The value of corals

[EvilTwin]

One of the things that has been a question rolling around in my head when looking for corals to buy is, what is the real value of a particular coral. I am new to a lot of this and I'm sure that the growing popularity of marine reefkeeping is making the prices go up. I am also familiar with the whole supply/demand thing. But the question that looms large for me is whether or not I am paying too much for a coral. For example: The only major coral I have is a Blushing Finger Leather, which I paid $30 for. Frag pointed out this to be a Cladiella sp. coral. Mine is about 3 inches across, now that it is open. Did I just get a good deal on what I bought? It seems to me that there are so many places from which to acquire corals by simply trading with other hobbyists, this site included, but for the beginner who has nothing to trade, it could end up being very costly to get enough stock to trade with.

Personally, I'd love to be able to trade with others if I had something to trade back in return. Given the rates at which some of this stuff grows, it seems it could be easy to turn a small profit with a nicely stocked tank and a willing LFS owner that would buy your frags. Honestly, I don't even know if they do that. Are most LFS interested in purchasing frags from local hobbyists and how do you set the value on what you sell to a LFS? If I could propogate a frag or two to double in size, should I then be able to recoup my initial cost with those?

Mostly, I think if I had some nice things to trade, I'd probably be more apt to give them than charge for them. Keeps thing simpler that way. But since I'm getting started, and most people including myself are apt to equate price with value or rarity, how do you go about finding good specimens at a fair price without getting taken to the cleaners?