New Pulsing Xenia

staindsoul

Calvin for President
A couple of pics of my new pulsing xenia frag. The peppermint ran out immediately and took a arm. :angryfire: In the middle of trapping him right now. He hasnt messed with it since yet, but he has got to go.

IMG_3417.jpg


IMG_3418.jpg
 
the shrimp should harm it really more so curiosity on its behalf i have a mated pair of pepp's in my 5.5 nano never mess with any of my coral. looks good though!
 
thanks kengaroo. i dont see him much, if i catch him just gonna trade him in on a cleaner shrimp.
 
For what it's worth I despise my cleaner shrimp. Always stealing food from every coral I feed and constantly bothering my Goniopora.
 
Will Xenia only spread by the rock it touches?

I want to keep it to one location, and I have read how it will grow quickly. If I keep it to one rock, it won't spore or drop, will it?
 
It will break off and spread EVERYWHERE. That said, its a much slower process, and you can keep the random spread xenia much easier. I suggest you keep your xenia on an island that you want to be engulfed by it.

That is how I keep mine, and my wife and I love the look of a ton of flowing Xenia.

Will Xenia only spread by the rock it touches?

I want to keep it to one location, and I have read how it will grow quickly. If I keep it to one rock, it won't spore or drop, will it?
 
If you do want a good shrimp I would suggest a coral banded shrimp. Mine keeps to itself most of the time, and it never bothers my corals.
 
Looks like a good frag! IMO I would like the look of it spreading everywhere so that wouldnt bother me but I agree with the others if you dont want it to spread I would isolate it in a section of the tank that you dont mind it going crazy in.
 
i like the look of it, I just want it to stay on a island. So i will keep it isolated.

@scuba- I saw one the other day at a lfs. it was pretty cool.
 
I wouldn't get a coral banded shrimp. I have one and had to separate him and give him his own tank. He killed many other shrimps (peppermints, a cleaner and a sexy before I realized I was given bad info about Coral Banded Shrimp) and even caught one of my fish. Too aggressive, and this is common. You will probably never be able to add another shrimp and certain small fish if you have a big coral banded. Try a fire shrimp. Not aggressive at least I have never heard of an aggressive one. Reef safe, gorgeous. Of course the bigger the tank the less chance of the coral banded killing others, but it's always possible, much more than the fire shrimp.

thumbnail.asp
 
Last edited:
NP :)

Oh and I love pulpsing xenia. I know people say it'll take over, and maybe it will (hasn't been long enough), but it's my favorite coral. Love the movement. Mesmerizing. Pretty frag :)
 
It will break off and spread EVERYWHERE. That said, its a much slower process, and you can keep the random spread xenia much easier. I suggest you keep your xenia on an island that you want to be engulfed by it.

That is how I keep mine, and my wife and I love the look of a ton of flowing Xenia.

In my aquarium the xenia spreads as fast as algae grows on the glass. It get's blown everywhere and I gave up pulling it so it pretty much took over my whole tank. It's also impossible to kill because even if I pull it off and scrub the rock, there are spores that still get left behind and within a few weeks, you can see tiny new xenia arms growing.

I am setting up a new 125 gallon softie tank and I don't think I will be putting the xenia in there. It's kind of a shame because to me it's one of the nicest looking soft corals. But who knows maybe i'll give in and decide to put it in there if I find an easy way to kill.
 
it is my understanding that there are several species of pulsing zenia of course I have no idea how to identify the ones that are "terribly invasive" but there are supposed to be only two or three species that will go nuts and the others do not overtake it may be worth checking into.
 
Back
Top