I have a 46 gal bow front tank, with almost 10 corals growing great. From mushrooms to brain corals. I also have 4 36 watt bulbs. 2 daylight and 2 atinc. I was thinking of getting a xenia and putting it right at the top of the tank with a lot of water flow. I seem to remember reading that they need a lot of water flow. Any way, please help me out. Jacob.
pom-pom xenia, what are the requriments?
- Thread starter Jacob Abshire
- Start date
There are many types of xenia, some pulsing, some that don't.
We have 3-4 varieties in the reef right now, about 3/4 pulsing happily. We've moved them around, they've moved themselves, and they seem happy just about anywhere. Some are high in the tank, others are at the bottom. They do well in all light levels, and while they like current, it's not required, and shouldn't be strong if you want them to pulse.
Ridiculously easy to propogate--best method we've found is to wait until the attach themselves to rock in two places (tipping a rock so it goes sudeways works great), then cut the trunk between the 2 spots. Both chunks will develop just fine. They also develop buds which detach as well.
Sounds weird, but they suck up nitrates. Our tanks have not had detectable since we added the xenia, not that it was ever high to begin with. We don't use any means of nitrate export other than regular changes.
We have 3-4 varieties in the reef right now, about 3/4 pulsing happily. We've moved them around, they've moved themselves, and they seem happy just about anywhere. Some are high in the tank, others are at the bottom. They do well in all light levels, and while they like current, it's not required, and shouldn't be strong if you want them to pulse.
Ridiculously easy to propogate--best method we've found is to wait until the attach themselves to rock in two places (tipping a rock so it goes sudeways works great), then cut the trunk between the 2 spots. Both chunks will develop just fine. They also develop buds which detach as well.
Sounds weird, but they suck up nitrates. Our tanks have not had detectable since we added the xenia, not that it was ever high to begin with. We don't use any means of nitrate export other than regular changes.
Ok, I thought they were much harder to take care of. The kind I am getting is the pulseing kind. Is there any kind of special food for them? I add the kent phyto plex and chromo plex as well as the coral excel. I have some micro vert that I feed about twice a month. Will this regemne work?
Boogiechillin
It's ok, I confuse my students too.
Xenia is ridiculously hardy IF you can get it past the initial acclimation/introduction phase. It doesn't like to be shipped or transferred, and some people have had trouble because of this. Once established, it's easy to the point of being annoying with its rapid spread.
As far as the additive regimen, my only suggestion would be to add iodine. This speeds up the spread, although this may be a bad thing as it gets established.
Oh, and xenia DOES suck up nitrate, and it actually grows faster when a little nitrate is present. I know people that use it in sumps for nutrient export instead of macroalgaes.
As far as the additive regimen, my only suggestion would be to add iodine. This speeds up the spread, although this may be a bad thing as it gets established.
Oh, and xenia DOES suck up nitrate, and it actually grows faster when a little nitrate is present. I know people that use it in sumps for nutrient export instead of macroalgaes.
OrionGirl... You stated that some were high and other low in your tank. So is lighting not a concern? What kind of lighting do they need/want?
I don't think it makes much difference. Xenia don't have cells containing chlorophyll--they actually catch and consume particles from the water column for their energy. I would guess that anything from 3 watt up would be okay, although our tanks are all higher than that.
If you can get it to live, it should thrive. We even had some that climbed up the cord of a power head and was half exposed--all the time. Others climbed off and headed for the substrate--eventually parking themselves on the bottom of the tank (50 gallon, about 6 watts/gallon). The ballast went on that tank, and we had to move everything up to the reef. We just used a scraper to pop their butts off and superglued them to a rock. They're doing fine (2 months later, I think it's been) and are splitting again. The shed their mucus coat a bit--it looked like they did it mostly to get rid of the glued bits.
If you can get it to live, it should thrive. We even had some that climbed up the cord of a power head and was half exposed--all the time. Others climbed off and headed for the substrate--eventually parking themselves on the bottom of the tank (50 gallon, about 6 watts/gallon). The ballast went on that tank, and we had to move everything up to the reef. We just used a scraper to pop their butts off and superglued them to a rock. They're doing fine (2 months later, I think it's been) and are splitting again. The shed their mucus coat a bit--it looked like they did it mostly to get rid of the glued bits.
One more thing - pulsing xenia like a high-ish pH. If they stop pulsing, chances are your pH is too low...kinda of an easy way to judge pH levels at a glance. No substitute for testing your pH, of course, but kinda neat nonetheless.
Xenia
For Xenia keep your iodine levels up there. If you drop them you can start a cascading crash of your colony. I'm just recovering from such a crash. I only saved a small portion in one spot. Silly me.
For Xenia keep your iodine levels up there. If you drop them you can start a cascading crash of your colony. I'm just recovering from such a crash. I only saved a small portion in one spot. Silly me.
I have Xenia elongata, and am happy it is now confined to my nano. The stuff spreads like mad, it even happily grows on the glass. I thought for awhile that it only reproduced by splitting itself. I now find that is not true, as I have found little Xenias on the substrate a considerable distance from the mother colony. In my experience it almost as bad as Aiptasia.