Carolina Aquarium Expo

[pam0630]

has anyone been to this expo....Is it any good, can you get really good deals on corals and other things??

let me know

[dkeller_nc]

Originally Posted by pam0630

has anyone been to this expo....Is it any good, can you get really good deals on corals and other things??

let me know

Haven't been to this specific one, but I can comment about aquarium conventions/expos and purchasing livestock in general.

If you want something very specific and sought-after, be prepared to pay for it. It won't be much, if any, cheaper than getting it through another outlet. In fact, it can be worse because there will be way more people at the convention that want whatever the fish/coral/invert of the day is than there is supply, so the sellers will get their asking price.

But if you are flexible, then:

Be prepared to bargain - I can't say this strongly enough. If you hate bargaining, take someone with you that does like to bargain.

Be flexible about what precisely the stock list will be. If you are, a convention or aquarium club's yearly auction is a very good place to purchase livestock.

If you want things cheaply, then wait to purchase until towards the end of an auction or sale. Most vendors would rather get a little less for something than take it home.

Note that the above doesn't apply to everyone - one member of my local club used to put a number of fish into the auction every year with minimums that pretty much ensured no bids. He always went home mad, muttering under his breath about how cheap folks were. Eventually, however, he learned to set low or no minimums on the fish he'd bred, and even if he didn't get a lot for some bags, the sum over the whole day was very worthwhile.

As the purchaser, you have to learn to distinguish and avoid folks like this from the rest of the sellers that have already learned the lesson. One cue is if the seller automatically offers a slight discount, or offers to bundle two or three purchases for a lower price - it means he or she realizes that a small inducement, even 5%, makes both parties happy.

[Jrod4]

Would something like this be worth a three hour drive? I am not going to be buying a whole lot and dont plan on spending top dollar...I was hoping to find a few deals however.