Xenia Floating Away

[reddogf5]

Hi, I am new to this. I bought a xenia last week, it is currently in a quarentine tank with a bubble coral purchased at the same time.
When I purchased it, the LFS tied it to a piece of rock with fishing string. After about two days, it tore free and was floating around the tank. Thinking that the fishing line cut through the stalk, I glued it to the rock with super glue. A day later it was floating free again. I reglued it with superglue gel to a different piece of rock from my main tank, after carefully cleaning and drying the rock. This morning, it is nearly separated again. Originally it was in a bit of current, but has been shielded and is in very low flow.
Any ideas as to why this is happening? Do corals "move"? I can't see it surviving if I can't keep it from lying face down at the bottom of the tank. Any better suggestions to keep it in place? Thanks.

[pugcrush]

Put a toothpick thru the bottom base & you'll be able to rubber band the toothpick to some rubble rock, that way you can move it to your display tank easily. Give it a few days & within a week it will attach to the rock, where upon you can remove the toothpick/rubberband.

[scuba guy ron]

+1 on the toothpick. worked for me

[wolrey]

It is almost impossible to glue xenia down. It just creates to much slim to get a decent bond.

Try squeezing the base of the stalk between two little pieces of rubble or frag plugs. The xenia should attach in a day or two and you can then glue the rubble/plug down where you would like too.

[reddogf5]

Thanks for the suggestion. I tried it, but there was not enough stalk left to pin. I dried its base off, as well as the rock and reglued it, it seems to be staying put now.

[reddogf5]

I was reading "Aquarium Corals" by Eric Borneman and came across this:
"Xenia are noteworthy corals. They are among the first colonizers of a reef area, and are able to "walk" to new sites by the systematic attachment and detachment of their branches and stalks to adjacent locations."
So apparently they can walk :)

[biecacka]

i actually put mine in a small plastic container with slits in it and a lid. the container has frag disk in it for the xenia to attach to and when it does ill take it out of the plastic container and place it somewhere

[SATAN FISH]

I was reading "Aquarium Corals" by Eric Borneman and came across this:
"Xenia are noteworthy corals. They are among the first colonizers of a reef area, and are able to "walk" to new sites by the systematic attachment and detachment of their branches and stalks to adjacent locations."
So apparently they can walk :)

Yes, they "Walk", If you want to call it that. Mine would lean over and it looked like it would drip some of itself onto the rock. That drip would turn into another stalk. It does this in order to move. Although, it does not do it in a matter of hours, more like a matter of weeks.

[Jarret]

hello everybody,



.................................................................................

Dear "reddogf5" basically we are trying to get creatures of and put them in aquariums naturally these creatures are living in sea and sea water is a mixture of many minerals and chemicals. So, when we get creatures of sea from sea to fresh water then some creatures are adjustable in fresh water like fish but some creatures can not adjust in fresh water like some kind of fish colonies, plants and etc.

What?

[kingfisher62]

i actually put mine in a small plastic container with slits in it and a lid. the container has frag disk in it for the xenia to attach to and when it does ill take it out of the plastic container and place it somewhere

I have used this method with a glass and LR rubble. If the walls of the glass are high enough you might not even need a cover.

[EllieSuz]

The best way is to put the Xenia between two pieces of rock rubble and rubber band the rocks together. It takes about a week for the Xenia to attach to one of the rocks.

[ir_danno22]

Garden twist ties work well. Secure it firmly enough so it does not move but not too firm to cut it in half. They take 5 days to a week to attach.