Where can i buy a large order of corals?

Hello,

I have a frag tank and i want to stock it to the top and start fragging and growing. Im looking for a place that i can get 20-30 corals for cheaper than retail. I do have an idea though. I emailed a couple of wholesalers and they said i could order coral from them through my lfs. It would be a lot cheaper and my lfs would not be "up-pricing" it. (If that makes any sense? ) Any ideas or suggestions are greatly appreciated!

 

try and get a doing business as permit and then apply for a wholesalers license so they'll ship right to you, i know someone who does that...other than that i would find a local reef club where you can by a few colonies to grow out and start fragging for best prices

 

That's a tough one unless a local business around you will work with you. Most of the wholesalers are very finicky about making sure you are "in the trade" before they will consider doing business with you...and many of the bigger/good ones won't even talk to you unless you have an established business.

 

Sorry, it does not make sense unless your lfs does not mark it up before selling it to you. I'm curious why you think you should be able to get corals at wholesale if you are not a retailer anyway. I'm not trying to be a jerk but really, if you are not putting out all the rest of the expense and energy that a retailer does, why should you get the same benefit they do? Even at retail, buying a colony to frag usually results in more value for the the frags than it does for the colony as a whole. Put in the time and grow things out.

People often complain that lfs charge stupid prices for things but they forget that those stores are paying for rent, electricity, taxes, inventory, utilites, payroll, materials to maintain all the tanks, etc... as well as dealing with the losses from livestock. I've been on the other side of it and most coral wholesalers expect the retailer to eat the first 3%-5% of loss from every order- and that is what shows up DOA. Then, if you get pieces that just don't acclimate well and fade over a couple weeks- too bad- eat it up. Buying sight-unseen (not WYSIWYG) and you are completely at the mercy of the picker. Sometimes you get nice stuff, sometimes you get, well, not so nice stuff. Every wholesaler expects you to take some of the not-so-great stuff to get the really nice cherry pick too. I can tell you that retailers are not paying pennies on the dollar for this stuff. If you want to get nice pieces I suggest picking out the ones you like and paying for them. There is no easy or fast way to make $$$- even on the lfs side.

 

You really have to have the hook ups and friends on the inside with a wholesaler or something along those lines. I recently got the names of a few wholesalers and I doubt they will deal with me until they see a decent amount of system volume. The way that wholesalers make money is by moving alot of coral. 30 frags isnt much to them unforunately.

 

add another 0 to that 30 and theres your order. A lot of Lfs stores here will do that. If i go and talk to them and find out when they are doing their next order. You can usually work something out with them say. you give them an order for 50-100 pieces on top of their order, They will charge you a slight markup, but since they can add it to their order they will usually do it at a really good price.


or go buy like 7 colonies. frag them up, grow them out and start swapping with others, in no time your frag tank will become huge.

a lot of the fish store owners i know personaly go to bali, inddo, australia, hawaii, and know the exporters and divers personally. Its a very hard thing to get hooked up with a good supplier becuase of so much demand and you want to have the nicest biggest pieces that others wont have.

 

A lot over very good points! I do have another idea though! My mother works with the wife of one of my fish store owners and i might have an "in" with that. Muhahahaha! Just throwin stuff out there so don't attack me yet! More suggestions are appreciated also! Thanks for the options!

 

If none of these appeal to you then apply for a business license, get a location (most wholesalers will not deal with e-bayers), start paying the costs that those you will be competing with do, and buy wholeslae.