Weird Little Sponge :)

[Mr. Ugly]

Ok... and for something not X-Treme at all...

Here's a weird little sponge that has been growing in my prop tank. It originally came from my 90g softie tank that I took down. I've had these sponges for probably about 2 years, and they multiply pretty easily.

Pretty cool orange mottled color, and they totally glow under actinics. They can grow to at least marble size... maybe even bigger. Trying to see if I can grow grapefruit sized ones

Interesting to play with for filtration. Sponges are supposed to process a lot of water. And they pull silicates from the water for their spicules.

Speak up if you want some!

 

[Ibn]

Hook me up with one, Norm!

 

[sfsuphysics]

Hahah cool, I love sponges, I got a ton of mini ones (grains of rice size) that managed to take up residence in my external overflow box, so they're under a constant waterfall and I'm guessing they like it! So much it gave me the idea to put some sponges in my other tank's overflow as well, super bright neon green ones.

 

[Ibn]

You need to post some pics, Mike.

 

[LeviT]

Cool, looks like an eyeball. You can call it the "Mr.Ugly is watching" sponge. I actually have a few plane white ones and some tunicates I could put ip but they don't look as cool.

 

[sfsuphysics]

You're the picture taker Eric not I! I'll see what I can do though.

 

[nash]

Norm,sure looks like a Fat AEFW egg sack to me ;D But what the heck put me in line looks good

 

[kinetic]

so neat! do sponges become a pest after awhile? does this one spread through the water column?

 

[Raddogz]

What's the difference between this and the chicken liver sponges?

 

[Mr. Ugly]

Hmm... shapewise, these are discrete spheres. The chicken liver is encrusting?

Don't know what else. Haven't looked into this sponge much. Don't know what kind it is. Just that a few people have seen it in the tank and thought the bright glow was kinda cool

Is this orange ball sponge? Just saw a ref to that. Atlantic...

 

[Mr. Ugly]

[quote author=kinetic link=topic=3028.msg32696#msg32696 date=1202865462]
so neat! do sponges become a pest after awhile? does this one spread through the water column?
[/quote]

The soft cottony ones can be a pain I guess. This one is firm and prickly. It just shows up all over. Easy to remove if necessary.

Thought it would be cool to set up an area in the sump packed with sponges. I have a bunch of other weird sponges growing all over under the frag racks. Gray worm looking ones. Some cool blue ones. Cottony white stuff. Yellow blobs.

 

[LeviT]

Go ahead and put me down for some Norman. I'll let you know if I'll be at the BOD mtg or the April mtg. Thanks.

 

[LeviT]

I got 3 of these from Norm and the largest one blew up into 5 small ones so I can give out 3 to someone else if anyone is interested. These are hardly noticable in my tank but when just the actinics are on they glow orange.

 

[Ibn]

Yup, this stuff seems to want to split. One of the ones that I got from Norm went from one to three. Not sure what got it to split, since the other 3 are still the same size.

I can do 3 of them too for whomever is interested.

 

[tuberider]

I love to give it a try, I'm plumbing in a small tank filled with liverock, they'd be perfect!

 

[LeviT]

I'll have them at the meeting next month for you Jeremy.

Anyone want these from Eric? (Ibn)

 

[Rekonn]

I'll take one if available.

 

[Ibn]

Can't make it to the next meeting, so you'll have to wait. Otherwise, you can pick it up at my place in San Jose.

 

[yardartist]

Are these available from any tanks at the present time?

Thanks,

 

[GreshamH]

And they pull silicates from the water for their spicules.

Not all IIRC. Some do not utilize silica at all IIRC but rather calcium.

I'd like one as well