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Xenias have become one of the most common corals in the
aquarium trade and this common name applies to many soft corals these
days. Today however we will be concentrating on one more commonly known
as Pulsing, Red Sea or Pom Pom Xenia. The easiest way of fragging Xenia is actually to let it do the work for you; this can be achieved easily by laying pieces of live-rock or ocean rock around the base of the colony on the opposite side to the direction of water flow. The Xenia will then spread out onto the rocks and the frag can then be removed by cutting the adjoining foot with a blade. The remaining tissue left behind will re-grow into a new colony. In addition to being an excellent way to propagate Xenia, it's also effective for preventing Xenia from spreading excessively and overgrowing other corals. In my experience these species of xenia are best propagated using this technique because they can be difficult to handle once disturbed.
The easiest way to attach the fragment is use a
rubber-band to affix its foot to a piece of live rock, but not to be so
tight that it will crush or sever the coral’s tissue. A safer way would be
to use a needle and a thread of fishing line. You can pierce the needle
through the bottom of the colonies foot and tie it down easily to a piece
of rock. Once the coral has grown on, the line can be cut out and
removed. You can also simply cut stems of xenia from your live rock and place into a pond plant basket or breeding trap along with some pieces of rock. You could also use Alfagrog, a pond filter media as a fake live-rock. If the xenia cannot be blown away from its location then it will attach to the closest piece of rock very quickly. Many people will find that xenia makes its way onto the tank glass. This makes it very easy to remove using a credit card to carefully peel away the colony from the flat surface. For this method we would recommend using a card and not a blade so not to scratch the acrylic/glass while removing the Xenia. Thanks to Matthew Ward for contributing this article
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