Senior Reefer yikai Posted June 1, 2010 Senior Reefer Share Posted June 1, 2010 Xenias and other similar looking corals are one of the most poorly identified corals. Many species of corals look similar and most people just lump them together and call them "xenias". This thread should help future IDs and clear the air! Firstly, the genus Xenia, belongs to the higher family, xeniidae. Xenias are famed for their pulsating abilities. 5 petaled polyps found on stalks that congregate only at the apex of a stem. Xenias have tall or short stems which differentiates them from others in the family. Consists of a few species, the most famous being Xenia elongata, and xenia umbellata (fastest pulsing and largest polyped of all the xenias) here's a close up view of polyps belonging to X. umbellata. Notice the large clove like polyps! 2nd picture shows xenia elongata with typical appearance. 5-petaled polyps, on stalks, attached to a large central stem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FuEl Posted June 1, 2010 Share Posted June 1, 2010 Good luck IDing them all. ID the white Fiji one for me? Quote Always something more important than fish. http://reefbuilders.com/2012/03/08/sps-pico-reef/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Reefer yikai Posted June 1, 2010 Author Senior Reefer Share Posted June 1, 2010 Next in the family, anthelias. Known as waving hands Looks very similar to xenias and one of the most often confused out of all. Grows in mats, with no stems. Long polyps attached to a creeping mat, rather similar to star polyps. Polyps are non-retractile or semi-retractible. Most species do not pulse or pulse by curling, not in the open-close fashion. notice the creeping fashion in which it grows, not propt up by stems Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Reefer yikai Posted June 1, 2010 Author Senior Reefer Share Posted June 1, 2010 Good luck IDing them all. ID the white Fiji one for me? who's IDing them all? Taxonomists have never Identified all xenia species. Most are labelled as Xenia.sp and so is your fiji one. or, it could be one of these. When you're free, go read up on them. Your fiji xenia is bound to be in one of these. X. mucosa, X. multipinnata, X. stellafera, Xenia alcyonacea Xenia farauensis Xenia arabica Xenia benayahui Xenia biseriata Xenia crassa Xenia aff. distorta Xenia faraunensis Xenia hicksoni Xenia impulsatilla Xenia kuekanthali Xenia mayi Xenia macrospiculata Xenia membranacea Xenia novaecaledoniae Xenia obscuronata Xenia verseveldti Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Reefer yikai Posted June 1, 2010 Author Senior Reefer Share Posted June 1, 2010 Cespitularias. Grows on thick tall stalks with polyps branching from apical stems and all over the bottom. Used to own a 3ft colony of this which melted down to less than half Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Reefer yikai Posted June 1, 2010 Author Senior Reefer Share Posted June 1, 2010 There are many other genus like heteroxenia which are not commonly available, so i will skip them. Pipe organ coral. NOT a xenia and not even related to xenia. These 5-petaled polyp soft corals grow in tubes which are hard and calcareous. Notice the second cross sectional view showing the "tubes" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Reefer yikai Posted June 1, 2010 Author Senior Reefer Share Posted June 1, 2010 Clavularia sp. Otherwise known as clove polyps. Retractable polyps, grows on mats, 5 petals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Reefer yikai Posted June 1, 2010 Author Senior Reefer Share Posted June 1, 2010 done! most of the commonly mis-identified "xenias" have already been posted and i hope this helped clear any doubts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eniram Posted June 1, 2010 Share Posted June 1, 2010 Thanks for the ID topic, able to also share which species are hardy? i know Cespitularias and Pipe organ coral are easy to take care. Never had any luck with clove, waving hands and xenia. Not sure if its true that they need high nutrient waters Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilsontantw Posted June 1, 2010 Share Posted June 1, 2010 lemon, i always wondered how anyone can actually remember all these scientific names! APparently you can! haha.. Goodjob. Btw, can you help me ID this coral in blue?? (sorry for the blur pix) Is this xenia? clove? or wth is that?? and it grows very fast! I think it's got 8 polyps though... so not xenia?? Quote decommissioned 2.5x2x2 Videos: | | Your mind is like a parachute. It only works when it is open. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terryz_ Posted June 1, 2010 Share Posted June 1, 2010 lemon, i always wondered how anyone can actually remember all these scientific names! APparently you can! haha.. Goodjob. Btw, can you help me ID this coral in blue?? (sorry for the blur pix) Is this xenia? clove? or wth is that?? and it grows very fast! This is the common blue clove if not wrong... Very blue leh... Nice!! Quote Member of: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Reefer yikai Posted June 1, 2010 Author Senior Reefer Share Posted June 1, 2010 lemon, i always wondered how anyone can actually remember all these scientific names! APparently you can! haha.. Goodjob. Btw, can you help me ID this coral in blue?? (sorry for the blur pix) Is this xenia? clove? or wth is that?? and it grows very fast! I think it's got 8 polyps though... so not xenia?? clavularia sp. one of the many clove corals that do not have a species name, so it's just labelled as clavularia sp. yes this is the tiny polyped blue kind. they have the potential to be VERY blue like yours! and grows very quickly as long as they are not attached by long stalks to the apex of a large central stem, they are not xenias. that's one of the ways to ID them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilsontantw Posted June 1, 2010 Share Posted June 1, 2010 thanks Terryz/Lemon. indeed it's tiny and very blue... i'm trying to place the rock near to a base rock and hope it spreads there. it'll be nice to have base rocks filled with blue cloves. came as hitchhikers on that rhodactics rock. (almost died during the rescape) Quote decommissioned 2.5x2x2 Videos: | | Your mind is like a parachute. It only works when it is open. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Reefer yikai Posted June 1, 2010 Author Senior Reefer Share Posted June 1, 2010 thanks Terryz/Lemon. indeed it's tiny and very blue... i'm trying to place the rock near to a base rock and hope it spreads there. it'll be nice to have base rocks filled with blue cloves. came as hitchhikers on that rhodactics rock. (almost died during the rescape) these can be bought during indo shipments by the rocks. but it's always more fun to grow them from frags! especially from HITCHHIKER frags! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilsontantw Posted June 1, 2010 Share Posted June 1, 2010 spot on! i am now loving frags a lot, coz can see growth! it came with probably 5polyps (barely visible)... now probably a small patch of 50c coin size. But not spreading to another rock yet... hoping... hoping.. dunno if i should frag it though, just dun wanna "fix it when it's not broken". Quote decommissioned 2.5x2x2 Videos: | | Your mind is like a parachute. It only works when it is open. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marinakid Posted June 7, 2010 Share Posted June 7, 2010 side track abit. can anyone advice how come my Xenia does not pulse and extend very skinny. looks a world of different when i saw it at the LFS. been inside my tank for about 1 month. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Reefer yikai Posted June 7, 2010 Author Senior Reefer Share Posted June 7, 2010 side track abit. can anyone advice how come my Xenia does not pulse and extend very skinny. looks a world of different when i saw it at the LFS. been inside my tank for about 1 month. brown 1 isit? xenia elongata. these guys pulse when the pH is 8.2 and above. Low pH results in poor pulsing. Also do note that sometimes they just stop pulsing for no reason. In fact, why xenia pulse is unkown to science. If you find out why maybe you could get a nobel prize Many scientist hypothesize that they pulse for water exchange, waste, etc. Here are the criteria for pulsing. - low flow. (They pulse better in lower flow. And their pulsing is best observed in low flow, however, xenia do pulse in high flow too) - pH of >8.2 any lower and your xenia might not pulse. If all of the above conditions are met, it just means your xenia doesn't want to pulse and it's perfectly normal. Like i said, they do stop pulsing but that does not mean they are dying. Secondly, if your xenia is growing too long and thin, it means the flow might be too strong or there isn't enough light. Also do bear in mind that if your species is xenia elongata, the brown one, they tend to grow like this. Hence their scientific name, elongata = long, elongated (in latin) hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marinakid Posted June 7, 2010 Share Posted June 7, 2010 yup. it brown in colour. but when i saw it at the LFS, it seem to swell abit. after bring back, honestly i hardly recognise it. it look world of different from the LFS. i kind of wonder why i bought that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Reefer yikai Posted June 7, 2010 Author Senior Reefer Share Posted June 7, 2010 yup. it brown in colour. but when i saw it at the LFS, it seem to swell abit. after bring back, honestly i hardly recognise it. it look world of different from the LFS. i kind of wonder why i bought that. xenia elongata tends to do that. many reefers report different success stories with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BamBoo Posted July 3, 2010 Share Posted July 3, 2010 Great info! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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