Trip to edmonton and frags.

[mr_alberta]

I think that getting very colorful SPS frags in Edmonton is quite difficult since it seems like most of the local reefers with very established tanks are rarely or aren't on the board at all.

I too feel that AI has raised its prices a bit on frags and whatnot. I think they want almost $30 for 2 heads of Candycane. That to me, is a little spendy. I do, however, think that it is great that they sell frags rather than only mother colonies.

Talking to Ron at AI, they say that come winter, they will start to bring in much more colorful Acros and whatnot as people start to tinker more with their tanks.

[DukeB]

Kind of OT but...
I have always found Ron very easy to deal with, and he's always been able to give me a bit of a break on corals when I ask.
As far as frags, last time I was in, they were setting up a 180 gal bowfront tank, strictly to be used for propogated corals. Looks promising.

[muck]

Originally Posted by DukeB

As far as frags, last time I was in, they were setting up a 180 gal bowfront tank, strictly to be used for propogated corals. Looks promising.

Is that the old FW Stingray tank?

[DukeB]

Yes. They had it up for sale for quite a while. I was tempted....

[Murminator]

Family pet in Sherwood Park has a whole bunch of frags little bigger than AI but the price is to $25-70. Their fish are little cheaper I thought $15 for a clown and $10 cardnals looks like they been there a while check them out.

In NO way gettin anything for this plug

[Tarolisol]

Alright so i have two stores to check out, It seems the LFS's have been going doen hill when it comes to corals. Even in calgary you never find nice bright corals. Seems the only way to get them is to order online.

[Glampyre]

AI use to be fairly good on prices. Recent It seems they have jacked up prices, Considering they should be going down. I bought my old frogspawn 2 heads at the time which were fairly large for 25 bucks.

I don't think everyone is looking at the global scale of things. The number of CITES permits issued for coral collection, as well as the availability of high quality, brilliantly coloured corals is decreasing every year. The impact we make as hobbiests is minimal to global reef decline, but we are among the first this end of the globe to see it. I encourage everyone to visit the Terangi website, www.terangi.or.id to see some of the efforts that are being made for sustainable collection.

As for price increases, they are done out of necessity. The cost of operating a farm, importing corals, etc goes up every year. As more people start fragging and the availability of cultured corals increases, they will come back down. In the mean time, all you have to do is ask. If you don't think the price listed on an individual frag is fair, then ask the salesperson for a better one. Sometimes we'll say no, sometimes yes, but you won't know if you don't ask. We are hobbiests too, so we understand where everyone is coming from.