Selling/trading in Vic
Hi Guys,
I was curious about everyone's thoughts about selling/trading within this hobby and what they would like to see happen on this forum amongst it's Victorian members in this regard? Maybe we can come up with some great idea's that would encourage more hobbiests to propagate their corals and distribute these into other people's tanks. And also to continue the long-standing traditions of distributing classics like the Dallas acro amongst reef keepers. I have long drooled over the Buying, Selling and Trading section on Reef Central and wanted to see something similar form in Australia.
I personally think there is a lot of trading that goes on in the hobby here and not enough selling. As a newbie filled with Americanisms from my research online, I dreamt of a 'sustainable reef' with only aquacultured specimens, however I found that when I offered cash to people who regularly propagated their corals and publicised this, I was refused on the basis of 'trade only' - despite me leaving the price up to them. I had some pitiful success acquiring a few aquacultured corals from hobbyists but soon ditched my sustainable reef as a silly pipedream that would take me 10 years to complete one polyp at a time! :confused: I have seen some improvement on this front now, but it can be really difficult for new ones in the hobby who either don't have something to trade, or would cry at the thought of fragging their prized new purchase that has barely had a chance to grow.
Of course, ultimately whether you trade or sell is your choice, they are your corals after all ;)
So suggestions I have:
- if you have an established tank, and you are doing some pruning maintenance, let us know you are about to have loose frags avail for $5-20 a piece, Reefuge credits and/or will trade for ........... (for eg.) and to come get them.
- once our trading and selling section is set up, list everything you have including things like baby turbo snails, sand-dwelling fan worms, even amphipods, coralline and the like. I personally eradicated all bristle worms from my tank while I had a pair of seahorses and only recently were they reintroduced from live rock I purchased from someone shutting down their tank. If I'd been able to get a few from somewhere I would have gone and got some a lot earlier, no joke! Some of us may have had fish that picked the tank clean of certain 'clean up crew' and we may want to reintroduce those to our little reef ecosystems if we no longer have the fish.
- have any of you heard of Coral Banking? This is a concept where you propagate a much loved coral and distribute it to other reefers, so that if you lose it for whatever reason, you can get a piece back and it is not lost forever. I would like to suggest we get together and do that with a few things, such as the Dallas acro, a pulsing Xenia I am currently trying to encourage to spread all over my tank, and I am sure there is more we could come up with.
Well that's me fresh out of ideas at this time of night - thoughts and suggestions?
I was curious about everyone's thoughts about selling/trading within this hobby and what they would like to see happen on this forum amongst it's Victorian members in this regard? Maybe we can come up with some great idea's that would encourage more hobbiests to propagate their corals and distribute these into other people's tanks. And also to continue the long-standing traditions of distributing classics like the Dallas acro amongst reef keepers. I have long drooled over the Buying, Selling and Trading section on Reef Central and wanted to see something similar form in Australia.
I personally think there is a lot of trading that goes on in the hobby here and not enough selling. As a newbie filled with Americanisms from my research online, I dreamt of a 'sustainable reef' with only aquacultured specimens, however I found that when I offered cash to people who regularly propagated their corals and publicised this, I was refused on the basis of 'trade only' - despite me leaving the price up to them. I had some pitiful success acquiring a few aquacultured corals from hobbyists but soon ditched my sustainable reef as a silly pipedream that would take me 10 years to complete one polyp at a time! :confused: I have seen some improvement on this front now, but it can be really difficult for new ones in the hobby who either don't have something to trade, or would cry at the thought of fragging their prized new purchase that has barely had a chance to grow.
Of course, ultimately whether you trade or sell is your choice, they are your corals after all ;)
So suggestions I have:
- if you have an established tank, and you are doing some pruning maintenance, let us know you are about to have loose frags avail for $5-20 a piece, Reefuge credits and/or will trade for ........... (for eg.) and to come get them.
- once our trading and selling section is set up, list everything you have including things like baby turbo snails, sand-dwelling fan worms, even amphipods, coralline and the like. I personally eradicated all bristle worms from my tank while I had a pair of seahorses and only recently were they reintroduced from live rock I purchased from someone shutting down their tank. If I'd been able to get a few from somewhere I would have gone and got some a lot earlier, no joke! Some of us may have had fish that picked the tank clean of certain 'clean up crew' and we may want to reintroduce those to our little reef ecosystems if we no longer have the fish.
- have any of you heard of Coral Banking? This is a concept where you propagate a much loved coral and distribute it to other reefers, so that if you lose it for whatever reason, you can get a piece back and it is not lost forever. I would like to suggest we get together and do that with a few things, such as the Dallas acro, a pulsing Xenia I am currently trying to encourage to spread all over my tank, and I am sure there is more we could come up with.
Well that's me fresh out of ideas at this time of night - thoughts and suggestions?