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Cutting the netting
The netting that we use for this project has large holes and these allow the Xenia cuttings to extend individual polyps above the netting. By folding the netting into triangles we are able to cut a large number of small circles at once.
You start making the circles by first folding the netting into a small square that has several layers. The circles of netting should be just large enough to cover the top of the reef plug and allow a rubber band to hold the netting in place. |
Cutting the brood stock
We use stainless steel scissors to harvest the Xenia from the brood stock aquariums. All strains of Xenias seem to thrive and they are constantly thinned. As long as we keep colonies trimmed and the reef aquarium does not get over 80 degrees we very seldom loose any Xenia to crashes. If you are harvesting Xenia in a large reef aquarium be sure to have your stainless steel tweezers so you can catch the cuttings before they drift in between the rocks. |
Cutting the head
Because the Xenia are very slippery we have developed a method for cutting them by placing them between two fingers. This way we can slip the lower blade of the stainless steel scissors between two fingers below the Xenia. This allows us to hold the Xenia stationary as we slice it in half. When we are producing Xenia using the netting method we leave a piece of the stalk on as many cuttings as we can. Each of these cuttings has between 10 and 20 complete polyps. |
Mounting the Xenia
We Use our stainless steel tweezers to pick up each cutting and place it in the center of our Reef Plugtm. When we are placing the cuttings we try to position that so that the stalk is against the top of the reef plug tm. This allows the polyps to extend through in the netting. After several polyps have expanded outside of the netting you can be certain that the cutting is secure. When we attach the Xenia to reef plugs this way they do not come loose in strong current . |
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Fastening the netting
We use rubber bands to secure the netting over the Xenia cuttings. The netting should be pulled down tightly because the Xenia can shrink and it may work itself loose if the netting is not tight enough. The fresh cuttings should be placed in the part of the tank that has very strong water movement. If there is not sufficient water movement stagnant water will collect next to the bubbles under the netting. When this happens the Xenia are often attacked by bacteria. |
Finished product
The Xenia that we made during this video were placed in our new Farm-In-A-Box tank and they have grown very rapidly. We will be posting pictures of the Xenia during the next semester. The Farm-In-A-Box tank holds 30 liters of water and its racks have spaces for 36 Xenia plugs. Sally Jo's first cutting unit holds over 1000 finished Xenia. If you have learned how to cut Xenia by watching this video we would be very interested in hearing about things you'd like to see in future videos. |
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