Xenia hard to keep?

[glocklt4]

I found a local source for Xenia attached to a rock for $10 . my tank just got done cycling. How hard is it to keep xenia alive? What additives do I need to put in the tank and what chem levels do I need to watch?

It is very cool coral!!

Thanks!

[amcarrig]

If you do regular water changes, you shouldn't have to add anything extra to the tank. *The coral should do fine as long as you have adequate lighting and if your water parameters are good. *

[hoodoo]

well, I got a pumping xenia in my 10 gallon tank. And I had the nitrates go up to 60 once and the xenia didn't complain (of course that happens not very often). I feed it phitoplankton once in a while.
my xenia is spreading like crazy...

[Jay]

I have Xenia in my 60 gallon and it doubles every 2 months. Bright lights (halides are what I have 250 watt)
They will do great with good water quality and moderate indirect alternating current. I also add 4 drops Iodide to this tank every other day. They like the Iodine and I have found that the bright lights and Iodine will make them pulse ....especially in the evening they pulse very fast. You should either test your iodine levels or do like me and add increasing drops till you notice accelerated diatom and algae growth then back off and find a happy medium dose that does not cause the algae growth. This along with other foods like Cyclopsees, Phytoplex, and Microvert has worked great for all my soft and stoney corals. I have 3 Torch corals that love this combination as well. You don't dose all these at once. What I do is one day I add 1 quarter the recommended dose of Phytoplex, the next day I add 1 quarter the recommended dose of microvert and then skip a day or two and check my water parameters and if the skimmer and sand bed is working good to control nutrients then I resume the feedings. I add the Cyclopsees with one of those test kit spoons a little over full but not heaping every other day. Notice that I don't dose anything at the full recommend dose. Everything in moderation or you will be overfeeding.

I hope this helps with your soft corals. As far as the Xenia goes I dont know if the feedings benefit them but the Iodide will. Be sure to use Iodide while you are a beginner like me because its less likely to overdose because it is not as concentrated as Iodine.

Hope this helps and if you do try this method test your water often.

Other more seasoned reef persons feel free to correct me if I am giving incorrect advice as I am still learning. *

Jay

[Jay]

Oh....its a 10 gallon tank. I wouldnt try any of the things I just said in that small a tank. Sorry I did not see the size till just now.

Jay

[hoodoo]

well, I got a 10 gallon, glocklt4 hasn't told us his tank size (but please do, that helps a lot in most questions)
After what you said about the iodine I was thinking about using it. My Xenia is great and seems to really like it, but it does not pump a lot anymore. I guess that's the reason
But you said something about algae growth ... well, that's pretty much my biggest problem in that tank, and I'm not sure I should do that then. I feed phytoplankton about every other to every 4th day. I turn of the power filter for 2 hours and let them eat and they seem to like it.
I feed my fish brine shrimp once in a while and normally my Xenia gets lucky and catches some too.
So I guess I stick to that what I do for this tank. But I will get more life rock for my big tank next week and as soon as the parameters are fine I'll put some Xenia over.

I frag my Xenia. I go to the LFS and get small "sticks" of life rock. I put them into the Xenia. Just between two arms. and after about 2 weeks I have one arm on the small "stick". I don't wait until it lets go of the old rock. I cut it with a razor blade when there are healthy big feet on both sides. Then I put the stick in a different spot and have a new frag. they look horrible for about 3 hours, then it's like nothing ever happened.
This is probably nothing new for the more experienced reef keepers here, but fun for the newbies

[reiple]

Bright light and iodine as Jay said. Makes 'em pulse like wild.
Excellent for newbies. Not bad for old timers either.

[Birdlady]

I have one...it was my 2nd coral!It is easy to keep. I don't add anything but ESV Bionic 2 part, and Kalk and mine pulses all the time and has split into to large pieces over a 6 week time span.

Oh yeah, I do occasionally add mag or Cal if needed. If you are going to dose Iodine...make sure you get a TEST KIT! You can OD on it.

One guy at the local club where I go was looking a pics of my tank and when he got to the pic of the xenia he commented "vile weed!" because they spread so quickly. I keep mine on the sand and you can put rock rubble around it and as is spreads, like hoodoo says, it will make its own frags. They may split on their own or you can help them along! I don't put it on the main rockwork because I do not want it out of control.

Have fun!

A friend gave me a large colony of Xenia from his tank recently. It is about to go back. I am a big fan of starpolyps, and have about six different colonies, all different types, in my tank (Thats a lot for my size tank). The Xenia was showing some necrossis in a few spots. So I did a little research and is turns out that starpoypls secret chemicals that Xenia can be quite sensitive to. A min of 10 inches was suggested as the spacing betwenn the two. Just thought I would share that little tid bit. Don't imagine this would ever become a big problem for anybody else (most are not starpolyp nuts).

I just got some Xenias today from LFS.. They gave me some on a small rock and then a large piece that wasnt on anything..

So I attacted the ones to a rock closer to the light.. and the already attached ones are in the bottom of tank..

They arnt really pulsing yet but the ones closer to the light are more open.. I have iodine but I havnt added any.. I dont have a test kit..

Should they be pulsing or will it take a few days??