Xenia vs. Aiptasia

[Gaffes]

I noticed that my Xenia has spread and is now touching up against an Aiptasia anemone. Neither one seems to mind at all, since they are both wide open and their tentacles are completely touching. Is this normal? I thought Aiptasia were renowned for their stinging.

In other news, I am moving my picasso trigger from my FOWLR tank and adding a few peppermint shrimp. It should be interesting, because I have quite a few Aiptasia. If they decide to start eating the anemones, they will have quite a feast.

 

[fungia]

cool. i have 2 aptasia and they have not spread but i should get rid of them. i thought they sting every thing too but maybe some softies are immune like the stalks of leather umbrella corals. who knows?

i would like to know if the peppermints eat the aiptisias. i tried one before but it disappeared in a day

 

[crnaguy]

i have a copperband butterfly that ate 25+ aptasias in less than a week. i never saw him eat one but they just kept disappearing one by one

 

[Len]

I've found Xenia pretty invunerable to most other organisms' stings. It just seems to me that certain species just don't care Matter of fact, I've kept species of Xenia that were able to chemically burn the living daylights out of any neighboring corals. I'm rooting for your Xenia

 

[TomH]

I've utilized a Peppermint Shrimp in the war against Aiptasia and it did its job well. My outbreak wasn't that bad -- probably 2 dozen in a 30g -- but the aiptasia disappeared quite rapidly. I'm concerned about using them in my new 72g, however, as I've read that they may prey on microfauna in a DSB -- I guess I'll just have to carefully examine all of my introductions.

Good luck.

Tom

 

[JohnH]

I've got a large mushroom polyp that is growing towards an Aiptasia, and the Aiptasia looks nearly dead (lying flat on the rock).

I had about 20 Aiptasia in my 75 gal. until I added a couple peppermint shrimp. Now a week later I have only 1-2 Aiptasia left. The shrimp are largely nocturnal, so I've never actually observed them eating the Aiptasia.