xenia over growing...

[Nigma]

sup guys, i am slowly watching my tank being invaded by xenia... just wondering what's the best way to move them off my rock and onto small frag rocks...
i am thinking about trading some to my LFS...

what do u guys recommend?

 

[GrendelPrime]

hack and slash..throw the pieces in a glass cup with rock rubble wait about a week till they attach then ur good to go

 

[sambrinar]

yep! if there is any tissue left at all on the rock it will grow back, that is a promise

 

[Eric]

+1 swing swing chop chop, if you want to trade it to the shop soon you can dig into the rock and remove a chuck the xenia is attached to. Sometimes this is easy to do for a ready made frag but it really depends on the rock, some chip away easily.

Dremil works well to cut a section of rock out as well.

 

[GrendelPrime]

they grow like nuts so if u can trade them to the lfs for credit u will be sittin pretty

 

[XeniaLee]

I have a similar problem...My silver tip Xenia has grown so much that it plopped over onto my zoanthids. besides shading them from the light they need, it now is squishing them. If I want to slash slash cut cut...do I do it when the xenia is sleeping? or while it's awake?
What about the fact they they release toxins when upset?
and if I put the piece with some coral to attach too in a cup, does that cup go in the bottom of my reef tank, or does it need to be in it's own tank?

 

[molsen187]

not sure when the best time to cut them is, but you can definitely just put the cup on the bottome of your tank. you could use a tupperwear container too.

 

[GrendelPrime]

there good to cut anytime of the day and if u have to cut in the tank ide run carbon and just take the cuts drop them in a cup with rubble and keep it in a med flow area on the bottom..less flow the better so they dont get blown out

 

[XeniaLee]

Thanks for the info! I will give it a try when I get home from work. I took a "before" picture this morning, so we'll see how he/she looks after. I'll run some carbon -- that's a great idea.

 

[GrendelPrime]

good luck and keep us posted

 

[tnwillia]

Anything that floats off becomes a new stalk some where else! Good luck

 

[XeniaLee]

I'll post the "after" pics in a few days...
Nigma, can you post some photos of your xenia fragging? I'd like to see how it works out...

 

[XeniaLee]

Well, I "fragged" the xenia with a new razor blade. It was kinda creepy to do it, I'll leave it at that. and now one piece is in a cup on the bottom of my tank, and the other is STUCK on my zoas. I tried to pull it off, but the zoas start coming up from the rock with the xenia. I'm not sure what to do.

 

[GrendelPrime]

there prolific suckers so u can mow then down to the mat and u will have a ton of frags

 

[XeniaLee]

Thanks for that tidbit. So if I slice it across, just above the zoas, I can be resonably certain that the Xenia frag will survive? And presumably, the zoanthids will then be able to come out from under what's left of the xenia. they are really squashed under it now. I'll give it a try.

 

[Nigma]

yup, gonna try and smash up some LR to make frag bits for the xenia...
gonna take some pics this weekend

 

[1Reefer]

I would "get surgical" on that one peice of Xenia that's stuck to the Zoas and remove it completly... then just trim before it gets that far again : )

 

[XeniaLee]

ok. thanks for the input. I think i'll cut it across the trunk and frag that piece, and then I'll cut away what's left on the zoas. I really like the xenia, but this is getting rediculous! more photos to follow.

 

[GrendelPrime]

i actualy like the way it looks when xenia over take a tank..im toying with the idea of having a clove/xenia tank and if i end up hating it thats alot of store credit down the road

 

[XeniaLee]

I love how they wave and do that pulsing thing. especially when they twist closed and back open. THey're beautiful. I'd be fine if I had a whole lot of them in that tank.
Surgery is scheduled for Saturday...