Xenia poll: difficult or easy to keep?

[saltaholic]

I have a 24 gal jbj nano cube with 27 lbs of lr and 30 lbs of ls. No additional lights...just what came with it.
I LOVE xenias and wondered how hard they were to keep. The lfs says no prob but I read in a book they are a little more difficult than a beginner can handle.
What do you all think?

 

[alyssia]

I don't have xenia but I've heard that it spreads like crazy and even becomes a nuisance is some tanks so I'm guessing it's easy.

 

[mrdc]

Easy and it's spreads for some people and not for others. Mine seems to be doing well and I have some new polyps but it's not growing crazy.

 

[oceana]

its hit and miss. for me the stuff is a weed and I have to cut the stuff out a throw it away every few weeks. in general I find and most agree that its a very easy coral to care for .

 

[jupoc911]

very easy. sometimes crashes for no reason.

 

[turningtim]

I run about 5 watts per gallon. Like oceana I can't stop it from growing. Even if I cut it off the stub just grows more. I don't think its a bad thing just takes some time to deal with it.
But I've heard pretty much the same thing, some have luck with it, some don't!
HTH
Tim

 

[ophiura]

Originally Posted by oceana
its hit and miss. for me the stuff is a weed and I have to cut the stuff out a throw it away every few weeks. in general I find and most agree that its a very easy coral to care for .

Totally agree. Will thrive in some tanks and not grow at all in others. I don't have success with any pulsing Xenia....but my tank is overgrown with Anthelia. May be extremely easy in some tanks and die within days in others. Its a mystery.

 

[stanlalee]

easy. my pH is usually 8.0 and has dipped to as low as 7.8. people claim say they wont do well below 8.2. Mine still thrive and grow with ease.
frag rock I started with

2 months later with frag rock moved over to the right

 

[ophiura]

Sorry for these dark pics. Oh well.
Anthelia is often sold as Xenia which is why I show it.
This is what I started out with in the Anthelia catagory about 10 months ago.
You can see where I ended up, and I have traded in rock after rock after rock with a bunch on it already.
:scared: :scared: :scared:

 

[firedog]

I have a pulsing xenia and it grows like crazy. I find it easy to keep.
I have read that low iodine will cause it to crash, and I have also read that it crashes in nature seasonally. It may come back after a crash too if you don't remove all the dead material. Wish I could be more specific on all this but I don't have the sources by me right now.
If you can find a cheap frag it is probably worth trying. I grew my first xenia in a nanocube deluxe (48w over 12gal) and it did just fine. It seems to have a richer, darker color now in my 75 gal. Maybe due to more light. Grows taller in that tank too. But either way it grows rather quickly, like a weed.
Can't believe some lfs charge so much for it sometimes. As easy as it seems to be for me, I would think it would be cheap. I have seen some lfs asking $75-125 for "show" xenia. Just seems ridiculous. Try finding someone near you who is giving away frags. Anyone near me is welcome to some of my frags. Just give me a small piece of lr and you can come take it from me. Sorry but I don't think I can ship it anywhere, it would probably take me forever to get around to doing it and I don't want to let anyone down.

 

[misfit]

easy, grows very fast

 

[sterling]

I tried the pulsing type a couple of times and never had any luck, just seemed to melt away, and another time I think my flame angel was doing it in.

 

[xrayman]

I bought my pulsing xenia a couple of weeks age it has spit already and growing great love them i hope they continue to do well.