Coral Of The Week - Xenia

[seffieuk]

Coral of the week

Xenia

Some hate it,

calling it a weed,

others love it,

which camp (tank) are you in?

Share your photos and experience​

Archived Coral of the Week Threads

 

[Buddyboy67]

Xenia...



This short clip is of my xenia in both tanks, same species under different conditions acts totally different..
In the big tank it stretches in the current and grows like a weed, whereas in the nano it is more compact and pulses constantly in the slower flow.
This all came from 6 wild heads I got from a Singapore shipment over here...the wild colonies are much more prone to pulse, as are it's frags, than long term tanked species...it is thinned out every month and between 20 to 30 heads are taken to my lfs

Used a lot in the states now in softy refugiums as it physically absorbs nutrients from the water to feed it's xooanthellae and can spread quickly if fed phytoplankton and occasional iodine supplement is added, although this is unnecessary for it to survive..

Tank cultured specimens are capable of taking lower light levels than the wild collected ones.

 

[TigerIssey]

zooxanthellae Bud

 

[Buddyboy67]

I blame the pain killers here for that one,lol....

Them wee algae do hickeys in their cells then....

Any room under that rock yet

 

[Luketendo]

I got some Xenia today but don't have any pictures yet. However it's come out and is pulsing. Going to move it in a moment though to a different spot in the tank.

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Here is an older picture of my main xenia colony. This was taken a few months ago and it is pretty much twice the size of this now and extends a lot further.

It does well in pretty much all conditions.
Lighting:
I have kept under low powered Power compacts, medium amounts of T5 lighting and high amounts of T5 lighting. It did fine in all of them (though now its under about 250w of T5 lighting it grows EXTREMELY quickly).

Flow:
I have kept in all conditions from low flow to pretty much direct flow from a korallia 4. It has done fine in all of them but seems to extend further in lower flow and pulses more.

Another note of water flow: Xenia will grow in the direction of the strongest current. As such it is fairly easy to get it to stay in one place by regularly moving the rock it is on so the current is flowing in the other direction (keeps it moving towards one spot all the time).

General notes:
Xenia once established can grow extremely quickly and it can "move" a large distance in a short period of time (especially in higher flow rates). As such it can become a pest by overgrowing other nearby corals if it is not regularly fragged.

I try to isolate mine to one rock. When it grows to the edge of the rock I frag it back or turn the rock so the flow makes it grow back towards the middle.

One other invasive thing it can do is detach parts of itself which will float around until they either get chewed up by a powerhead or settle in a new location, this can be a pain to control but it only seems to do this in high flow when it is running out of space to grow in (I have about 4 new colonies growing in my tank now which I need to try to remove).

The pulsing forms will not always pulse (though mine does except when there is something wrong with the water, best early warning device ever).

Its an undemanding coral and very pretty to watch (especially the pulsing forms with its waving "hands"). Yes it can be a weed when it gets established but IMO it is controllable. Great little coral for filling in gaps (can also be grow on the back/side walls of the tank) and its fairly easy to get hold of (I have TONS of frags for trade if anyone is interested ).

 

[SkiFletch]

unpinned and archived

 

[AK77]

I think Xenia are great. They add so much movement to a reef and add a lot of interest to live rock. If they're a weed, they can overrun my tank any time!

 

[xbexx]

whats the safest way to move my Xenia onto a new piece of rock?

 

[Morri]

Xenia is very hardy in my experience I just used an elastic band but Super glue will also work.

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Yeah I just super glue it on.

 

[seffieuk]

Remember, this is a shared and ongoing resource, so don't forget to pop back and update us with your new photos and experiences in the coming months​

 

[CoMan]

Hi. Here's my newly added xenia. I think it bring my tank one step closer to the "reef" look I'm hoping for.

hope it will grow big!

 

[xxBarneyxx]

hope it will grow big!

lol don't worry, it will Mine did grow quite slowly for a long time (still faster then any other soft coral I have kept though). However its seems to get to a "critical mass" point and once it reaches this the growth rates just seem to explode. I have decided when I rescape my tank to remove almost all my xenia from the rockwork. I will however put some up along the back wall of the tank as there will be no rockwork touch the back wall and it will give it a nice background.

 

[CoMan]

hope it will grow big!

lol don't worry, it will Mine did grow quite slowly for a long time (still faster then any other soft coral I have kept though). However its seems to get to a "critical mass" point and once it reaches this the growth rates just seem to explode. I have decided when I rescape my tank to remove almost all my xenia from the rockwork. I will however put some up along the back wall of the tank as there will be no rockwork touch the back wall and it will give it a nice background.

Sweet! How will you get in on the back wall? Will you just glue some on or place a rock with some on against it?