Charleston Prices

[brianjoy81]

Y'all are lucky to be able to shop at Gerwin's. The prices here in Charleston are ridiculous. Just Fish was my first LFS so it is my gold standard. The store here charges $29 for a normal run of the mill clown fish. $12.99 per lb for live rocks. They wanted 29 for a little quarter sized frag of green star lol. I can grow green star polyps in a mud puddle. Gerwin you were spoiling me in Biloxi and I didn't even know it. I know this is an expensive hobby but atleast Gerwin made it halfway affordable!!

[Doug]

Are they the only shop in town? Sounds like a serious lack of competition to me. Where I live, 35 years ago (yes, I am that old) there was a shop, the only game in town at the time, that sold carpet anemones for $80. After two more saltwater shops opened, carpets amazingly came down to a more reasonable $30.

[Redfish]

Sounds like an opportunity to me, I would be setting up a large frag tank and start making a few $$$$. The only thing the LFS will be selling at those prices is must have, right now stuff. I would bet that the more you get into the local saltwater community, you will find alot of reefers selling and trading, frag swaps if you will. Who would buy live rock at $13 a pound that you can order on line for $6 a pound and have it at you house in 2- 3 days, bet he dosn't sell much live rock.

[brianjoy81]

I bought a couple rocks just to throw in the tank to get the process started while I figured out what I wanted to do. I ended up ordering some from online then I had a few left over from Gerwin's. They were dried up from the move but now they have coraline algae growing on them and all kinda life on them. There is a second store here that goes in and out of buisness but it looks shady. I have a 2nd tank set up. It is just a little 14 gallon oceanic bio cube. I might just take your advice and buy a few coral trays get a bunch a frags on line and start growing them. What are some of the faster growing corals? Starburst are super fast. Zoa's are some what fast.