Coral newbie...

[BigFisher]

Hello all. I have a FOWLR tank and I am just starting my research on Coral tanks.

After reading through some of the topics on this thread - I have a few questions that I hope some of you don't mind answering.

1) I am surprised to see so much activity related to propagating coral. This site is awesome... Based on the prices I see in my LFS, the amount of money required for S/H, and the activity on this site - this looks like a huge business. Question is --> can you make a serious income by propagating and selling coral?

2) I have also noticed (and it makes total sense) negativity towards people who buy and sell non-propagated coral as opposed to people who take the time to grow and sell their own. Do you agree with this? I'm just a little confused because if you go to your LFS which I'm assuming is the best way to go based on cost and coral health - don't they just get shipments of coral that have been ripped out of our oceans?

Btw, I'm not interested in setting up some huge coral farm like that guy from Portugal. I'm just a little taken back by the amount of users I see here involved in this hobby and the success of my LFS. I'm getting really excited about starting a coral tank...