Xenia Friendly??

[LanginJoe]

Does anybody know what I could put next to some Xenia that would, ââ"šÂ¬Ã…"œget alongââ"šÂ¬Ã‚? I was thinking a different type of Xenia, but maybe someone with more experience could give me a few more ideas. Thanks a lot.
Joe.

 

[MIKE NY]

The problem with adding other species of xenia together is the more dominent species would over run the weaker. So any coral with any type of defense should fine next to xenia. The reason I say defense is because xenia under the right conditons grows so fast it will suround and choke out that coral from light and flow...so it would need a defense to keep the xenia in check. IMO like most spreading softy type corals like shrooms,zoo etc...is to keep them isolated on their own rocks away from the mainroock work so there wouldn't be that problem and it would be easier to prune them...HTH

 

[bobt2]

sorry to butt in, but if you want xenia, i'll give you some, i'm in western suffolk

 

[LanginJoe]

Thanks for the input Mike, I guess I should move them before I get my SPS's in.
What type of Xenia do you have Bob?

 

[bobt2]

good question, i think it starts with an e. i got a piece from someone else on r/c

 

[LanginJoe]

If it's Xenia Elongata then thats what I have, I would post a picture if I could figure out how. Here is a url to a picture I googled http://www.fishpalace.org/X_elongata.html
This is what I have in the tank now.

 

[bobt2]

thats the one! i,ve had it 2 months and already its taking over

 

[LanginJoe]

Yeah, mine is growing pretty good too, I usually sell frags to my LFS. I only get like 10$-15$ of my purchase (there's always something to buy) per frag, but it all adds up.
Thanks anyway though.
Joe.

 

[vyger]

Yea...you have to careful with that type of Xenia....it grew so well in my tank taking over rocks that now the Xenia has it's own 10 gal tank to proliferate in..

 

[LanginJoe]

Nice, I've heard that they are very good at nutrient exportation, and was planning on partitioning off a section of my refugium just for them to grow. Actually an article in Marine Fish & Reef has a Caulerpa vs. Xenia chart kind of like this:
Caulerpa Xenia
Nitrate+Nitrite 107.0 .6
Ammonia Nitrogen 113.7 585.0
Total Nitrogen 1016.7 8600.0

That is the amounts of nitrogenous wastes removed per kilogram of export material. I figure having a good stock of both should be really beneficial to the tank. My refugium is 30gal, I'll probably partition a quarter of that just for the Xenia. Put some rubble on the bottom and just let it go crazy.

 

[vyger]

I have read articles on their ability to suck up nutrients and
I have also read that they are a good first alert to something wrong in the tank and will react negatively before the other corals. Matter of fact I noticed my Xenia were much darker than usual in my 18 gal reef just about a week before a total meltdown of the tank for some reason that I still can't figure out. When I saw the color turning on the Xenia , I started doing water changes right away but to no avail ,the tank still crashed.

 

[MIKE NY]

they are very good at nutrient exportation

I'm using Red Sea xenia along with chaeto in my fuge. The xenia are a good water quality indicator....when they aren't doing well I know my water is getting cleaner...

 

[vyger]

Actually Xenia come from very clean shallow waters from what I've read about them. So it's interesting that would be able to tolerate nutrients in the water column.. the statement below is from one of the articles and is where I got the notion of water quality and the Xenia's reaction to it.

"Xenia can be a health indicator for your aquarium since it will appear stressed when water quality is poor."

 

[FindingSalt]

Anyone have some Xenia for sale? What are the lighting requirements?

 

[Neurotech]

Yeah, if anyone wants to get rid of some, just give me a holler. Pets warehouse has tiny frags for 30 and large for 40. Plenty of them. I never had any, so as an alternative to flushing them, just give me a pm!

 

[Reef Junkie]

Careful what you wish for.
Xenia can be such a nusience that you may regret ever putting it in your tank.
Especially if you're going to be adding SPS.
Short term, they're no problem. Long term, they'll overshadow and kill most corals, even ones that can kill them.

 

[FindingSalt]

Yea ive read that i figured i would put it in my fish only to help with nitrates.

 

[ralphie]

I too am interested in a small frag of some Xenia if anyone is looking to get rid of some.... :rollface:

Ralph

 

[bobt2]

i'm in copiague, if you want to mount it, it's free! i'll just cut off some pieces

 

[MIKE NY]

< --- always brings some to the meetings and listen to Bill's advise.......been there! and now it's all down in my fuge, but it can be kept succesfully long term on their own little islands of rock.