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Not sure if this is in the right forum. But anyways I am working with my buddy Josh on organizing a frag swap sometime in April in Fargo. It will be sponsored by the store in my signature we are thinking on renting a room at like the Holiday Inn or Ramada or something, having a frag swap, door prizes, raffle and maybe a couple presentations just wanted to get an idea on if anyone would be interested in such a thing.

Probably setup like 12:00 to 4:00 with a raffle and door prizes announced at 3:30. The store would probably setup like a 30br earlier that day or the night before and bring down maybe 50 to 100 frags, along with some fish and inverts. Maybe try to get a couple people to give presentations we are doing a workshop on a DIY kalk reactor at our next meeting here in Bis that might work for this as well. We could also bring down Josh's saw and do a frag workshop, and I am trying to convince him we need to talk about his Percula and Cardinal breeding. Clowns pictured below.


It would be open for others to bring frags to sell, however we would probably include a small charge to sell your own frags (like $5-$10) but otherwise it would be free. We are hoping to convince most of our members to make the trip, and I am talking with a few people in Fargo that are working on getting a club together to maybe copromote it and they could have their clubs first official meeting on the same day. If we can get the type of turnout we are looking for we could maybe do one in the spring and fall each year and make something pretty cool out of it.

I don't know if this Josh is the same one that is trying to sell stuff on craigslist in fargo but if it is, a warning he had a falling out with the lfs the only one that has descent livestock prices and quality and during that time he did piss off most of the people that are into saltwater in the area. If it is not him then make sure to keep us posted love going to frag swaps!

Not the same Josh. We run an LFS here in bismarck so we don't have to worry about anyone pulling out support for the meeting. We are 100% committed to getting this thing started, just hope enough people show interest in attending.

Okay well if you need any help let me know.

Thank you for posting...
I'm kinda shocked over 20 views and only 1 person had replied...I hope it isnt an indication that very few ppl would make it down.
To be really honest without a fair amount of support from this board I don't know that we will follow thru with the plans....

Come on brandon we just got the Board back up.... ..... We need to get some members back the more people the better odds of getting #'s at get togethers.

We will end up waiting until early march before deciding for sure....we would really like to get a sweet turnout. He has cb percs, cb cardinals, lots of rbta's, gbta's, and I'm sure he could find 75 frags easy......anything you think would help to get some more interest would be appreciated.

I would make the trip down/over there but would not set up a table if I would have to pay for one. We have had two swaps over here and did not charge to set-up a table and it was a free event.We did have door prizes and food and the money raised help defray the cost of that.But thats just me others might be willing to pay.

Yeah the charging for a table thing is still up in the air....another thing that depends on planned turnout. Since this is a store sponsored event we really have to try to make sure we can at least break even and with the cost of driving to fargo, the cost of raffle prizes (doubtful we would sell enough tickets to cover the cost of prizes) door prizes, and renting the room it will add up quick. Either way getting in the door, buying frags, and the presentations would be free. Glad to hear you would be interested in drivng down tho, thank you!

id love to go if im around

I would be interested and I'm sure my brother would make it into town for it.

I'm with homedepot here. Sounds more like a way for you to sell 60$ zoas then a frag swap.
If it was sponserd by the lfs,( so they could move some frags), why would a guy need to pay for a tank??unless the lfs thinks they will lose buisness by others bringing coral. And if thats the case, call it a sale not swap.
If there were a frag SWAP in fargo I would go. I wouldnt drive to A sale to see a stores niventory that I had already seen and passed over on the web.

Hey now lets not be too hasty with this, think about the circumstances he is in. HE not a club or a group of people, is willing to rent a place. I don't know how the frag swaps went that frozen ocean put on or where it was held. Who paid for the space? Organized it? But tcmas did charge a small fee if you were going to set up a tank at the fall swap the spring one is going to be free. But they had open area for people that had already sold stuff to just swap with the buyer. They also had a fairly large raffle to help pay for some of the items and speakers. I don't know what you were thinking of doing for speakers/presentation. Matt Pederson out of Duluth does have very good presentations. On a side note who have you been in contact with that is trying to start a club in the F/M area?

Our first swap we did need to rent a room and that was 20.00, We also had food that one of our members bought and made, we got people to donate raffle stuff and used that money to defray the cost of the food and the room rental.We raffled off a 46g bow front set-up at this one. Our club is a sponor free club and keep no funds like a TCMAS or the bigger ones plus they have a much bigger "club" because of were they are and if they charge to set up a table they put that money back into the club account. At our second one there was no charge for the space. We did do raffles and food and the money raised we gave to the Headwaters Science Center and also gave Matt P something for comming and speaking. Our swaps have been organized by club members.

I was in Fargo a few months back and met a guy that said he would have the room if we wanted to have a swap But I cant remember his name. I just think if the store wants to put it on and needs to get something in return charge to get in the door. Like I said before I will come to it but would most like not set up a table. If they have 75-100 frags the chances of me or others tring to sell something is not that good IMO.
I hope it goes and will be watching this thread.

Also you could do a pre-sale thing if you were worried about breaking even. that is what one of the vendors did.At both of our swaps we had a vendor drive 6 hours one way and at the last one they lost most of there livestock.

I think you need to just pick a date and go with it, the longer you wait to see if it will go the worse off you will be IMO. I would think that if our club 25-30 active members can have a swap,Fargo should be able to have one.I have heard that there are 40-50 people that have tanks down there. It would be a matter of getting the info up around some of the bussines and start to promote it.Not sure how the radio stations work there but here they have a free community events that they will put on. Also many newsapapers will do a community events thing too. You are more than welcome to post it up on our forum. The address is right above my signature.