Cali Kid Corals

Coral Farmers Market Feb 11th

They all ran Kessils which were adjustable and I got a couple of them to turn on their whites instead, since I run my tank along the lines of 10-12K instead. That got tiring and the reason why I didn't like or buy anything from the show.

Some of the prices were out of the ballpark as well. I could get stuff shipped for cheaper than what some of the vendors were asking (from the same vendor nonetheless).
 
It was pretty amazing that almost every single booth ran Kessils -- either 360's or AP700's. Seems dealers are sold on the fact that corals look better under Kessils.
 
They all ran Kessils which were adjustable and I got a couple of them to turn on their whites instead, since I run my tank along the lines of 10-12K instead. That got tiring and the reason why I didn't like or buy anything from the show.

Some of the prices were out of the ballpark as well. I could get stuff shipped for cheaper than what some of the vendors were asking (from the same vendor nonetheless).
I didn't ask about too many prices, what I saw earlier on in the day wasn't like stuff was cheap for sure. I felt like being there later in the day might have been key to getting the best deals.
 
I didn't ask about too many prices, what I saw earlier on in the day wasn't like stuff was cheap for sure. I felt like being there later in the day might have been key to getting the best deals.

You would think 4 P.M. would be late enough but I guess not. Wasn't looking for anything in particular, even though I brought enough cash, so didn't stick around for the packing hours.
 
Yeah I left around 4:30pm, Arnold smelled burning so I wanted out :D The reality is it was the restaurant that is just outside cooking up some steaks or something *shrug*. But yeah prices did not seem to drop then, those who had the "Buy X get Y free" signs stayed there, granted this was different then MACNA where it seemed the last 2 hours all the Buy X get Y free signs started popping up (so in that sense it is a sale), here not so much.

One thing that bugged me though were the vendors who did not price things out visibly. I realize there is are differences in prices that can go all over the place but come on, at least have an "Ask me" price instead of none what so ever. There were some that prices listed in sections of the tank and those were great, then Jess was an MF'ing genius with his setup had a little grid system with prices on a board, and you could just match up the coral to the board "Wonder what that $500 coral is" *looks* "Bounce mushroom should have figured" but those vendors were great, others... I'm sorry if that's the way you do business and you have the "If you have to ask" mentality but the reality is you are not going to do as much business if you do not have prices visibly available for customers, it works both ways too, do you want some cheapass like me taking up valuable space in front of your display looking at things only to walk away when you say that one polyp is $500? Or would you rather have someone who sees the price, and is there because they might be willing to pay that amount. Seriously, I saw some tanks that had $80 sections (and they weren't mini colonies) and I didn't even bat an eye at them. But who knows, maybe I'm the odd ball who likes to see prices before I even have it go through my mind as to whether or not I want it.
 
You would think 4 P.M. would be late enough but I guess not. Wasn't looking for anything in particular, even though I brought enough cash, so didn't stick around for the packing hours.
Damn, I guess I didn't miss out on neon there later after all. Thanks for the info.
 
I didn't ask about too many prices, what I saw earlier on in the day wasn't like stuff was cheap for sure. I felt like being there later in the day might have been key to getting the best deals.

I did find that most of the vendors were willing to bargin quite a bit if you were buying multiple pieces. Maybe it would have been more of a discount later in the day, but at noon I was able to get 33% off the asking price at one vendor.


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Bob only drops that on 2 Lps frags, not one polyp, lol!
Freaking impressed by that ultron!
That thing has already opened up. Gonna be one of my favorites for sure. The $500 per polyp was for those Stratophere zoas ( yes my spelling sucks ). Hate to buy one of those just to see it melt
 
Thanks to all the BAR members that stopped by the booth. The show had more turn out than expected, almost double. Hot inside when the morning rush happened? Yup! Next one will be much better - I'm already planning a booth and think it will be a great event. Some of those high end pieces make me wonder if I'm on the wrong side of the trade. I did have a laugh though, watched a guy (not a BAR member) that balked at having me do a custom reefscape in his 120 gallon tank for $225 drop over $1,000 on three itty bitty nub acro frags each on a tiny frag plug...priorities, eh?

Again, thanks to BAR for your support of jestersix!
 
Some of my purchases. Nothing out of the ordinary. I think the idea is for vendors to get crowd recognition and make some connections with people who maybe haven't googled them yet... also it's great to see the wares in person instead of online for those farther-away vendors whether you're purchasing something or window shopping.

Bam bam and safecracker zoas, torch, purple blasto, meteor (smelled like sulfur out of the bag so I scraped couple small dead spots out and hope it recovers), green brain (?) letting these hang out until I can decide where to put them.
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I bought a leptastrea that looked a lot more orange than the one I have until I got home. If it ends up converging to the color of the one I already have this will get swapped for zoas :)
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Diablo corals had a super DUPER nice Lepastrea that had a green base with blue polyps, was very tempted at the end... but ultimately did not pull the trigger.

Reminds me of my first cali/becker/whatever tort I got years ago, in regular lights (daylight through the window) it looked like a straight purple acro, but under metal halides (not even a particular blue LED) it looks blue.
 
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