Beautiful hitchhiker sponge

[DmitryB]

I ordered a few lbs of rubble from Gulf Live Rock and this was one of the pieces, with this really bright sponge. I'd love to preserve it and have it thrive and grow. Anything special I should do? Attach the rock to a bigger piece to give it room to grow? Put it on the main structure and let it go wild? How aggressive are these things? Would it harm an SPS fore example??

 

[EnterName]

I'm not familiar with this exact type of sponge but I would start by having it grow separately. Sponges can't be scraped off effectively so if it turns out to be an aggressive grower or even harmful (sponges are known to produce toxins and some overgrow corals), you have a way to dispose of it.

It looks very nice. Unfortunately this often means it is hard to keep Mother nature has a twisted sense of humor.

I would definitely try to find out what kind of sponge it is so you can take proper care of it. If no one here can identify it by eye, you will have to go by its spicules which will require a microscope. I would be interested to follow along on the identification, it would fit very nicely to my post on sponge identification using microscopy.

 

[Zezerrian]

I wish you luck but unfortunately unless proper care was taken when transferring, it will probably not survive. Your best bet is to put it in a place where it will be left alone