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[edit] Xenia Difficulty: Easy - Medium Light: Low, medium, high, see comments Aggression: Not aggressive Hardiness: Delicate - Medium Growth Rate: Medium - Fast Availability: Somewhat common

Pulsing Xenia

Introduction

Introduction to the coral goes here

Common Names

Scientific Names

Hardiness

Xenia (specifically pulsing pompom Xenia) are easy to keep if given good conditions. They are sensitive to salinity changes. But once established they can grow like a weed and even approach the nuisance category. Xenias do not ship well and are best acquired locally if possible. When shipped, care should be taken to keep the animal from touching the sides of their container. They can loose the top part of the animal, but even a small part of the base will sometimes grow back.

The act of the Xenia pulsing is a bit of a mystery. Some aquarists report that their xenias always pulse, but some claim they have healthy specimens that do not pulse. Pulsing may slow or stop if conditions are not good, possibly indicating a lack of calcium or other element within the water column. Xenia will pulse better and with more co-ordination when the water is at a pH of between 8.4-8.5. Uncoordinated pulsing is indicative of a lower pH.

They like to live in what we call dirty aquarium and are said to consume nitrates and require at least a baseline level of nitrates to thrive.

Flow

Pulsing Pompom Xenias like a medium to high flow. The tentacles should blow back and forth but not with too much aggression and not just in one direction

Lighting

Xenia are among the easiest corals to grow under lighting. They can be around most ranges of lighting.

Xenias will survive in a variety of conditions, but do best in brighter light. In low light conditions they take on a different shape with a narrow stalk and long and thin polyps. They also do not grow as fast or reproduce as fast in low light. Xenias have been know to grow well near the top of the tank under 175 metal halides or very high output (VHO) fluorescents.

Placement

Placement depends on the lighting conditions. It is always reccomended to place xenias, as with all corals low and slowly raise them in the tank to find thier prime living condition.

Feeding

Xenias don't really have a mouth and do not really feed as far has we know. It's generally agreed that they need some baseline level of iodine, whether supplemented or part of a salt/nutrient mix, to thrive in our quariums.

Propagation

Easy to reproduce, just stick the xenia on a rock and wait a couple of days and you will notice that the xenia is kind of stuck on the new rock. Cut the xenia between the 2 rocks and there you go you have a frag of xenia. One can also place the xenia fragment in a plastic tube on the rock that your want it to grow on so that it doesn't get blown away by water current.

Predators

Xenia is commonly fed upon by a nudibranch in the Phyllodesmium genus. It looks identical to the coral and during the day will feed on its stalks.

FAQ

Commonly-asked questions regarding the coral.

My xenia isn't pulsing, is it dying?