xenia spreading question...

[msuzuki126]

I'd like some xenia to maybe put in my tank. If I keep it isolated on its own rock away from others, will it spread around the tank?

Thanks,
Matt

 

[sir_dudeguy]

If you keep it far enough away from other rocks, it will not really jump in my experience. However i did have a piece pinch off one time when it got too big and landed somewhere else to attach...so thats something to consider i guess.

But imo, the main thing to do is place it up high if you dont want it to spread. They grow towards the light. So if you place it down low, it will crawl up every rock it can reach to get up higher (and leave "babies" behind where it started...which in turn grow larger).

hth

 

[drummereef]

I have mine isolated on its own rock. Seems to be doing fine where it is and hasn't tried to find a better home yet. I'm always keeping an eye on it though, just making sure it doesn't decide to jump to the main rockscape.

 

[msuzuki126]

Yea that makes sense, thanks. But I really wanted the top half of the tank all SPS and have some LPS/softies in the lower parts. I just thought the pulsing xenia looked cool. I don't know I might give it a try...

 

[msuzuki126]

Thanks for the replies. I guess I could do alot of fragging. There's always someone that wants xenia.

 

[L and L]

They also grow in the direction of flow.

 

[L and L]

I frag xenia two ways. I place live rock rubble on top of it in the middle of a big clump of xenia and it just grows on it. Just pull it off the mother colony when you're ready to trade.

The other way is to place the xenia close the front glass or side glass. It grows on the glass and I take a razor blade and scrape it off.

 

[Frick-n-Frags]

NO, don't put Xenia below stony coral. I learned that one the hard way. They will spread upward as mentioned and climb right onto your coral. Then they either smother it(montis and turbinarias for example) or an awesome annihilation of the Xenia by the coral will occur(acros and hydophoras for example)
They are also nearly impossible to destroy once they get into all the nooks and crannies. It seems they can come back from just a couple of cells remaining from a little scrap still stuck somewhere, and all the pieces float away and take somewhere else.


obviously if you manage them, like give them the top of a lower rock, and keep an eye on them, you probably can have it any way you want it.

Also some of those big blue or white pom-poms I've seen didn't seem to spread like the pink redsea or the stock elongata does.
(I have the pink redsea - it stays close to the ground and spreads fast)

 

[cristhiam]

Keep it away from the PWs too, here is my old xenia reactor 55G, it's become quite a problem in my 125 too, you could get them to attach to the back wall or sides.

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[hyperfocal]

I have mine growing on a 6" dia piece of rock that I wedge onto the top of my rock. Every week, I rotate the rock 90-degrees -- if I don't, the Xenia starts growing too close to the neighboring rock. As soon as it touches anything, it starts to put down 'roots'

 

[mitchellmoto]

I currently have quite a bit of xenia. I just keep it trimmed back. I put it on a rock not close to the main rocks. It will grow on the substrate and you can remove it and trade it. I also don't see some peoples problem I think they are easy to remove from rock. I just get my finger nail under them and peel them away. also they are easy to remove from glass as already stated. So it all comes down to how much time you spend in keeping it under control because it does grow like a weed and will overtake corals.
Just keep fragging, Fragging, Fragging.