I am going to the Fragswap at TFP tomorrow, does any want to ride or a passenger ?
Hey Hudzoo, How was the swap today? lots of good stuff as usual?
anyone else go?
Swap was great! Missed you there Kapt. I didn’t get anything special a blue tort and a few acans. Makes me excited for our swap!
The swap was pretty good. I can’t wait for ours. I got some high end pieces I am hoping to frag and grow out.
It was the same as last one, 100 degrees and 99.9% humidity besides that great vendors and corals, I got, a frag of Rasta zoas, Mean Green zoas, Sunny D’s zoas, Helix Acans, Shades of Fall Acro and an Ice Fire Echinata.
Nice pick ups. I don’t think it was as hot and humid as it normally is their. The water in the bags and stuff was much cooler then normal for TPP swaps.
Everything is starting to open up this morning and looking good except a few sps pieces I got did not fair the whole day bagged up. The dip I think stressed them even worse. Prob end up losing the ora green stylo colony (flesh looks like rtn already in spots and clown fish are acting like they are cleaning it) and some kind of a stag (bleaching flesh but polyps still look healthy).
Tri color acro, red planet, some random millie looking piece are looking good.
As for Zoa’s and Paly’s I picked up JF fruitloops and JF crazy ladies, rastas, true eagles eyes with the orange ring not red, a unknown zoa similar to chong bongs, magicians, another unknown zoas that were on a birdsnest frag from Morty have all opened up looking beautiful.
How bout some pics?
Yup, sure sounds like the good stuff. maybe next years. i really need to redo a tank or two first.
So what do you guys do when you get a frag or colony from a fragswap and it starts to rtn before you even dip it and the next day looks even worse? Do you email the swapper or just eat the money? Btw at the moment it only seems to be the ORA Stylo affected. All other corals I got seem to be doing great today.
I know I have never gotten emails after a swap about anything I bagged dying. Only thing I have sold that I heard died was 1 clam and I think clams handle stress worse then sps but I may be wrong there :S.
Personally I just eat the loss. Swaps, while great for picking up nice frags at great prices, are not the greatest environments for the corals themselves. Lots of time in a bag, being moved, jostled, handled, and transported in less than ideal conditions.
Of course I rarely spend more than $20 on an item, if it were very expensive I may send a note to see if anyone else had issues in case I wasn’t the only one and the seller may want to make things right.
yes, that happens to at least one of mine each time. some just dont make the transition . or the trip. but thats why we make frags. you can get another one next time. there are always some losses. especially on delicate corals that are fresh breaks.
i was biting my nails holding the Red Dragon frag i picked up for “A” last time, until he picked it up the next day. tiny and thin skinned. but it seems to have stood up well.
[quote=“kaptken, post:11, topic:6190”]
i was biting my nails holding the Red Dragon frag i picked up for “A” last time, until he picked it up the next day. tiny and thin skinned. but it seems to have stood up well.[/quote]
And I thank you for it. It still doing very well. Awaiting its space in the new tank.
[quote=“Cdangel0, post:10, topic:6190”]
Of course I rarely spend more than $20 on an item,[/quote]
More proof Craig is a cheap bastard hahaha.
On a serious note though. I make it a point when I go to these swaps to package the corals up just like a fish store does when they ship them out. Plenty of water and plenty of air. If it is a local person that is only an hour away from putting it in there tank this is not as major but still should be done proper. I also don’t package the night before. I label each bag with the swappers name and what the frag is and price the night before and the final hour before I leave I start bagging everything up and put it in a styrofoam cooler with a towl and heat/ice pack if really needed.
I did end up emailing the guy cause I know he does go to these swaps all the time. He said to let him know what happens and he would make it right. Even though we can not replace the colony 
. To me I think thats how it should be. At least stand behind your stuff to not be DOA or starting to die before making it into a tank or dip.
[quote=“JustSumGuy, post:13, topic:6190”]
More proof Craig is a cheap bastard hahaha.[/quote]
There has never been a debate on this topic. I am as cheap as they come. My tank is stocked from people getting out of the hobby and having a fire sale. I’ve got 130lbs of live rock I paid $25 for 6 years ago.
I do water changes by saving the bag water from the LFS - I always ask for extra water and they never question why. I’ve bought a $2 snail and had it bagged in 1/2 gal of water. Saint:)
Kidding of course.
I agree with Ken about buying fresh cut frags. That is the chance we take, hoping that the frag doesn’t become so stressed while we transport it home. This is true if the frags were just made not that far in advance of the swap.
Of couse, the desire to have a particular coral, especially at a very good price, makes us buy it. If we travel a distance to get to a swap, maybe it would be a good idea to ask the seller to put your frag on the side in the frag tank, while you shop around. This way it gets bagged up when you are ready to leave.
I agree about the fresh cuts they are a bit more on the risky side but if done right and not a very finicky piece then things should go well.
This go around there was not as many tanks setup. A lot of people just brought what they had reserved in coolers.
I have shipped corals to the other side of the country overnite, which if everything goes right, means the frags are in transit for anywhere between 16 to 20 hrs. I use as little amount of water as possible because of weight. Some people think that a frag needs alot of water and air to survive in a bag. I do not think that is true. Of course it all depends on the weather conditiond also. But I will NEVER ship a fresh cut frag.
I think it is a bigger problem with fresh cut frags then amount of water. A well healed frag ships much better then one that is super stressed to start with.