Xenia Farm

N

nico

AC Members
May 30, 2004
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Australia
In the last 1 1/2 - 2 months my tank is is being inundated with from what i can tell, is three different sp., the dark brown, tan and creamy colour varieties.
1. Is this a good or bad thing.
2. Any suggestions?
3. Are they easy to frag.

Thanks again
Nick
 
They are easy to frag. So far, I've fragged mine 3 times and all survived. They do grow quickly! Whether or not it's a good thing depends on what else you want to do with your tank. Right now, I'm content that mine are doing well and looking good. I might end up trimming them back more as I add more hard corals.
 
Make sure you keep them on a rock that can be removed for fragging. If they get out of hand they spread like crazy and you will end up having to cut them off while the rock is in the tank. IMO thats not a good idea. When you frag them you will notice the mucous etc. that they emit.

So when I want to trim mine back I remove the rock, put it in a bucket of water that I drained from the tank during normal water changes, trim it back with a razor, then put it back in the tank.

I started with 4 stocks. If you look at the attached pic you will see them in the top left corner. They spread even onto my clam and I had to trim them off of him.

Mike

Xenia.jpg
 
I cheat when it comes to fragging. I surround the xenia areas with many small, easily removed rocks. The xenia spread onto these, and I just pull them out. It's tough to find takers for them--they can be invasive, given good conditions.
 
Nice one Mike, looks great.

Thanks alot for all the info, helps me out heaps.

Will Xenia cross breed?

Cheers
Nick
 
I'm stopping by TBS to load up on small LR chuncks :) Great idea OG!!! Maybe I can coax some mushrooms on to some as well.
 
No, xenia doesn't cross.

FL--don't waste money on good stuff! I just buy small chunks of lace rock. Lots of time I get the rubble for free--of course, the store knows I'll be bringing it back covered in xenia, but I'd hate to spend the dough on LR just to pull it out a week later.
 
OrionGirl said:
No, xenia doesn't cross.

FL--don't waste money on good stuff! I just buy small chunks of lace rock. Lots of time I get the rubble for free--of course, the store knows I'll be bringing it back covered in xenia, but I'd hate to spend the dough on LR just to pull it out a week later.
Click to expand...

Thats another good point. I need to buy a bunch of LR chunks for my 36 tank sump as well as some for my nano filter anyway. Last time my friend and I went their he got a LOT of LR chunks for $50!!! I would need about half of that to last me for years.
 
Hey, if any of ya'll in the states are interested in sending any unwanted xenia this way I'll be more than happy to take them :D
 
I actually just unloaded all my pieces. The LFS previously wouldn't take frags, meaning a trip to Denver was needed. New management = new policies. I talked with the manager on Thursday, she said sure, bring it in, she'd either trade for it or buy it, maybe $20-30 a rock.

Took it in Friday afternoon. She was shocked at how much I had--thought I'd pulled it all out of the tank, instead of just the frags! In return, she gave me: a mated pair of mandarins for the reef, and then two corals she had that weren't doing well--a slerites (sp?) polyp, and a European xenia--they look like miniature silver xenia, about 1/4 inch tall. Very cool--much more than I expected to get. When these corals spread, we can take back frags to her, as well. :)

sandiegan--where are you? In 10-12 months, the whole tank comes down and I'll be looking for good homes for a variety of corals. Some will go to the LFS, but I doubt they will take everything.
 
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