Reef nutrition

Coral as a side gig

Anyone here sell Coral as a side gig via husbandry?

What's grows the fastest?

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What grows the fastest is typically not as desirable and therefore not worth as much. I think zoas are a good middle of the road coral to propagate for money. They typically grow at a good rate have a fair amount of demand and usually fetch a decent price.
 
I sell a decent amount in TX, TBD if I will in SF, but then again I also need a more permanent home, move my tank, etc.
There are *very* few corals that I keep because they sell well relative to their effort. The only two that really come to mind are grandis palys and a very small amount of pulsing xenia, and I'd just as soon eradicate the xenia. I keep what I like, and as I have excess I sell/trade/give away frags depending on the circumstances. Things tend to have price based on a few things:
1) How available it is, or lack thereof/how long it has been in the hobby.
2) What some big name seller is charging for it.
3) How hard it is to grow/keep alive.
4) How nice it looks.

Note that I put how it looks in #4. I have a blasto that occasionally looks like the world's most bubbled bounce, but "it's just a blasto" so it doesn't carry value. On the other hand, at some point I was given a big ugly brown mushroom with one or two bounce like bubbles, and got ~$100 offers for it. I happen to really like the blasto so it stays and grows. I didn't much like the mushroom, so it went away as soon as I could get it out.

IME zoas and SPS tend to pay well on a space+effort+time basis. I've seen some really high LPS prices lately (Several $1k - $2k torches that would have been $75 a year ago), but those are an exception, and a lot of LPS doesn't frag well. I also don't think those prices will hold up.

The hard part isn't growing it, it's finding buyers when suddenly your softball sized colony is giving you 8 frags/month, and still getting bigger.
It's fun, but on a $/40 hours of work per week basis it may not be the sort of thing that you retire on.
 
Something else I should add to this. Selling coral isn't like cutting grass (is there residential grass in SF?) where you show up, do something, and leave. People buying frags at a residence rarely show up, swap money for things, and promptly leave. More often they look at your tank, think about what they want, ask you about your setup, show off some picture of their system, discuss reef husbandry, and then chat for a bit about the weather. While I've gotten it as short as ~2 minutes, I generally assume 30-60 minutes for someone to swing by and buy a frag.

I actually stopped selling plants out of my freshwater aquarium for this reason, and because I got to the point where I knew more people into planted tanks than I could keep up with. I switched to dumping them in the compost because it saved me an hour or two a week that was getting maybe $10 in sales. If people were motivated enough to come by when I was doing my every other week trimming/maintenance and watch/learn/help I'd give them a whole bucket of plants for free, but not advertising and requiring them to meet my schedule left me with a lot more time for other things like my reef.

What selling frags does do is provide a great way to meet hobbyists, promote the hobby, and spread knowledge without having to wait for the next club event.
 
Something else I should add to this. Selling coral isn't like cutting grass (is there residential grass in SF?) where you show up, do something, and leave. People buying frags at a residence rarely show up, swap money for things, and promptly leave. More often they look at your tank, think about what they want, ask you about your setup, show off some picture of their system, discuss reef husbandry, and then chat for a bit about the weather. While I've gotten it as short as ~2 minutes, I generally assume 30-60 minutes for someone to swing by and buy a frag.

I actually stopped selling plants out of my freshwater aquarium for this reason, and because I got to the point where I knew more people into planted tanks than I could keep up with. I switched to dumping them in the compost because it saved me an hour or two a week that was getting maybe $10 in sales. If people were motivated enough to come by when I was doing my every other week trimming/maintenance and watch/learn/help I'd give them a whole bucket of plants for free, but not advertising and requiring them to meet my schedule left me with a lot more time for other things like my reef.

What selling frags does do is provide a great way to meet hobbyists, promote the hobby, and spread knowledge without having to wait for the next club event.

I agree from both sides. When I was buying lots of corals in the beginning, I loved learning from everyone and didn't realize it can become an intrusion to their time for family and hobbies. It's more apparent when selling. My wife an daughter know "someone is coming to get a frag" means be ready for a stranger to stand in our living room for half an hour.

I know a lot of guys who sell coral and some prefer ebay sales because the face to face interaction isn't there.


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My tanks are in my garage. When I sell something its usually 15 mins sometimes more. Most people did show up when we set up a time. If I go to someones else to buy I know when its time to leave their home. Peoples time is valuable so if we chat about things thats great.
 
When I was selling red cherry shrimp from my freshwater planted tank (fantastic side business BTW, and way more profitable than corals), I usually told people it was a pain to park and I'd just meet them on the street so they didn't need to find parking. It was really an excuse to avoid the disruption and long conversations. There were a few people that came up, but most people were cool with the streetside hand off, although I'm suspicious that the neighbors probably thought I was a drug dealer...

I've picked up a few frags from folks in the area, and I usually try to spend a few minutes talking tanks, but also be respectful of their time and the fact that I'm intruding on their space.
 
When I was selling red cherry shrimp from my freshwater planted tank (fantastic side business BTW, and way more profitable than corals), I usually told people it was a pain to park and I'd just meet them on the street so they didn't need to find parking. It was really an excuse to avoid the disruption and long conversations. There were a few people that came up, but most people were cool with the streetside hand off, although I'm suspicious that the neighbors probably thought I was a drug dealer...

I've picked up a few frags from folks in the area, and I usually try to spend a few minutes talking tanks, but also be respectful of their time and the fact that I'm intruding on their space.
Between selling corals, frag plugs and 3d prints I am sure my neighbors suspect me of selling drugs. Blue and purple lights in the house doesn't help.

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I only stick around if asked. "Wanna see my tank!?!"

If not, it's a quick in and out as long as the coral in question looks like what is advertised.

Or if he/she has more that they are selling but not listed.


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It is the friendly thing to do. To be clear when I invite people in I do so because I like meeting people in the hobby, and because I assume they like seeing other people's tanks as much as I do. If I'm in a hurry I'll tell them so and it's never been an issue. As discussed there are ways around it if the seller or buyer so desires. I'm not trying to change anyone's behavior, just pointing out to the OP that there are some things to be taken into account that may not be considered. When I drop off frags at the LFS in TX it takes a minimum of 30 minutes to place everything, get credit, wander the store a bit, etc. I had someone point out to me that it was a good payday for 30 minutes. In reality though there are two ways to look at it:

1) 0.5 hours to sell, 0.5 hours to get there, 0.5 hours to get back, 3 hours to make the frags, 0.25 hours to order plugs, epoxy, clean up, probably $600 between the saw, transport container, and some tools.
2) I need an excuse to go to the LFS anyways, I used to bring the frags with me to work (with an air pump), drop them off on the way home, spend an hour (or two) chatting with store employees, I enjoy fragging and spreading coral life, particularly in a sustainable way, and at this point I already have the fragging supplies.

As you can see one of these is $/time, the other is spending time enjoying my hobby. I prefer option 2, which works better if it's not something I'm relying on for funds*.

*Not to mention that I generally take it all in store credit as that ends up being a slightly larger $ amount than if I took it as cash, so there isn't any money coming home anyways.

Receipts from coral sales to private buyers (minus sales tax) covers the fragging supplies, 2 part, and on a good month (not most) would head towards the electrical cost of the tank, although I don't pretend to pull even.

I used to sell cherry shrimp. It didn't pay as well as coral, but prices were lower at the time and it did pay way better than plants. As I got more in to the reef the smaller freshwater tanks slowly became more a chore than a joy so I ended up cutting back on that. If I ever get back in to shrimp I'll probably try my hand at caridina again.
 
Store credit works great for retailers. Say they pay you $100 for your coral. That’s the wholesale value of the coral. Conservatively they are probably going to resell it for twice what they gave you. So even though they gave you $100 they will still make $100 off of it. Next, because it’s store credit you’re locked in to using that $100 with them. Say you spend it on a fish. That $100 is the retail price that you pay. He paid the wholesale price which is probably closer to $50. So the $100 store credit is really only about $50 that came out of their pocket. In the end the fish store pays you $50 and gets $150 from the sale.
 
Store credit works great for retailers. Say they pay you $100 for your coral. That’s the wholesale value of the coral. Conservatively they are probably going to resell it for twice what they gave you. So even though they gave you $100 they will still make $100 off of it. Next, because it’s store credit you’re locked in to using that $100 with them. Say you spend it on a fish. That $100 is the retail price that you pay. He paid the wholesale price which is probably closer to $50. So the $100 store credit is really only about $50 that came out of their pocket. In the end the fish store pays you $50 and gets $150 from the sale.
Nialed it. My first 3d prints for reefing went to retail shops for store credit. It was a win/win for both. It's the only reason my reef tank exists. I don't have the budget for the hobby with what's going on in my life.



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I usually invite people in to see the tank and I let them know ahead of time if it isn't a good time to socialize. I also sell frags out of the frag tank so it's assumed people will come inside.



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I know legendary corals (they’re in San Jose) will not let customers meet them at their home. One time I was picking up an order from them and asked if I could see their selection to see if I may want to buy something else too. They said it was their residence and they didn’t want any customers there.
 
That's fair, IMO, it's one thing to have a club member that you know come over, or maybe just the garage area that doesn't take you into the main home. I know one time I sold an RBTA and the guy who came over was giving me a weird look, and when he left was like "Hey weren't you my astronomy teacher" and internally I was like "fuuuuuuuuuuuu...."
 
I guess I’m “that guy”. I try to chat people up about their tanks. I thought it was just the friendly thing to do.
Me too.
In fact, that is one of the main reasons I occasionally buy from members.
Otherwise the time/gas to get there really does not make sense versus simply buying online or at LFS.
 
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