What Do You Like To See At Frag Swaps?

[Mmbra]

I'd like to see people actually swapping coral with each other. Frag swaps nowadays seem like just a bunch of vendors trying to make a buck. Thankfully my local swap is still actually a swap. Everyone brings 5-7 frags. They are sorted on tables based on type. Then everyone takes turns going up and picking out a coral until all the frags are gone.

 

[twentyleagues]

Hmmm. Over 20 years into this and I've never cared. I spent a good amount of time with a coral researcher (his job was looking for possible medical applications) who said off-handed once, put it in one place and leave it and let it adapt to the area. That has worked fantastic for me.

I think I'm doing ok

Nice! back in the day when I ran mh or t5 I worried less. I would still ask though. With leds seems to be a bit different now. I've only been back for a little over a year and leds were just getting going as a go to light source I think the first gen radions had just come out with in a year or two maybe. I worry too much probably. So far I've had very little issues with corals vs lighting. Still it doesnt hurt to know.

 

[Griev]

do people even do REAL frag SWAPS anymore? seems these days its all just shows with tons of vendors who all have basement online shops these days...
everyone and there mother sells corals now as a side-gig and money-making scheme


I miss the old days where the shows/swaps were legit places where hobbyists could come and share corals with each other and learn vs it being nothing but a money-grab which like 85% of shows/events seem to be these days in my experience.

I felt this way too, but then became the change I wanted to see at my local club. Never charge more than $20 for a frag because most of the time I only made the frag because I accidentally knocked that bit off or needed to trim to prevent shading. I've been able to set up quite a few trades with similar minded folks.

Though I've also run into a couple "Coral Kings" accuse me of wanting to get their frags cheap to cut up and resell. Talk about projecting what one would do upon a stranger...

 

[cilyjr]

Nice! back in the day when I ran mh or t5 I worried less. I would still ask though. With leds seems to be a bit different now. I've only been back for a little over a year and leds were just getting going as a go to light source I think the first gen radions had just come out with in a year or two maybe. I worry too much probably. So far I've had very little issues with corals vs lighting. Still it doesnt hurt to know.

When I moved to California, I switched to LED mostly because of heat in the room where the tank sits.

I will never run led without t-5 (or some non point source lighting).

 

[GlassMunky]

I felt this way too, but then became the change I wanted to see at my local club. Never charge more than $20 for a frag because most of the time I only made the frag because I accidentally knocked that bit off or needed to trim to prevent shading. I've been able to set up quite a few trades with similar minded folks.

Though I've also run into a couple "Coral Kings" accuse me of wanting to get their frags cheap to cut up and resell. Talk about projecting what one would do upon a stranger...

yea thats exactly what i do as well. Just today i got an Orange Crush, Hellfire, and Dragon Soul Torch, 3 acan lords and an alveopora in trades to someone local for some other euphyllia i have growing here. they grow like weeds in my tank, so may as well trade them out. I dont really care about what they sell for.
I have "superman" rhodactus mushrooms that we got YEARS and YEARS ago before the whole mushroom craze blew up. people now sell the same shrooms for like 50-100 per polyp. i sell them at like 10,trade them, or sometime i give them away free (like when they were overgrowing too much space and i ripped them off the backwall) they grow quick and take over my nem nano so to me they would trash otherwise so im glad to help someone out who actually appreciates it.

 

[Mr_Knightley]

To the first question, I love seeing a selection of WC LPS colonies or other corals that are otherwise tough to frag, like meat corals or lobos. That tells me right off the gate that this vendor is serious, and not just another drop in the ocean of 'basement aquaculturists' selling the same dime-a-dozen dog water.

To answer the second question, 100% of the time I would select the wild frag because there is never anything special about 'ultra orange hammers' that makes them more elusive or hard to grow than normal greens and pinks. Consumers (me and you) are 100% responsible for raising the prices so high, and people like good ol' Polo are responsible for keeping them high after us budget reefers are priced out. it's a mess WE created, and a mess WE are perpetuating.

 

[Big E]

The only real suggestion I have is to have normal lighting in the hall, ballroom ect. There is plenty of light over these frag tanks to see the corals well. Slightly dimmed down is ok.

A couple of the recent swaps were so dark I thought I was walking into a movie theatre when the credits start to roll.
It was to the point of having to pull out a flashlight to read a sheet of paper.

 

[betareef]

I like to see a nice variety, but more importantly I like to see some white light or at least an AB+ esque color light. It’s really hard to tell if a coral actually looks like something I want to buy when its only under “black light”.

I wouldn't buy if I can't see it under near natural light.

 

[i cant think]

Honestly, a bit of everything for me!

 

[Griev]

I wouldn't buy if I can't see it under near natural light.

This is a deal breaker for me too. The most befuddling is the vendors who clearly don't understand their own equipment. I've been told by vendors they can't flip their lights temporarily to a whiter mode when they're using lights that clearly support that ability. One vendor thanked me when I showed him it was literally one button press on his lights to adjust the blue up/down.

 

[Joekovar]

I think the allure of frag swaps is variety. I don't want to go to a swap full of people who have been doing the same marketing research and are tripping over each other trying to sell the same stuff to everyone.

I want to see something more along the lines of a science fair.

 

[twentyleagues]

This is a deal breaker for me too. The most befuddling is the vendors who clearly don't understand their own equipment. I've been told by vendors they can't flip their lights temporarily to a whiter mode when they're using lights that clearly support that ability. One vendor thanked me when I showed him it was literally one button press on his lights to adjust the blue up/down.

A long time ago when I was in this hobby the first time vendors used mostly t5 or mh at shows. Everything was white and you could see! The vendors would carry a blue flashlight to show you how a certain coral would fluoresce under actinic lighting not the other way around. I went to a frag swap last month and I'm going to another one today. It was so hard to see, other than everything in tanks glowing. I like the past better.

 

[Dburr1014]

I voted yes for all of it! LOL

 

[Kfactor]

i gave up on buying coral everything is over priced am not giving ppl my money for tiny stuff. i went to a small frag swap were i live there was like 6 ppl selling coral and couldnt beleave the prices ppl were selling stuff for

 

[doubleshot00]

Great discussion everyone!

Let's add another question
I know most are looking for a deal, but most vendors giving the best "deals" tend to buy wild coral, cut and resell them.

Would you rather spend $60 on a single head of a nice yellow hammer that is "home-grown" or spend $40 on a larger head/double of the same hammer, but it's wild?

Follow-Up
Do you ask if the coral is aquacultured or just look for the best deal?

Homegrown without a doubt. But you aint gonna find a yellow hammer for $60

I well spend $50-$75 for a nice chunky frag thats been growing onto the plug over the fresh cut with fresh superglue on it to for $20-25.

 

[snorklr]

being relatively new at this, i shop by price because i really have no confidence whether anyhing is going to survive...i have stuff that grows like crazy, some zoas that havent multiplied at all, some stuff that has lost most of its color...and no clue why...so there's no way i'm spending over $50 for anything and it better be well encrusted....so $500 scolys are fun to look at but.... so i think you have all levels of hobbyists and if you want to sell stuff you have to appeal to different interests...ps the economy sucks