any advice/comments/suggestion/caution on this beauty?

they are pretty hardy, main thing if attach them to a rock and let them grow.

uigh...don't even start! They are like a weed!!! I had to suck some out of my tank last night. They're totally crowding out my SPS and LPS corals. I hope to rather put them in my refugium when I get it started up.

yes, be advised that in a normal softy/fish tank, they tend to grow very rapidly, requiring regularly fragging. i removed all of them from my tanks because they were just too much to keep up with

that said your standard reef tank, moderate lighting and water flow is good, it has been experienced that heavy skimming can retard there growth, which indicates they benefit from excess free nutients

i have a xenia now but its not pulsating.. how many different xenia are there?

I'm not sure what the exact number of varied xenia species is, but there are quite a few. Not all of them pulse, though.

Why don't you post a picture of it and maybe we can help you identify whether it is a pulsing one or not...

Reefkeeping magazine
(http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-12/reefslides/index.php)about 60 species acording to calfo.

further reading (http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-02/ac/feature/index.php)

xenia is a great beginers peice. of course theres nice xenia and ugly 1z. mines never really took over my tank. its relatively slow growing in my tank. xenias flourish in tanks with a low or moderate level of nutrients in the water. some people even put xenia in their refugiums claiming that they help with nutrient export.

I have a patch that came on the rock my BTA was attached to. I've had it about 4 months and it has grown a little bit but not like crazy. I skim and have a light bio-load so maybe it is the nutrient thing. I tried scraping a piece of it off the rock while it was in the water to give some to another person with no luck. So I guess if it goes crazy I will siphon it off.

Carmie - if you WANT to frag it, here's a couple of links on how to best do it:

GARF.org (http://www.garf.org/pulse.html)

FragOutpost (http://www.fragoutpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19)

Reefkeeping magazine
(http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-12/reefslides/index.php)about 60 species acording to calfo.

further reading (http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-02/ac/feature/index.php)

Unsubstantiated numbers.

Unsubstantiated numbers.
Beats me, i dont even like the animal personally :D

Carmie - if you WANT to frag it, here's a couple of links on how to best do it:

GARF.org (http://www.garf.org/pulse.html)

FragOutpost (http://www.fragoutpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19)
dont forget the Xenia Frag video i did a few months back.. its in the podcast feed.. :)

oh yeah! woops! Sorry Rob! I forgot about the video! :)

i didn't see that one in the feeds, i must have missed that one!

I watched the video several times. The problem is that the xenia is on the same rock as my BTA and it is really too big to take out of the tank. I tried cutting across the mat and scraping it off the rock but that didn't work, all I ended up with was xenia mush!

carmie - are you trying to get rid of it or frag it?

If you want to get rid of it and scraping it off didn't work, you could always siphon it off. I hate killing anything living, but I recently had to clear my tank of a bunch of xenia as it was starting to grow up onto my stony corals. When I do my big tank cleanings, I use a canister filter filled with wadding. The filter has a pretty good suction, so I can suck most of the xenia right off. There are, however, a few more persistent ones that kind of get stuck down in the crevices of the rock. These ones I'm more successful with just trying to pull them off with my fingers. If you irritate it enough over a period of time, it usually gives up.
Another thing to try is this - Xenia usually move away from flow directed at them. You could always aim a powerhead at it to get it to move away from where it is right now.

you turn up the heat, & dirrect the flow towards them.....
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/key/IMAGES/tornado.JPG

they say no way, im here to stay man..........
http://web.uct.ac.za/depts/stats/adu/image/cape_gannet_09.jpg

you change flow dirrection with protest mind you!

http://www.ufos-vulkane-und-meer.de/wetterbilder/tornado.jpg

and u sit back and say "my damage is done here" :D
http://www.hprcc.unl.edu/nebraska/05torn0727.jpg

http://www.oldengine.org/members/christison/turner/photo11.jpg
moral of the story, no more pesky xenia crowding out its tank mates!

i love xenia tho.. i might just get the pulsing one for the sake of my craving =]

yeah, mine are also the pulsing kind. I think individually they're absolutely beautiful species. They're one of the few things in the tank (besides the fish) that's actively moving, which is a nice addition. My biggest complaint is just how it's found its way throughout my entire tank. If I were to do it again, I'd try to isolate the colony on a single rock that's nowhere within wandering distance of the others! Just my 2 bits! :)

OK, lets see if I can explain this. :) I have a small patch of xenia that is on the LR that my BTA is attached to. It has just grown a little in about 4 months. I was going to try to get some of it off the rock to give to someone else. I can't take the rock out and frag it so i tried cutting the xenia off the rock but this only shredded it. Right now it is not a problem but if it becomes a problem in the future I will know what to do.

Funny question but isn't Xenia considered a soft coral and not LPS?

Funny question but isn't Xenia considered a soft coral and not LPS?
yes, thread moved to soft coral forum..

I was actually in my local pet shop today (best in the area) and say some Pulsating Xenia, absoutely beautiful. I'm thinking of picking some up next month for my new 50 gallon cube. I could just sit their and stare at it pulsating for hours.

That is exactly what I did 10 minutes ago :)

Apparently there is a guy in the area that has it ALL over the back of his 125, about once every 3 months he "mows the lawn" and puts it in a 24g cube with rubble, he sells the frags at $5 a rubble piece, gets 20-30 every harvest. The piece I got was a great looking chunk and I just couldn't say no for $5.