Ann. New England Frag Farmer's Market 3-3-18 - Storrs, CT
- Thread starter fitch4
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dakar652
dakar652
i honestly had no idea there were talks or I would have tried to see them...although my claustrophobia probably would have had me going mental in whatever room that took place in.
cilyjr
Chris
This is a notoriously bad time to have a show as the new England weather is nice and people are busy with spring projects.
cilyjr
Chris
I did not I was selling and was not able to leave my booth
Greg Hiller
BRS Moderator
>We had over 100 frags all at $10 each all of which were aquacultured.<
Sure, there were vendors there selling aquacultured stuff. Good for them (you). Most of the frags I saw were micro. But I understand, it's business. However as I mentioned I saw a LOT of vendors selling large LPS that were clearly just plucked off the reef, some for several hundred $ each. Beautiful of course they were.
Sure, there were vendors there selling aquacultured stuff. Good for them (you). Most of the frags I saw were micro. But I understand, it's business. However as I mentioned I saw a LOT of vendors selling large LPS that were clearly just plucked off the reef, some for several hundred $ each. Beautiful of course they were.
Greg, I have wrestled with this for years. How do I promote aquaculture in the hobby with the FFM and at the same time try to limit the number of people/shops who are just chop shops or flippers? It is a difficult question for sure. Even the line between hobbyist and business is blurry at the FFM, with so many individuals running basement operations with wholesale licenses. There are definitely vendors out there who are doing the right thing by fragging and growing out aquacultured stuff and I am 100% behind them. The other ones, I'd like to see move in that direction...
Frag Freaks
Well-Known Member
Maybe I should have added to my statement. "We had over 100 frags all at $10 each of which were aquacultured and not micro".
I know I can only speak my myself, however I just think your original statement was very broad and indicated that the only deals to be had were from hobbyist which was not the case.
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Skeeter7424
More corals than gallons
We had a blast as usual, it's amazing to see how much changed in the couple years I have been out of the aquarium scene. Props to Jon and his crew of students (present and PAST student were working for him, they all put in a great day's work.) Raffle was out of control how much stuff was there, and though people were getting restless because it took pretty long to get through, the only other options are to make it smaller, or not do live raffle pulls, neither of which I'd prefer.
It was pretty crowded early, that's why we left for lunch and came back at 130 and did another lap. Much more manageable the second time around. I found both ends of the spectrum in price. I bought sick Kedds Red and Fruit Loops frags (10+ polyps each) for $10!!! Then, I had the experience listed a little bit below...
A tip to some of the retailers though...put prices on pieces, or make price sections or something, ANYTHING. 2 huge retailers there just had everything mixed together and you wasted 25 minutes there asking whats this worth, whats that worth, all the while there are people behind them trying to view and purchase items, and while some of us were trying to get our credit cards back from you while you ran it for things we already purchased. I watched a ton of people walk away from booths because of this. The couple guys who had priced sections did more business faster, and I was definitely more apt to go back to them later and see what was left. Also, if I ask what something is worth, don't give me a sob story about how it's your last frag and it's going to be tough to get from you, but if I buy something else you'll TELL me a price. Guess what, there's 4 other retailers there with the same piece, one of which will let it go for stupid cheap so it doesn't have to be packed up.
These aren't gripes with the event. I was super pleased with what I walked away with, got to see a BUNCH of old faces (I really can't believe how many people recognized me and made a point to say hi!), met with a ton of retailers, talked a bunch about the hobby of today, and may have had 1 too many Mai Tais across the street as is tradition. No matter what, I'll be back next year, purchasing more than I need as usual, having 1 too many Mai Tais...as usual
It was pretty crowded early, that's why we left for lunch and came back at 130 and did another lap. Much more manageable the second time around. I found both ends of the spectrum in price. I bought sick Kedds Red and Fruit Loops frags (10+ polyps each) for $10!!! Then, I had the experience listed a little bit below...
A tip to some of the retailers though...put prices on pieces, or make price sections or something, ANYTHING. 2 huge retailers there just had everything mixed together and you wasted 25 minutes there asking whats this worth, whats that worth, all the while there are people behind them trying to view and purchase items, and while some of us were trying to get our credit cards back from you while you ran it for things we already purchased. I watched a ton of people walk away from booths because of this. The couple guys who had priced sections did more business faster, and I was definitely more apt to go back to them later and see what was left. Also, if I ask what something is worth, don't give me a sob story about how it's your last frag and it's going to be tough to get from you, but if I buy something else you'll TELL me a price. Guess what, there's 4 other retailers there with the same piece, one of which will let it go for stupid cheap so it doesn't have to be packed up.
These aren't gripes with the event. I was super pleased with what I walked away with, got to see a BUNCH of old faces (I really can't believe how many people recognized me and made a point to say hi!), met with a ton of retailers, talked a bunch about the hobby of today, and may have had 1 too many Mai Tais across the street as is tradition. No matter what, I'll be back next year, purchasing more than I need as usual, having 1 too many Mai Tais...as usual
Aaron W.
Well-Known Member
I wholeheartedly agree with this. I really appreciated the vendors who had prices clearly listed and/or pieces grouped by price. It made things so much easier for me, rather than having to ask for prices over and over again. Some tables that didn't have prices listed I barely even stopped at, because I knew I could most likely find the same frag at another table with price listed which takes the "guess work" out of it.
dz6t
Acro Garden, BRS Sponsor
Just my 2 cents:
Aquacultured coral can both come from commercial retailers and hobbyists. Many large commercials vendors have their aquaculture operations. Also aquacultured coral are available from major wholesalers too.
My suggestion to make the FFM more geared toward its mission statement is to ask all sellers to carefully choose their coral selections for FFM. Some coral can only be pulled from the ocean such as scoly should be avoided. It is easy to tell large wild colonies from aquacultured coral.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Aquacultured coral can both come from commercial retailers and hobbyists. Many large commercials vendors have their aquaculture operations. Also aquacultured coral are available from major wholesalers too.
My suggestion to make the FFM more geared toward its mission statement is to ask all sellers to carefully choose their coral selections for FFM. Some coral can only be pulled from the ocean such as scoly should be avoided. It is easy to tell large wild colonies from aquacultured coral.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Aaron W.
Well-Known Member
I saw some pretty good fish selections. Pieces of the Ocean was there with some nice lineatus and rhomboid wrasses, blotched anthias, and others. One vendor had white tail bristletooth tangs, which I don't see too often. Colchester Pets was there with captive bred mandarins, yellow tangs, and coral beauty angelfish. A few vendors had black storm, mocha storm, and various maroon clown variants.
Skeeter7424
More corals than gallons
We bought one of their captive bred female Mandarins, we'll keep everyone posted on how she does!
Hopefully next year? I am eyeballing 3/2/19 and doing some thinking on how to "spread things out" a bit. It is going to be tough to get the place so that it is just a few people buying frags and the vendors will have time to chat with you but I will see what I can do. I am also always working on ways to encourage the aquaculture side of the vendors and discourage the buy it and flip it group. It is very tough for me to do. The best suggestion that I would have, and I would make to you is to shop the places that obviously are aquaculture focused and not the others. I'll do what I can on my end!
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