Xenia overload

MACHO · Apr 16, 2020

Hey real quick my Xenia colony has gotten out of control idk where to move it to keep it from growing will it grow on the back of my wall? Also I glued over what little colonies it made on the rocks will that stop it from growing? The first pic is the glued colony the second pic is the Xenia colony I’ve gotten it almost all on one rock and the third pic is where I’m planning to move it it’s sort of close to the wall of my tank is that bad?

SF_Ice · Apr 16, 2020

I have had success in simply irritating the foot of unwanted xenia. I use a pair of tongs and poke around at the food and attempt to remove it. It has always released and I have either moved it to where I want it to be. In the future as it starts to out grow its provided area, I have reached out to my lfs who is willing to give me credit for the frags I bring him. You could also look into a local reef group and provide some new reefers with some hardy frags.

Let me know if you have any more questions or if these ideas interest you.

JoshO · Apr 16, 2020

MACHO said:
Hey real quick my Xenia colony has gotten out of control idk where to move it to keep it from growing will it grow on the back of my wall? Also I glued over what little colonies it made on the rocks will that stop it from growing? The first pic is the glued colony the second pic is the Xenia colony I’ve gotten it almost all on one rock and the third pic is where I’m planning to move it it’s sort of close to the wall of my tank is that bad?

You'd be better off posting this in the soft coral section. People tend to keep an eye sections they have particular knowledge of

Daniel@R2R · Apr 16, 2020

Xenia can be VERY invasive. It will spread a LOT throughout a tank. It can grow on the back wall. I don't really have any suggestions for containing it...sometimes keeping it on a separate island will help.

LiveWire · Apr 16, 2020

@MACHO Xenia are very hardy and easily grow and take over as you can see. Some people grown them in their fuge area so that they can be easily taken out of the system and sold or given away and such. Looking at the pictures it appears that you could easily take the rocks out and scrape them off. But it may just be the way i'm look at it.