to xenia or not to xenia?

I love the look and ease of xenia, but am concerned about the possible growth/control of the growth! the more i read on here and other forums, the more confused I get! The love/hate relationship with this critter is amazing!

Thx for the help

 

I have some & went from 1 head to probably a dozen in 6 months. When it spread and sprout a new head where I dont want, I just chop it off with some scissors and rubber band it to a farg plug to heal & pass it off to another reefer. I have since grown past local reefers that need any so now I just toss them. They arent that hard to keep under control a pair of scissors keeps them in place.

 

As long as you understand it will spread and take some maint on your part, and you accept that, then I'd say go for it.

I love the motion it presents in the tank, and I know that a lot of people that look at my tank think it's one of the "cooler" corals in there because of how it pulses. So, I wouldn't change the fact I added it!

 

i love xenia, its such a cool coral, when its happy its spreads like crazy.i went from having it in my tank to it crashing and taking it all plus some other corals with it and leaving the tank kind of bare to than not able to get it to grow in my tank at all, till just a couple months ago trying it again to.... I'm now cutting pieces off to keep it from covering other corals. its one crazy coral!

 

I got mine as a rescue from another persons tank, free is good and scissors are on standby. If you can trim it go for it

 

Well not hearing much negative so far, unless your lazy! Thx! And negative reviews?

 

lazy that my friend is what sometimes leads to alot of challenges in this hobby.

...... help! the green hair algae has grown out of my tank & attacked the neighbor children! You'll see those threads, give it time, and it sprouted overnight right?!? lol.

The only negative I personally have is the way they can spread if left unchecked. It took mine jumping rocks to get my attention. Envision like a "V" with the opening facing towards you. Well I had my xenia on one side of the V, as it grew & blowing in the current it got big enough to touch the other side. Soon it stuck. I said 'Oh cool, look honey its growing'. Then 4 heads turned into six, they the stalk split and a little piece left turned into another as well. Thats when I decided to get on it, and went all edwards scissorhands up in there! lol.

 

+1 to above, They are really nice but can take over quickly if not pruned (fragged) also, they can be tempermental, some just die for no reason, some spread like crazy

 

I love xenia! Mine is now just started to grow well. I have the I believe pusling pom pom xenia and 2 other types..

 

Nice info! I've read if you try to scrape them off the glass you can have babies sprout up everywhere!