People (some intentionally) seem to be missing my point.
Obviously, we are a free country and people can charge whatever they want for something. If some people are dumb enough to pay that in the hopes of making in back in frags later, fine.
My point is that vendors charging obscene amounts for corals that they paid a tiny fraction of what they are charging is BAD business and BAD for our hobby. Just accepting this and saying" its a free country, dont buy it" is ridiculous and will lead our hobby down the same horrible trend of overpriced Special, limited edition, one of a kind crazes that has wiped out other hobbies.
A few years ago when i got into the hobby, people bought corals for THEIR tanks and to look good. Now, it seems like about 75-90% of the people in this forum only buy corals to frag them and make money because they are tyree, le, or whatever. SAD
Every coral i buy is meant to be in my tank and LOOK good. Not some pencil eraser sized $250 frag that MAYBE in 5-7 years will be big enough to enjoy in my tank. Most others it seems, buy these frags hoping that they can grow them out just enough to frag them and make some easy $$$$$.
I can barely even remember seeing pics in this forum of actual reef tanks as opposed to bare tanks with 4 billion frag disks of various aussie or tyree corals scattered along the bottom. Seems that there has been a definite shift in the last 12-18 months. Awhile back people tank's and their corals were bought for viewing pleasure and the owners enjoyment, now they are just bought to frag and make $$$$$$. I'm in the minority but i think that is VERY sad!