How hard/easy to grow sponge?

[cdnco2004]

I want to be able to grow sponge for my angelfish. Could I do it in a tank I grow macro algae. It's very nutrient rich water, it's my molly breeding tank. Macro algae grows well in the tank with no doesing. The mollies keep it prestienly clean of unwanted algae and only nip here and there on the macro. They clean the macro algae but don't often beat any of it. The macro loves the tank, grows fast. The tank has medium lighting moderate flow.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

By all accounts that I've heard (with exceptions for invasive sponges), ornamental sponges are incredibly difficult to maintain (not grow, just maintain) in our tanks; cryptic sponges seem to do quite well though (some people keep cryptic refugia where they use cryptic sponges as filtration).

You probably wouldn't be able to grow cryptic sponges in the tank, but you could probably grow them in the sump; ornamental sponges would probably die/just survive without growing regardless.

If you want to try ornamental sponges anyway, see the post linked below:

Help with ID

Recieved lr from tbs yesterday. I have an ID question. Is the red encrusting stuff a sponge??? I also got some form of sps (hard to see).

www.reef2reef.com

If you want to try cryptic sponges, Reeffarmers was the place to buy them; last I heard (late August of 2022) they were still selling, so I'd assume they're running, but I haven't seen any updates on them recently:

Farmed Sponges and Sea Squirts Reeffarmers

Edit: Forgot to add - your angelfish may or may not eat any sponges you grow:

Just to put this out there - the problem with using biological controls (i.e. something that eats it) with sponges is that there are a ton of different sponges, some of which look indistinguishable from others. Some of these sponges are inedible or extremely undesirable foods to some species (either because of chemical defenses* or just because of taste preferences) while being highly desirable to other species. So, even if you pull in a known sponge-eating species of fish/starfish/whatever, there's no guarantee it will eat the sponge you want it to eat. Also, many of these sponge-eating species eat other things (like coral) that you might not want them eating.

Long story short, manual removal is probably your best option for sponges until more study has been on both specific sponges and specific sponge-eaters, but you can try it if you want.

*Just as a note on the chemical defenses of sponges, many sponges produce chemicals to avoid being eaten. Some of these chemicals are more generalized, some of them are specifically anti-fish, some are specifically anti-echinoderm (starfish, urchin, etc.), etc. So, again, some things might eat one sponge but not another, and because of the whole indistinguishable thing mentioned above, the sponges that are and are not being eaten may look pretty much identical (some may be distinguished/ID'ed under microscopic investigation, others may need to be DNA tested to be distinguished/ID'ed).

Just my two cents here.

 

[cdnco2004]

Thanks I just messaged Reeffarmers.

 

[Aframereef]

This is my sponge factory. Just good flow and low light.

 

[207Meg]

Aquacorals has two types of sponge that they sell that grow well in a tank, photosynthetic sponges. Just curious, do the Angel fish eat all types of sponge or do they have a preference?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Aquacorals has two types of sponge that they sell that grow well in a tank, photosynthetic sponges. Just curious, do the Angel fish eat all types of sponge or do they have a preference?

Ah, yeah photosynthetic sponges can do really well in some tanks (to the point of becoming invasive) but they sometimes do poorly in others - they're definitely among the easier to grow ornamental sponges.

Angelfish most likely won't eat all kinds of sponges (some kinds would likely kill them, others would likely taste very bad), and they most likely will have a preference - it all depends on the chemicals in the sponges.

 

[Doctorgori]

I’ve have a few yellow ball sponges over 1yr old, also a a small piece of red tree probably about the same ..
I have nothing to add except they are in the shade, moderate flow

 

[shakacuz]

im tagging along for the collective information. i wanted to try my hand at keeping the blue sponge so hopefully you can get some more advice

 

[vetteguy53081]

I want to be able to grow sponge for my angelfish. Could I do it in a tank I grow macro algae. It's very nutrient rich water, it's my molly breeding tank. Macro algae grows well in the tank with no doesing. The mollies keep it prestienly clean of unwanted algae and only nip here and there on the macro. They clean the macro algae but don't often beat any of it. The macro loves the tank, grows fast. The tank has medium lighting moderate flow.

I would get prepared diet with sponge before spending good money to watch some of them disintegrate

 

[cdnco2004]

I am already getting Mega Marine Angle just wanted a different source besides frozen Anglefish blends.

 

[SomeHappyFish]

How about these types ? Sea Fan Sponge

 

[Doctorgori]

I am already getting Mega Marine Angle just wanted a different source besides frozen Anglefish blends.

It isn’t hard to grow pineapple sponges on sheets in the sump … BTW I can fully appreciate the effort to give your fish the best diet

BTW I own the poster child fish for sponge diets: Moorish Idol, Rock Beauty and Regal … TBH I have some doubts just how mandatory a sponge diet really is

 

[cdnco2004]

I have not had pineapple sponges in over a year. Had a lot them in most of my tanks sumps and under rocks but after like 9 months they went away as my water parameters got stable. The only Angle I had at the time were 2 Coral Beauties in different tanks and they both ignored the pineapple sponges.