Common Pulsing Brown Xenia

Xenia elongata

As you can tell, the xenias are right up there as some of my favorite corals. Doing best in both moderate to high lighting and current, they are otherwise easy to keep, and in the right conditions, will flourish and can even take over a tank (not a pleasant thing for those who don't want aggressive soft corals that may compete with their other species).

They do best in the upper range of the tank, especially near powerheads. The independent pulsing motion of each stalk is perhaps the most attractive trait of these beautiful corals; it's hard not to have your attention attracted when the entire tank is in dynamic motion with these beautiful flower-like sessile animals to focus in on. Xenias are also extremely easy to propagate; basically just let them move onto an adjoining rock or shell by blowing current in that direction (or letting it "climb" there,

if the piece is higher up in the tank and closer to the light), and then remove that rock; the parent stem usually just grows larger. The one drawback is that this coral usually does not ship very well.