I attented my first ever P.R.O.P. auction, which is a local event here Phoenix. The PROP auction, works with the local reefing club called FRAG (I'm not sure how this is all laid out yet, but it's all good!).
I am not sure how PROP was founded, but here is how it works. There are 6 "PROP farmers" around Phoenix, basically the locals with the best tanks, and most experience in reef keeping. They got together, and bought some corals. They then grow these corals out, frag them, and auction off the frags, the money from the auctions goes to buying more mother colonies, and the process repeats. It's really pretty cool.
Well, I went to my first one this weekend. It was much bigger than I thought! They auctioned off more than 200 frags over the course of about 4 hours. There were approximatly 50 people at the auction. Some AMAZING DEALS! Most auctions started at $1, some of the more rair corals started at $5 or $10. Here is what I got. I can't recall the name of species of most of these, but I just liked what I saw and the prices were CRAZY!
This one I actually got for free. It is a Hodag's Monti. I got this through a raffle drawing that I paid $3 to enter. So $3 went a long ways!
Here is a photo of two corals that I got. The one of the left I think is some type of brown branching monti, or acro, with purple tips. It looks really nice, and is a huge frag. I paid $11. The one on the right is a huge frag on a HUGE rock, so I paid $20 for it. I have NO idea what it is, but is very bubbly looking with small polyps on each bubble. The photo is terrible.
This was my favorite one of the bunch! This is a plating monti, brown and green with VIVID purple edges. It is a pretty small frag, maybe 3" at the longest part. I paid $11 for this bad boy!
This one is nothing fancy, but I only paid $5 for it. It is a tall branch, about 5" tall of a brown monti, or acro. I don't know the difference in the two species.
So, I got all of those for $47! I can't wait for the next event! There were huge anemones, very rare zoas, some stuff sold for upwards of $100. Other stuff, like common montis, acros, and others were selling for VERY cheap, $1-$5. Anyways, I don't want to make everyone jealous!