splitting xenia

[rstiles]

I have a large pumping xenia and was wondering how to go about cutting/splitting -how to adhere to a small piece of rock

 

[fishlovr]

I have found the easiest way is to lay a small piece of rock up against the mother colony. Within a few days it will spread on to the rock and attach itself. Just clip the stalk between the two rocks and you have another colony. HTH
fishlovr

 

[nauti2001]

I have the elongated xenias.. I just took mine out of the tank into a bowl.. cut it near the base.. and then stick a toothpick in it and rubberband it to another rock.. but stick the toothpick in before you cut it. or else it will shrival up.. I have about 4 rocks with it on it now and its growing good.. matt

 

[scubasteve]

Xenia are pretty amazing when it comes to cutting them. You can cut them a lot of different ways. You could cut the stalk in half, the part already attached to the rock will grow a new "head" and then attach the other half a lot of different ways. I've always just used a small plastic breeder that i float in my tank with a frag of live rock. The cut piece will usually attach in a day or two. If you make small cuttings you can use bridal netting to cover a small frag of rock with and keep the xenia pressed against it (you can glue or rubber band the netting), just make sure the xenia can get it's tentacles thru the netting holes. The garf website has a cool video on cutting xenia: www.garf.org. I have a ton of pusling xenia in my tank that split on their own and that i have made cuttings of. I started with one little frag that was about 1 inch tall and 1/2 inch wide. Below is a pic of some of the "babies" from the parent coral (which is now about 8 inches tall and has reached about 2 inches thick before splitting). Hope this helps. Don't forget to share some xenia with your friends if you're successful! It's always cool to see some of your coral babies growing in friends tanks.

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