|
I've had a 500 litre soft coral tank for over 4 years now. I've never been able to keep xenia, [it just slowly shrivels and dies] and my mushrooms hardly multiply at all. Similarly with zooanthids. However, my gorgonian colonies grow very well indeed, as does my two kinds of green star polyps, and the various capnella-type corals.
This might be down to soft coral chemical warfare, but I run activated carbon 24/7.
It might be something to do with flow; my gorgonians and gsp love high flow, but the mushrooms don't. Finding a balance isn't easy.
It might be something to do with too little food in the water column; the "dirtier" the tank, the more that xenia and mushrooms love it. On the other hand, feeding the tank more to try this idea out is fraught with dangers!
Other local aquarists that I know [here along the south coast of the UK] report similar experiences; some find no problem in propagating mushrooms and xenia, but others can't keep them at all.
My conclusion is that mushrooms and xenia are only "easy" corals if you have a certain kind of tank. What that kind of tank is, I hesitate to say.
|