Yes, you need to be a paid member of the society. It is one of the benefits of being a member. If we offered this to nonmembers as well, it wouldn't be a benefit to pay to be a member.

As far as desirable.. This is an opinion question, what is desirable to some is undesirable to another. I think that regardless of what is offered and by who at some point when the pool of people in the program gets large enough, everyone will find something they would like to "Pay it Forward"

The society just needs its members to get in on the program and get rolling. There is already a nice list of people starting the program. The more the merrier! :D

I really like this idea, as well. I just became an official member of NCPARS, thus these opinions should be taken with a grain of salt. In fact, I am not even sure the degree to which they apply to this program.

First, I think that there may be some of us who feel as though they have little to nothing to that they can possibly add to this program. I would hate for those with less experience or different interests to be put off. As discussed in the "greed" thread, retail purchases of corals are expensive, regardless of the type of coral. People with species set ups (such as seahorses or mantis shrimp) may perfer to have soft corals in their tanks. I know that I requested at least 2 soft coral frags at the recent swap that couldn't be delivered because they did not survive fragging. So I really hope that people with all types of corals and experience will be welcomed, because there really are people out there who find even "less desireable" corals desirable.

I'm also interested in knowing if there are members who are willing to do the physical fragging of other member's corals. I recently purchased a nice sized scroll coral; it is really the only piece that I currently have that is of a size that it could be fragged. However, I do not feel at all comfortable in doing so. When/if the time comes, could I, say, bring it to a swap and have somebody assist me with that?

Yes there are members who would do this. I am one of them. I have all the tools needed to do almost any type of fragging. I even have a wet saw for scroll, chalice, and Monti Cap corals. I actually use the saw for almost everything that is delicate and I fear will smash into a thousand pieces with a pair of coral cutters or a razor blade. It takes the fear out of the situation and makes for a nice edge for coral growth, healing, and the mess goes into the wet side reservoir.

If you really are central PA, then you probably aren't that far from me... Also we are doing a fragging demo at the April swap so be sure to check that out and see how its done and ask as many questions as you like. That is exactly why we do the demo! I hope to see you there!

I've noticed many people ask for macro algae and other stuff that grows in your tank. I am going to add a page to the spreadsheet for this kind of stuff. That way people know exactly who to contact and what may be available. I am sure there is a steady supply of chaeto and other macro algae within the club. So if you have it and are willing to share make sure you list it before throwing it out. I dont think this kind of stuff should be governed by the same rules as corals so no one has to give three away and all junk. All I am going to ask is that you use it and be willing to share it once you have enough of it. Simple enough? I think so.

Al

Al I agree that Macro should be listed seperately and not considered part of the trade 3 deal.

Maybe list it as Macro/inverts. Some may want stomatella snails which can be abundant in some tanks. Pods, chitons, starfish and others can be listed there. This way we at least know who to turn to for those items.

Maybe just a 1 for 1 kinda deal on the macro/invert page? Anyway you do it, should work fine!

Way to go everyone! :D

Rick,

Thanks for taking the time to explain this further for me.

Rick --

Great. My main goal will be to keep the coral healthy and happy until then. It is a Turbinaria peltata.

I'm glad you mentioned algae and prolific hitchhiking inverts. I am always bothered when people post that they are throwing away or otherwise trying to kill these things. You often see the posts regarding mushrooms, yellow polyps, green star polyps, Kenya trees, xenia, anthelia, those small blue polyps -- even some Montiporas. Yet all these things are sold as well. It would be wonderful if the people who are having too much success with these animals could pass them on rather than throw them away.

I have Hawaiian strombus snails you can add to the invert section. I'll give them out in sets of 3.

Sounds good Tony. Thanks

Did you guys ever consider a section that's just purely free? For example if anybody needs to seed their fuge with astrenia, mini-brittles or bristleworms I'd be willing to supply them when I catch them (based on a list).

I'd love to get some Hawaiian strombus snails from Tony up there, but I'm not sure I'd ever be able to get them to reproduce enough to re-list. My snail population took a turn a few months back for no obvious reason; I went from THOUSANDS of Articulate Stomatella to maybe less than 100. Now I have THOUSANDS of astrenia. :)

My point being...we have people throwing stuff out like macro...hell I'm throwing out pocilapora...and I'd love to offer up what I have, so I could get some stuff other people have an abundance of in return and not worry about not being able to get up enough to reproduce them later!

Make sense?

Yes Sir I did. There is a page out there for inverts, macro algae, ect.

I agree and that was the intention of that page. People throw stuff out all the time and some people can use pods, algae and all that. All I am asking is that if you receive something from the invert/algae page, be willing to share it if you produce more than you need. Its not mandatory just a way to return the favor so that someone else has access to them and so that one person isnt providing free stuff to the whole club.

I apologize if I wasn't clear before

Al

fyi the strombus are ready to go at any time. I've got one frag of aussie hulk acro ready as well.

still a frag of hulk acro ready to go, plus i cut a two polyp + baby frag of yellow jackets tonight.

yellow jackets are ready

soooo I think we need to have one little change made to this whole program. The supplier reserves the right to list the frag for sale somewhere if nobody claims it within, lets say, one month. I'm not sore or anything that my frags aren't being snapped up, but DANGIT I HATE CLUTTER!

I agree. I feel like pulling the plug on this whole thing. Too bad.

It really is to bad... could be a very nice program if more people were to get in on it. still don't understand why there isn't a frag from every person who has left a post on this thread. plenty of people ready to say its a great idea. But there to worried about the 20-30 or what ever the price they wouldn't be getting if they were to get invalved. and offer a frag. this all goes back to another thead on here "greed in the hobbie". I have a few corals offered. No body has taken me up on any either. I think the three of us are the only ones who have taken anything from the list. I know I would be willing to try so more of your corals tony but didn't feel right because I already have one and it is no were near ready to frag. Al maybe we could come up with a sign or something to promote this at the next swap? I don't know if there will be any type of swag bags handed out but if there is we could print a flyer to put in them...? If you like the flyer Idea. I have a plan to get it printed for free... maybe ...lol let me know what you think we can give this one last good try before you call it a wash.

perhaps we could set up a small table at a future swap with pre-bagged PIF corals. All people would have to do to claim them is simply prove their membership, then write down their names and what they took...

I have been waiting for things in my tank to fall back in order before getting involved with this for real. Anybody who has been to my house can already atest to the fact that I have been doing this kind of thing as long as I have been reefing. Its always been my philosophy that no reefer leaves my house empty handed

Chaeto available to NCPARS members for free through the DBTC program. PM me if you need some. Its growing quite nicely.

Al

Thinking about becoming a member so I could take advantage of this, and also put up some stuff I have.

BTW...in case you didn't see my other post I need my coral taken off the list. Most of it has not survived in my basement after tank crack and live stock relocation. If I ever recover I'll jump back in again.

The good news is I fragged the crap out of my SPSs and gave them away before relocating, so I hope I can regrow some of my SPS.

--Fizz

Ill remove them. What types of corals did you have? If I have them, ill give you a frag of each. Pm me please. Thanks Fizz

Al

I don't even know the extent of the loss at this point. The good news is many frags made it to more than one person so I should be able to get them back (Thanks Joe). The ones I was the most concerned with (SPSs anyway) are the red planet, purple bonsia, an aussie echinata, some a.efflo (2 species) and the 2 green/yellow ones (including the one I had listed). I also had a tort that is a total loss (it was on it's way out anyway) and some spongodes that are spotty, but holding out.

The red planet was fragged out, the purple bonsai was fragged out, the aussie was removed all together as was one efflo (the other is dead...it was from Sanjay) and the green/yellows are pretty common and fast growing, the one was fragged out, the other I can probably get no problems.

Thanks for the offer, if I ever get the d*mn thing repaired it's going to be a long climb back up. So far most of my LPSs are holding out, which is good because I didn't frag them out, but only two can't be replaced and one was fragged out weeks before the break..the other...well it was a brain coral I got for my anniversary..if that dies my wife will be very upset.

I hope everything makes it bud...