Would you be willing to pay more for more exotic corals

[WWWD]

money and a cities.

[albert_dao]

Good deal.

[Chaloupa]

Hey Deacon-I contacted the guy in AB about some of the order and if he would ship to here and guarantee live arrival. He says to just look at the site from the US and he will have those in and that he would ship... but wouldn't really give much in the way of exactly what he had or was expecting yet.

I do find that I can't stomach paying a big bunch of cash for a single Zoo polyp BUT on the other hand if it was one that I really had to have...well then getting a couple of them and hoping that they do reproduce heavily would be OK, then being able to trade frags for other pricey ones would make it worthwhile. Everyone wins and everyone gets some decent stuff. I would spend some decent money on a larger piece if I "had to have it" as I don't have alot of patience on waiting for a tiny bit to grow out...I do like to have the odd piece that is showy! Some of the stuff is so cool that you make a bit of room in your fish budget and make it work!

[IPZ]

Howdy,

Speaking as a store owner, we do get some awsome corals here, many that are as nice as what " they " get in the states.

There are 2 ways to buy wholesale marine livestock. Either from a Canadian or American wholesaler, or buy Transhipping direct from the collector.

Most stores in western Canada buy their corals and fish from transhippers located in Vancouver. These companies buy direct from various collectors and have the livestock shipped directly from the country of origin to them. The fish and corals are selected and sorted by the collectors and boxed up as per each store's order. The transhipper's job is to act as a go between between the store and the collector. He has no control as to who gets what, but by combining orders the stores save on freight and get a better price on the livestock. This way we each get a fair selection of the corals ordered with no store getting " better stuff" except by pure luck.

Either way a store decides to order, the early birds get the worms.

When a wholesaler like Quality Marine in LA gets his shipment in there are lots of stores waiting to get the choice pieces. The rest get put in the tanks and are put on the availability list the next day. Likewise in a local LFS , we have customers waiting ( sometimes at 2 am because the plane was late), to get the best pieces. I know in my store it is not uncommon to sell 1/2 a shipment right out of the box.

My reccomendation for those of you wanting anything out of the ordinary is to make friends with your LFS. Tell them what you want ! Specify color , shape and size. If they have a good relationship with their supplier it is very likely that sooner or later you will get what you want. I know in my store those that attend my weekly " new fish party" get better prices too .

Cheers...

Scott

[deacon hemp]

[quote="Chaloupa"]Hey Deacon-I contacted the guy in AB about some of the order and if he would ship to here and guarantee live arrival. He says to just look at the site from the US and he will have those in and that he would ship... but wouldn't really give much in the way of exactly what he had or was expecting yet.

i talked to him too,he said a group of lowermainlanders were getting a shippment,and he could pass my info along.

[reefburnaby]

Hi,

Yah, we do get awesome corals here in Canada, BUT you have to show up when the shipments arrive at the LFS. They are usually gone in less than 30 minutes. There are a couple of places that do this in Vancouver. However, there are risks involved - they may not survive due to shipping stress.

- Victor.