Did I make a mistake putting Xenia in my tank?

[Ccarroll57]

So I put my first corals in last weekend. Despite my reservations, I let the guy at my lfs talk me into a Silver Xenia. I still have the frags on the bottom of the tank but am placing them on the rocks this weekend.

Should I be concerned that it is going to spread like a weed and be careful where I put it? I was thinking of putting it on a rock by itself as I'm paranoid now.

[SSprince]

Not to sound like a jerk..... But, perhaps a little searching on these before you put it in your tank.....Got this info in less than 2 minutes...........

This ability for xenia to spread prolifically, literally from one side of your tank to the other in as little as a few months, does not come without its pittfalls. Xenia can wreck havoc on stony corals either by direct contact or by inhibitting the amount of available light that the stony coral receives. Some forms of xenia contain terpenoid defense mechanisms to help prevent predatory conflicts, but these chemical substances can affect stony corals as well, though they do not contain nematocysts. Capable of detaching itself from its original place of colonization, xenia can drift and reattach itself in another place which can also prove problematic to neighboring corals if the new inhabitant comes to close to other coral colonies.

[Ccarroll57]

I did do searching which is why I had reservations in the first place. I thought I would just ask for an opinion.

[keithhays]

It depends on what look you want to go for and what kind of overall coral population you want, but some xenia are more prolific than others. I personally love the look of pulsing xenia in mass, but I will probably wait until I attach yet another tank to my system specifically for these guys. When I had them in previous systems they weren't exactly aiptasia, but they will proliferate. The kids would sit and watch them; very relaxing evidently.

[Ccarroll57]

I read that Silver Xenia doesn't spread like other forms so I was hoping I might not have as much of a problem as if I put pulsating Xenia in.

[planedoc]

It Likes to grow/spread upward. If you place it on top of a rock at least 6 inches away from anything it will not spread as fast. It's really easy to remove and others like to have it. I have populated many tanks for free in my area.

Sent from my galaxy s3

[Khemul]

Keep it isolated and don't blast it with a powerhead and you should be fine.

Plus you don't know if it will be the apocalypse until you are sure you can grow it. It is one of those corals with unknown variables. It either does amazingly well, or fails miserably. Sometimes it does amazingly well then fails miserably. For an indestructible coral it is extremely temperamental if those unknown variables get triggered (or possibly fail to trigger).

[accordsirh22]

exactly. i have some white/silver pulsing xenia in my tank. it has grown at what i would call a decent pace. certainly not slow, but definitely not fast and overgrowing my tank either. as others stated, if you shade it then it will move towards the light at a good pace and grow/spread along the way

[carriej]

I've had some of the "regular" variety of pulsing xenia in my tank. For me, it's one of my favorite corals and the one that really got me into the whole reef thing. People have chastised me for my choice in "nuisance" corals (I also like ricordeas!) but in all honesty... It doesn't bother me.

But on the note of growth, in about 8 weeks mine has probably doubled. I have it all alone on a section of rock up quite high, I am hoping it covers the entire rock.

It's like everything else - it's not going to explode out of proportion overnight.

[IdahoGuy]

Not at all. I put it on the back walls, which looks cool. I also glue pieces to hermit crabs.

[celamb89]

My pulsating xenia started slow but is now at the point where every month I have to siphon/strip a lot of it to keep it on its rock and not jumping on to SPS... I love the way it looks, the mass colony pulsating all day long, but for my next build Im going to be sure and keep it on an isolated rock, even if they can detach and go somewhere else its easier to keep them under control...

[PiratesReef]

I had a pet store untill last year and some of my locals had good luck with them and would bring them in and trade for other corals

[Cac986]

you should be fine with xenia. Just keep them on a separate piece of live rock as the others have pointed out. I always run carbon on any of my tanks that are mixed reefs, that way chemical warfare between your corals will not be an issue. The great thing about xenia is they are easy to propagate and make some cool trades. Best of luck...

Chris

[IdahoGuy]

It's not like you wake up and half your tank is covered in Xenia. It's grows fast, but in no way is it unmanageable.

[grcforce327]

Did I make a mistake putting Xenia in my tank?

Yes,but there is a cure! http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-violent006.gif (http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys.php)

[rocky25]

it's a great starter coral for you just don't let it spread like wildfire plus that will take time.

[yukyuklee]

i heard xenia is a good source that sucks up unwanted nutrients from the tank.

[fish clown]

I have green star polyps and its a cool coral until you get somthing else. It with fill up a new tank quickly making newer tanks look nicer... At first. I loved it but I relized that there are soooo many other varieties of coral that I'd rather stock my tank with. I do love pulsing Xenia though. I've been taking out a lot of gsp recently for new coral and from what I've found is if you like you Xenia you can keep it on your main rock work as long as you cut it back and maintain it unless you want a tank full of Xenia. It is also very easy to take off rocks unless it on a rock that has lots of holes, then it's a pain.

[IdahoGuy]

It's very temperamental.. I had some growing like a weed, changed the flow a little and now it's melting away.

[Bpb]

My pulsing Xenia has gone from one little sprout to about a softball sized mass in 6 months of so. Decent growth but not plague levels like I've read. It's easy to keep nice and trimmed. I don't mind it. If I could go back, I'd have probably passed on it and picked up Something different, but I'm not going to pull my hair out trying to remove every last bit. If you like it...great, if you hate it, you probably wouldn't have gotten it in the first place

[msaba]

Not at all. I put it on the back walls, which looks cool. I also glue pieces to hermit crabs.


lol, the hermit crab 'accessorizing' is an awesome idea!


Mark

[accordsirh22]

i might have to glue some to my snails, i glued some zoos to a snail yesterday lol

[Reeferz412]

I use my star polyps to trade to the lfs or other reefers for other corals. I give nice big frags of the stuff that equate to tiny frags of nicer end corals which is what i want. I always keep a bunch of it growing and throw small pieces of rocks or plugs or tiles so I can cut them off and keep fragging them and get more corals. This stuff creeps over the rocks I put next to it in weeks.

[eclick]

My zenia over populated my tank. Ended up taking a lot to trade a our local fish store. Found that placing it on its own rock away from other is the best way to control it.

[borderreef]

I love the look of xenia. It's easy to harvest when/if it takes off. Just peel it off or place a piece of rock next to it and it will frag itself. I found that if I keep it isolated with sand all around, it does not like to spread onto the sand. Just my experience. You could put it up against the back of your tank and let it climb up and cover the back. That would look wicked.