new species...astrea xenius

[DMBillies]

I had left a frag of xenia on top of some rubble in my frag tank to attach . The other day I look in the tank and see this guy cruising around the tank :lol: Maybe he thought it was good camoflage...

 

[rsteagall]

I read in another post that xenia helps control nitrates.... is this true?

 

[greystreet41]

I have a piece of devil's hand piggy backing an astrea...no idea how that happened.

 

[DMBillies]

rsteagall,
I've heard that also, but I don't know that I'd rely on it. I'm thinking that they probably do control them to some extent but that you most likely need a whole bunch of it to really have a significant effect (and a bigger effect than other ways of controlling nitrates). Then again, maybe I'm wrong about that and the next thing we'll see in the hobby is dedicated xenia growing areas in sumps. Anyone have any science on this?

 

[rsteagall]

I wish someone would chime in on the nitrate thing. I've always wanted some blue pulsing xenia and I'm all about adding anything to the tank that actually helps with potential problems... no matter how little it helps.

 

[fishdoc11]

It takes a lot of xenia to do any good from what I have read. Macro is much better at the job and yes there are people who have tried dedicated xenia "sump type" areas. The best thing to keep down nitrates is to keep detritus from building up.

Cool snail by the way

Chris