment let me emphasize: I DONT HAVE ANY PROBLEM WITH THEM MAKING WHATEVER IT IS THEY MAKE.

 

[Goaway]

In an attempt to minimize backlash from that last comment let me emphasize: I DONT HAVE ANY PROBLEM WITH THEM MAKING WHATEVER IT IS THEY MAKE.

Believe me, I get it. My lfs is suffering because he tries to keep everything as cheap as possible. I feel bad for the guy, the people in my territory want everything dirt cheap or free. Life doesn't work that way. Nor should it.

He used to have a really nice store. He moved to a much smaller location. So the tanks are small, areas are very cramped. He always tries to get the coral that look the best for as cheap as possible.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Believe me, I get it. My lfs is suffering because he tries to keep everything as cheap as possible. I feel bad for the guy, the people in my territory want everything dirt cheap or free. Life doesn't work that way. Nor should it.

He used to have a really nice store. He moved to a much smaller location. So the tanks are small, areas are very cramped. He always tries to get the coral that look the best for as cheap as possible.

It's particularly a struggle for the small local shops. They have to complete with online vendors with their super edited pics that make every coral look like a masterpiece. The local shops have people actually come in and see the corals before buying though so the customers don't think they're as high of quality in comparison to what they see online. In reality, the corals the shops have look extremely similar to the ones the online sellers have if you could see them in person.

 

[Goaway]

It's particularly a struggle for the small local shops. They have to complete with online vendors with their super edited pics that make every coral look like a masterpiece. The local shops have people actually come in and see the corals before buying though so the customers don't think they're as high of quality in comparison to what they see online. In reality, the corals the shops have look extremely similar to the ones the online sellers have if you could see them in person.

As odd as it is, I try to unedit the photos to figure out what's really going to show up and what it will look like in my tank. Sometimes it's just impossible. But I get close.

Photo editing is also the bigger plague of our hobby. Top down shots are 10x better than pictures taken outside of the glass. Glass filters out a lot of color and detail from cameras. Acrylic, probably doesn't filter out too much.

 

[Goaway]

Good luck with the pieces you get when you get them! Looking forward to seeing them in your tank

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

As odd as it is, I try to unedit the photos to figure out what's really going to show up and what it will look like in my tank. Sometimes it's just impossible. But I get close.

Photo editing is also the bigger plague of our hobby. Top down shots are 10x better than pictures taken outside of the glass. Glass filters out a lot of color and detail from cameras. Acrylic, probably doesn't filter out too much.

Yes! Exactly...the glass or acrylic causes light refraction even without editing. Here the shops/sellers aren't quite as masterful in Photoshop as they are there.
Btw, I got the Platygyra and Acanthophyllia earlier today! The Platygyra looks exactly how it does in the pic from the seller...truly beautiful! The Acanthophyllia has puffed up to look fully expanded and it's got to be about 5 inches across! I do notice the bleaching more now that i see it with my own eyes but it's not extreme by any metric. I can tell the green shouldn't be so light though, but much darker and more vivid. I'm excited to try to feed it later after lights out!