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Frag Swaps: Myth or History?

N

NJTaxMan

I have heard about this magical gathering of hobbyist called a 'frag swap'. I know that covid has shut down many of the gatherings, but did these things actual every exist? I have been watching the forums and boards looking for these types of get togethers but I have not seen anything other than reef a palooza and urban legends of people getting good deals at local frag swaps without proof they have ever existed.

Asking for a friend...
 
redfishbluefish

redfishbluefish

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Yes, we had some great frag swaps.....even the BIG ONE (MACNA) in Atlantic City in 2009. The major issue is everyone wants them, but nobody wants to work them. It's all Yes, Yes, Yes until you ask for folks to help.
 
M

mnat

Officer Emeritus
Staff member
Moderator
NJRC used to throw a yearly frag swap going back to before MACNA so maybe 2005ish time (before my time so guesstimating) and yes we hosted MACNA Atlantic city in 2009. After that we went back to running a yearly one and we went from small ones in firehouses (like 15-20 vendors) up to bigger ones (30ish vendors in a convention hall) with speakers and the whole nine. Why did they stop? A couple of reasons, one being what redfishbluefish mentioned above, they are incredibly time consuming to run and takes a pretty big group of dedicated volunteers. I ran I think 3 or 4 of our swaps so I know first hand some of the commitment to run these things. Second, there now is RAP in new jersey. There are only so many vendors out there so when you throw in 4 RAP through the year, plus macna, plus the CT frag swap, plus the manhattan reefs swaps you are limited to the amount of weekends available and to which vendors will commit to travel so you have to plan accordingly. COVID also hurt because it took all the momentum away and people who maybe were around to help aren't anymore.

What can we do to kickstart this back up? In my opinion start small. Get some meetings going and get people used to coming out again to people's houses. Have reefer garage sale, chineese auctions whatever there so people come to trade/sell/give away equipment and corals/fish. If these go well, do a big meeting. We used to do a Holiday party at the end of the year and it was a much bigger deal. We would get in big raffle prizes, fly in speakers from around the country and get great frags to raffle off. If we start getting good numbers, we can work up to a swap. The other issue is this is a two way street, you can plan the best meetings/swaps but if people don't come to them, it is not a sustainable model. So we need some good events and we need some good turnout for the events.
 
DEL

DEL

Vice President
Staff member
Board of Directors
NJRC Member
Moderator
keep the suggestions coming everyone. we will definitely try to set something up soon. I will put a new thread regarding suggestions so we don't hi jack this one.
 
N

NJTaxMan

DEL said:
keep the suggestions coming everyone. we will definitely try to set something up soon. I will put a new thread regarding suggestions so we don't hi jack this one.
Click to expand...
Please hijack it. It was kinda the purpose of the thread is to get a conversation going and maybe nudge people to start re-activating some of the group's activities.
 
P

paintman27

Back in the day I held a meeting here at my house. Had at least 60 people here. Some brought frags, some just came for the jollies. There was alot of swapping and selling going on. Hell i was even able to give away 8 frags i didn't want. Opps sorry kittens. LOL!
I would be willing to host another get together if the mood hits.
 
R

Rjmul

paintman27 said:
Back in the day I held a meeting here at my house. Had at least 60 people here. Some brought frags, some just came for the jollies. There was alot of swapping and selling going on. Hell i was even able to give away 8 frags i didn't want. Opps sorry kittens. LOL!
I would be willing to host another get together if the mood hits.
Click to expand...
Someone get this guy in the mood
 
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