What is the most valuable XENIA?

[RLiu818]

So far the only xenia i know are the typical Pink Xenia, Silver branched xenia, and Pom-pom (red sea) xenia.

Silver Branches xenia is priced higher than Pom-pom at liveaquaries sites. However, many do not recognize the difference between silver branch xenia and normal pink xenia.

Reason I ask is because I plan to propogate xenia in my propogation tank just for the purpose of selling and earning back some of the money I put into this hobby. I want to know what xenia I should propogate that a typical fish store will give me the most money or credit for.

Thanks

 

[Snoozer]

totally depends on the fish store.

 

[MattM]

There is a variant of Xenia cespitularia that is a deep blue color. That fetches outrageous prices, but it's a ***** to keep alive long-term.

There is also a variant of the white colored Red Sea Xenia that pulses very fast (about 2 pulses per second) and usually goes for about twice the price of the more common Xenias. It grows rapidly on it's own, but is difficult to propagate; i.e., it will spread like crazy, but if you slice it and try to attach it to a small rock in order to sell it, it often dies.

 

[Anonymous]

The brown Xenia that goes by various other names is the cheapest. It is also called tree Xenia, IndoPacific Xenia, silvertip Xenia, "blue" Xenia, among other names.

The RedSea/pink Xenia is more difficult to grow, and it is more expensive, on average.

The pompom Xenia from Fiji is slow grower, and it is even more expensive. However, there are other rare Xenia such as X. ces. that Matt mentioned. Oftentime, people are selling X. elongata as blue Xenia (everything looks blue under actinics), so you have to be careful.

Most of the time, the price is just a function of supply (appeal to hobbyist) and demand (availability and growth), and for coral, this model works out very well. Once the LFS realize that you have a good number of colonies, and they don't sell within a week or so, the price will drop very fast.

 

[Ralphyhp]

Hi RLiu, why you dont try to propagate lethers corals. IMO they are more easy to attach to a rock and the LFS like to buy them. Take a look to my money macker, i frag this one more than 20 times and still giving me frags. I'm planning to get some other types of leathers to continue the business. I also use to frag my Frogspawn my Goniopora are budding the entire year, green hairy mushrooms splits everywhere. I set a 55g tank to move all this corals from my SPS tank. This way i can frag softies with softies and SPS with SPS. I wish you the the best with your Xenia business. Bye, Ralphyhp.