Thoughts on Xenias?

[Toadfish]

I have a colony of Xenia that I introuduced into my tank recently. They are taking off like wild fire. The colony has grown to the point where they are beginning to touch some of my SPS corals (hydnophora and acropora). I haven't noticed any sort of damage, but I am wondering if it is healthy to allow these two organisms to touch. Some of my xenia came into contact with star polyps and lost the battle. What is the rule of thumb when it comes to aggressivness with xenia's? Any thought's on this?

[bamann345]

Just cut them back and give the frags you cut off to someone. Some people have a horrible time with xenia and some people it grows like wildfire! I am glad you are having good luck. Just find someone to take it off your hands. I dont like things touching in my tank, even if it doesnt hurt either.

[Jeremy1973]

You may even want to take it in to a LFS and see if they will give you credit for it.

[Prismaco]

I'll take some frags !!!



-Paul

[Toadfish]

Just cut it with a knife or what? Do I need to attach it to substrate? Some guidence on "fragging" would be appreciated because I also have a leather and a kenya tree that need to be cut back.

[cworkman]

taggina long... I would like to hear about the best way to frag Xenia as well.

Clayton

take a razor and chissel it off the rock then super glue it onto a new piece

done and you now have a frag!

[bamann345]

take a toothpick and stick it through the base and remove the toothpick after a couple of days and it will attach to the rock on its own.

[Junkzoo]

Yup on the xenia, keep it controlled , or it''ll go sexual on ya,
on fraggin, rubber band to a rock til it attach's
prunning xenia is easier than fragging
to prune,,a scalpel ,razor blade will work fine,,remember , a lot of times, the part you leave on the rock WILL grow again,,
cut cut cut,,

[PaintGuru]

I have the biggest problem (luck) with xenia growing like crazy in my tank. I personally hate it and wish I had never put it in, but oh well. The best way I have found to remove it so it doesnt just regrow in the same spot is to get under the base of the stalk and the rock and actually pull up the ENTIRE stalk from the rock, leaving no tissue on the rock to regrow. Just last weekend I did a big ripping out of xenia and flushed it, but I must admit, it does a good job at sucking out nutrients.

[Junkzoo]

Ditto on the "luck"
went from, hope it makes it, to D@mn WEED!
it IS cool to watch, but if happy will spread like crazy,,
lucky for me , i can still pawn it off to LFS's and fellow reefers,,,
no flushin' ,,,,yet

[PaintGuru]

Perhaps I need to go on another round of LFS visits with it to see if I can get anything for it, but I doubt it. I do have the "red sea" variety too I believe that is just starting to take off. My original stuff was the same type everyone else has (I have no idea what it is called).

[Tpeck]

I just gave Cromagnum 2-3 colonies with about 8 head on each and the rest I surrounded with more aggressive things to keep it/them in place. This is the only way I could control them.

I found that they go crazy with higher temp around 80-81 and a Ph of about 8.5 - 8.6. When my Ph drops when I am traveling I come home and they look the same way when I left, but if I (b4 I leave) charge my Kalk reactor, and its hot in my house, and my top off keeps topping, and my Ph is a little higher, I can be sure I will have many more when I get home after 5-8 days.

[Toadfish]

I have noticed the same thing. The higher the temp, the quicker they grow. I guess I need to go ahead and remove some of the stalks. Thanks

[PaintGuru]

I'm not so sure about the pH idea because I have pretty low pH due to my calcium reactor. It can get down to 7.8 at night. For some reason though it just grows like mad in my tank.