Anyone keeping sponges?

ThunderGoose · Dec 9, 2017

I have 3 sponges that I got with my shipment of live rock back in June. They're still with me. Two are "ear" sponges and one is a yellow ball sponge. I've been feeding sponge power and supplementing with silicon.

One of the ears looks like it might be losing tissue. Has anyone kept sponges long term? Any secrets to share if you have?

How the hell do you attach them to anything to keep them from blowing over in the current? My ball sponge attached itself to the substrate but my ears always seem to end up lying down on their sides. It's a gorgonian tank so it's gonna have current. Ideas?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Dec 9, 2017

IMO, sponges are very hard to keep. I tried several over the years, and the most long term success was with a yellow ball sponge placed under an overhang in a tunnel where water flowed well over it. It grew from a ball to a distorted shape filling most of the opening.

Other large types (1" plus) I tried eventually withered away.

I also had lots of small (cryptic) sponges naturally growing in dark areas on rocks.

I dosed silicate (about 75% of sponge species use silicate) and I think organic carbon dosing helps them by driving bacterial growth that they may feed on, and maybe supplying organics directly to them. I dosed vinegar at pretty high amounts.

nautical_nathaniel · Dec 9, 2017

My sponges are purely hitchhikers and they grow in low light, low flow areas of the aquascape, in fact most of mine only grow in shadowed areas and under some of my LPS corals (I only see them when the LPS recedes for the night).

Maybe try wedging the sponge that's loose in a crack or between two rocks sort of in the shade or a dimly lit area. Just don't expose it to air doing so, they don't like that at all and will usually melt back severely afterwards.