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What are You Bringing to the Frag Swap?

Yeah, I busted Felicia for doing that once half heartily :) Hanging onto a frag and continuing to look usually is allowed as long as it's a single frag, if you start to double fist it with two frags and walk around continuing to look is where the line really is drawn. I don't recall any rules really being mentioned before the swap (I'll have to check the swap post later) in the past we've gone with a one frag in your hand at a time rule, so you can find something and hang onto it while you look but don't do that with more than one coral (and please put it back where you got it!), but the fact none were mentioned and things went as smoothly as they did makes me happy.

If anything a concern I had was people bringing corals that are obviously not very healthy, very damaged tissue, dying flesh, bleached out, browned out, etc. There weren't that many like that, but I think the mindset going into these swaps should be to be as generous with your corals as you would like to have returned, I don't mean raw numbers, but if you see a coral that is not doing so well don't bring it, don't treat the swap as if it's just a place to clear out your frag rack of all the stuff you can't give away.

Pests are going to happen regardless too, which is why you should treat everything as if it had something you don't want. There are/were free samples of coral revive at the check in desk (big thanks to Neptune for donating it!), a few drops of that in each container for 15 minutes should knock down most really bad things, it won't do anything for algae. I mean hell my tank has aiptasia, I have red planeria, I have algae that grows, I'll try to clean up frags as good as I can, but something is bound to slip through, so putting the onus on the receiver doing some checking is probably a good thing. It's a bit funny that I've seen people care more about acclimating the water parameters of their corals than they do about looking for pests/problems.

I've been in the club for basically as long as it's been a club, and I've gone to damn near every frag swap we've had, early ones used to be extremely crowded, 5 times the numbers of people we had are not uncommon, and some people treat swaps very aggressively, and some are more relaxed about things, with smaller groups it does tend to be more relaxed though and these swap was proof of that.
 
haha I did that, but typically I would pick a frag quickly & walk around looking, if I like another better I'd walk back to the first table, put down the first frag then go for the new one, I assume that's acceptable?

The auction I noticed was counted down while my group was picking frags and another waiting their turn. I thought that was odd. I didn't plan on bidding on anything but I figured if the auction ended after the swap more people would have placed bids and that = more $ for BAR :cool:
 
HiFidelity said:
haha I did that, but typically I would pick a frag quickly & walk around looking, if I like another better I'd walk back to the first table, put down the first frag then go for the new one, I assume that's acceptable?
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I did that too! Was it against the rules?

It gets a bit complicated as I was in the last pick group so sometimes I did have two in hand looking for that perfect other to swap out.

Changing the subject...
How many participated in the swap? For a club our size and the possible population to draw from, the attendance seemed light.
 
I had a great time at the swap! Talking to other reefers is always fun. Everything seemed to run smooth.
Some of the things I wasn't thrilled about was poor labeling on the containers, it's hard enough to find a coral in two minutes.
I did see some coral that was in bad shape, although most was healthy.
It also seemed that some people use the swap to get rid of unwanted bottom end coral.
I thought I entered some fairly decent corals hoping to get some in return and really didn't.
I entered six and came home with two. All my other picks I gave away to newer reefers.
I guess it just works out that way sometimes.
Some of the issues could have been taken care at the check in(bad labeling, unhealthy corals).
Over all it was a good time and I'm looking forward to the members only swap.
Hope everyone enjoys the corals I entered. I want to thank everyone from the club that worked hard to make this event happen.
 
Thank you everyone!! I will try to bring higher end stuff next time but my budget is pretty tight and everything's new so not much to frag :/(thus far I haven't spent more then $20 on any coral). I was so excited to get the green speckled anemone (thank you so much William!!!) He looked terrible after the short car ride home, I thought he was going to die :( completely closed, mouth gaping. I acclimated him for around an hour and a half all the while he was looking worse and worse. I finally put him in and within minutes his mouth began to close and attached to the rock I placed him on. He's looking really good now (speckles are definitely visible) and he hasn't moved (crossing my fingers but I really can't imagine he'll stay where I put him-not enough holes in the rock to go into and close to the bottom in flourescent lighting) I also love the green/orange favia I got, and a beautiful purple tipped green frogspawn. I'm absolutely in love with my new coral and I can't wait for my coral to grow so I can share it with the rest of you :)
 
Thank you for everyone that organized and helped at the event! I'm very happy with my new frags. The only thing that came off them during the dipping process was a huge copepod. I rescued him and threw him in the tank.
 
Thanks to all who organized and helped. Thanks Felicia!

I do have a few suggestions I think could help improve the next time we have a frag swap:

- Stamps that we can use to stamp the group letter onto the name tag. This helps to prevent someone from counterfeiting and entering the swap without their share of frags
- No more beginner mushrooms.
- No tiny or booger sized frags.
- Be more strict on labeling the contents on top of the container
-- Limit what's really needed on the label. Name of frag/type and the name/nick of the person. This way you can write with a larger font. If you have a question, PM the person online.
- No "previews" of the corals before the event starts. I personally think this is unfair to a lot of people.

We'll need:
- more name tags
- labels

By the time it got to my group (F), most decent frags were already taken. Also, I've never swapped for anything near the level of what I bring.
 
Enderturtle said:
One of the zoas I got was infested with Zoa Pox and was thrown out. Only other pest species encountered was minor asterina stars, bubble algae, and cyano.
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If any of those were mine, can you PM me? I'd like to know.

What is zoa pox? I wouldn't even know what to look for. If the same swapper brought more than one of that zoa, that's a problem.

I think it was nice to get to look at the corals prior to the opening. It's hard to look at everything in 2 minutes to make a decision. 2 of my 5 that I got yesterday are already dead. One was DOA and one looks like it's about dead today. Both montis. It's hard to tell looking through some of the containers what is inside. Neither of the dead ones had a user handle on it:(

Overall yesterday was great. It was great meeting people and gaining info from more experienced reefers. Thanks to everyone who volunteered to make the day so smooth. Especially Felicia!
 
Was there potentially an issue with counterfeit name tags? I mean yeah sure if someone wanted to do it, I'm sure they could, but then again a lot of what this club does is based on an honor system. They give you a name tag and pen to write your name and letter while you're there, if someone pulled the ol' F into B trick I wouldn't worry too much about how that affects everyone else and just leave it to a dick being a dick.

I agree with the labeling, the club moved away from allowing baggies, maybe they should also push for stricter labeling. We already encourage fragging of corals in advance and not the night before/day of, why not require that of labeling. Have a marker on hand and if someone is ill prepared make them label their stuff, and should go a tad beyond "Monti" or "zoa" or "acro" at least give a color of the coral.

As to the quality of what was available, that's often in the eye of the beholder. The coral types that are often available do ebb and flow based on how membership changes from year to year. Used to be chalices were extremely rare at swaps, and acroporas were more than plentiful, this time I saw the opposite, there were chalices available by the last picking group, and acroporas were not really very abundant at all. I feel like I got a good ones in my first four picks, by my fifth pick I could have grabbed something but decided against it. I saw that PPE Acropora still there by the 3/4th round of picking, I was tempted but the "Extreme Light" part had me shy away a bit :)

Were there that many "beginner" mushrooms in the swap? I'm not a big softy/zoa type of person so I didn't pay too much attention to those tables. I know the "banned" coral list was put together when they felt quite a few of those weedy corals were becoming too common within the swaps, and people were using it for their "three strains". However you need to be careful so that we don't start pushing a bit of "elitism" with these swaps, there are quite a few people who are new, or have had tank crashes, and don't have much of "the good stuff". We at one time had "premium picking" groups (or some form of that) for "above and beyond" types of corals that were brought, however that was phased out (other local clubs I believe still do some form of that), because who's to say what is a "premium coral"? Just what it would cost to buy? What's desirable? And then by whom... would it be fair for me to say no zoa/paly should ever be considered because I'm not too gaga over those?? :D


Either way I think a good open forum chat on the swap and what members would like to see changed would be a good idea 2/3 months before the next swap.
 
I know at the last swap 6 months ago or so I got kenya tree and xenia, even though not allowed. I chose them because I wanted them. Not sure how they got into the swap, but it was a good pick for me. Perhaps some should be allowed. Maybe you can only bring one of the disallowed and two others.
 
neuro said:
I do have a few suggestions I think could help improve the next time we have a frag swap:
- No more beginner mushrooms.
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Disagree on this one. I brought home 2 beginner mushrooms yesterday. Towards the last pick, there wasn't a lot left on the LPS or softy tables. I like my tank being a mix of LPS and softies, and part of the agreement with the husband on setting up the tank was no zoas (he's paranoid about polytoxin). I like my beginner mushrooms, peach torch, clove polyps, green favia, and green toadstool. :)
 
sfsuphysics said:
Was there potentially an issue with counterfeit name tags? I mean yeah sure if someone wanted to do it, I'm sure they could, but then again a lot of what this club does is based on an honor system. They give you a name tag and pen to write your name and letter while you're there, if someone pulled the ol' F into B trick I wouldn't worry too much about how that affects everyone else and just leave it to a dick being a dick.

I agree with the labeling, the club moved away from allowing baggies, maybe they should also push for stricter labeling. We already encourage fragging of corals in advance and not the night before/day of, why not require that of labeling. Have a marker on hand and if someone is ill prepared make them label their stuff, and should go a tad beyond "Monti" or "zoa" or "acro" at least give a color of the coral.

As to the quality of what was available, that's often in the eye of the beholder. The coral types that are often available do ebb and flow based on how membership changes from year to year. Used to be chalices were extremely rare at swaps, and acroporas were more than plentiful, this time I saw the opposite, there were chalices available by the last picking group, and acroporas were not really very abundant at all. I feel like I got a good ones in my first four picks, by my fifth pick I could have grabbed something but decided against it. I saw that PPE Acropora still there by the 3/4th round of picking, I was tempted but the "Extreme Light" part had me shy away a bit :)

Were there that many "beginner" mushrooms in the swap? I'm not a big softy/zoa type of person so I didn't pay too much attention to those tables. I know the "banned" coral list was put together when they felt quite a few of those weedy corals were becoming too common within the swaps, and people were using it for their "three strains". However you need to be careful so that we don't start pushing a bit of "elitism" with these swaps, there are quite a few people who are new, or have had tank crashes, and don't have much of "the good stuff". We at one time had "premium picking" groups (or some form of that) for "above and beyond" types of corals that were brought, however that was phased out (other local clubs I believe still do some form of that), because who's to say what is a "premium coral"? Just what it would cost to buy? What's desirable? And then by whom... would it be fair for me to say no zoa/paly should ever be considered because I'm not too gaga over those?? :D


Either way I think a good open forum chat on the swap and what members would like to see changed would be a good idea 2/3 months before the next swap.
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I'm not saying there were counterfeiters, but there were some people I can't remember bringing corals who were in the rounds. Regardless, I feel that a stamp is a good, and relatively cheap way to address any possible issues.

I failed in my duties as a coral runner making sure the corals were labeled properly. At certain points, my only excuse was trying to get people on their way, away from crowding at the front. Next time, maybe we should move the coral check-in table closer to the pick tables. Having large labels available there will also encourage proper labeling.

Most of my suggestions are highly subjective.

Thanks for the dialog!
 
Shall we start a new thread for this & iron out some fair details for future swaps? seems it would be a good reference point from which we can come to some agreement as to what our standards are in regards to swaps.

I feel that as long as we collectively feel that our requirements are fair and no non-sense then we won't be viewed as elitists but rather a group that focuses on the quality and rewards associated with our membership, I certainly feel and have heard others say that there is an added quality with our club as opposed to others (virtual or physical) so this can easily become an extension of that whole concept.

I have some ideas to contribute but feel that a new thread would be more productive at this point, haha we have veered quite off topic from where this thread started.
 
Kara13 said:
I know at the last swap 6 months ago or so I got kenya tree and xenia, even though not allowed. I chose them because I wanted them. Not sure how they got into the swap, but it was a good pick for me. Perhaps some should be allowed. Maybe you can only bring one of the disallowed and two others.
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Perhaps it was on the newbie freebee table? Those corals have not been eligible in a long time, however there is the encouragement to put those on a table outside of the swap area for those who are new and may want them.
 
sfsuphysics said:
Perhaps it was on the newbie freebee table? Those corals have not been eligible in a long time, however there is the encouragement to put those on a table outside of the swap area for those who are new and may want them.
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The non-eligible table is a nice feature to have. Even though I did not grab any, my foam box was behind it, and each trip I saw more and more being taken and then pretty much gone. So there is definitely demand for them.

Overall, there will always be plenty of newbies since they are the most excited about stocking their tank. In my case, I went to the swap four years ago, and then didn't come until this year since restarting after my tank crash. So my guess is the swap will be participated by mostly newbies, the core BAR team and members, and some experienced or "elitist" who have the need to start stocking their tanks again. Therefore there won't be that many "elitist" frags. I'm not sure if there has been in the past?

Over the years, it does seem like the LFS's are putting nicer corals in the bargain bin as they are becoming more common. So maybe there will be a correlation there. But in turn, they wouldn't be "elite" corals anymore either.

Also, maybe the BAR members only swap yields different results.
 
sfsuphysics said:
I saw that PPE Acropora still there by the 3/4th round of picking, I was tempted but the "Extreme Light" part had me shy away a bit :)
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That's my frag. The colony lives on the top of my rock that's closest to my light and seems to enjoy it there. It's also the most likely frag to get knocked when I'm doing tank maintenance or trying to get a fish out, so I still have some frags in my sump if you want to give it a shot...
 
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