Why is this event a one day event ?

One of our main goals in planning this event was to keep costs low and pass these savings onto our vendors and attending aquarists. We also wanted to simplify our planning and managing requirements. As this event grows, we may eventually expand the event to occur over a saturday and sunday.

Why is this event on a sunday ?

Our first annual event was scheduled on a Sunday because it was the only day available that first weekend. The event now seems to work well on a Sunday. It gives our vendors all day Saturday to prepare for the event.

Is the SouthWestern Coral Farmers Market competing with the MACNA conference, IMAC Conference, MAX or a future Western Marine Conference ?

Definitly not. One of the factors in choosing the date of our event was that the date could not interfer with other major events within the captive industry. Additionally, MACNA, IMAC, MAX and the Western Marine conferences are large conferences where speaker presentations are an integral component of the conference. Those conferences have a larger cost structure due to the expense of flying in and accomodating speakers. This is why their booth and ticket charges are much higher then the booth and ticket charges at the SW-CFM. We have kept our costs under strict control and have passed these savings onto our customers. The SW-CFM is exactly what its name describes. A Coral Farmers Market event. As we grow in size from year to year, there may be a point where speakers and presentations are added, but even if we eventually incorporate speakers and presentations into the event, they will always be secondary to the main purpose of the SW-CFM event.

Why do you favor renting booths to Coral Farming vendors ?

Our primary attraction is exotic farmed coral. Our customers expect that a very good selection of corals will be available for sale. When we contact potential vendors for booths we always place more effort on getting coral farming vendors to reserve booths. There are however many Mariculture companies that support coral farming indirectly. We are now reserving larger Hotel rooms for this SW-CFM event and this gives us plenty of vendor booth space. So we have been expanding our exhibitor participation and we are adding more and more non-coral farming vendors as this event grows.

What is the coral used in the background of this web site ?

The image used in the background of this web site is a photo taken by Steve Tyree of a Reeffarmers Limited Edition Evaluation coral. Reeffarmers acquired this Cyphastrea sp. coral as a fragment from the Southern California coral farmer Hugo Zuniga (snipersps).