Xenia - growing insanely

[kevinsimons]

I easily have 10X as much as when I put it in last summer - I even started a second "colony" on the other side of the tank - it's reproducing like mad.

I noticed this afternoon, post-weekly maintenance, that one of the newer branches has gotten touching-distance to the caulestra - and right before my eyes, it reached down and brushed several of the caulestra branches -one of which closed up in protest.

So - my question are:

Is this bad?
Will the Xenia hurt the Caulestra?
Will the Caulestra hurt the Xenia?
and what about Naomi? :mrgreen: (does ANYBODY out there get that reference?? )

 

[reeffreak]

Will it hurt the candy cane/trumpet coral or vice-versa?Possibly,not by stinging but by chemical warfare.I have Xenia touching other soft corals with no issues but not any LPS.I would give both a little space from each other-just in case.

 

[hotimportknight]

my xenia just took off like crazy. It spreads all over my rocks, i'm going to be starting to cut some of it out soon. Its in proximity to my brain coral and occasionally the brain will grab the xenia if it gets too close. I'm not sure if xenia have any actual defensive or offensive mechanisms built on or not but it doesn't seem like it.

 

[Oscarsdad608]

If you have a sump with good enough light trough it in there. I will be growin a xenia farm once I get my sump drilled to run my MRC externally.

 

[Bifferwine]

I don't know if one would hurt the other, but it's definitely a possibility. In general, it's bad news for different corals to touch each other and I would try to keep it from happening.

In my tank, I have xenia touching mushrooms and zoanthids with no consequences, but I wouldn't let the xenia touch LPS.

 

[Doc]

silver-tip xenia does have a sting and it not to touch LPS or SPS corals. Pom Pom xenia does not have a sting at all and can be allowed to grow all over the place.

-Doc

 

[kevinsimons]

So - you probably knew this was coming... do I have pom pom or silver tip?

 

[Oscarsdad608]

Silver tip. pom pom is the short stuff

 

[RyanG]

Its a really nice photo for sure.

 

[Doc]

it really is a great pic and yes, silver-tip xenia. grab some scissors and start cutting hunks out. can be a chore to manage, but I think it is worth it

-Doc

 

[kevinsimons]

Surgery completed - thanks all for the advise. Are these cut-offs salvageable? If they're glued to a rock will they grow? I hate to just discard the stuff - it IS a living animal...

 

[Doc]

if you have patience, you can try to slip a rubberband around the stalks to a piece of rubble and hope they grow onto the rock, or you can be lazy, like me, and sandwich the xenia between two rocks and place them in a low-flow area of the tank. it takes about 2 weeks for them to attach all the way.

-Doc

 

[Doc]

although, in all honesty, since it grow so damn fast, throwing them away is just fine. the stuff is almost indestructible. it will replenish itself so fast, you will not know what to do with it all.

-Doc

 

[yote]

Use either one of Docs methods to attach it to a rock.Let it grow a couple of stalks onto that rock.Take to LFS and trade for store credit or other.

 

[michelle]

okay, i'll bite....Naomi?

 

[fatman]

Bridle veil works great. Cut it in strips about 1/2" to 3/4" wide and 1 1/2" to 2" long . Glue one edge to rock, drop down the Xenia, pull over the veil and glue the other side down. Use gel super glue. The Xenia will grow right through the veil material. GARF info on propagation, which I have used many times, even for mushrooms and leathers. They have pages and pages of good, widely practiced fragging and other propagation info on their site. Sell coral frags at around 5 or 7 for $100, varies at different times. Many, many generations old horticultured corals. Some really beautiful. Geothermal Aquatic Research Foundation. In healthy systems Xenia can grow so well some coral propagators use Xenia as an organic export median grown in large sumps fed by coral mother colony tanks.