Sponges 101

[ChilisREasy]

An All-Round information study board on all species of Sponges, including Parasite & Coral Killing sponges, feeding habits, classification, water parameter requirements & care keeping instructions & stories.

[ChilisREasy]

1st off my Blue Sponge that is classified as Haliclona sp. from the Indo-Pacific Ocean,

Information already available : ''Has a temperature range of 75 to 83°F (24 - 28°C). Does best in a moderately 'lighted' area and should be placed where the current is quite swift. They feed upon plankton and suspended detritus, and require numerous feedings per day of live and/or preserved commercial phytoplankton products or that of animal and plant powders that produce suspended products in the bulk water. Will not tolerate hair algae and nitrate-nitrogen levels should be kept below 15 ppm. Does not ship well, but if you get a healthy piece, it will fair well in the reef aquarium. ''
http://www.saltcorner.com/sections/z...aliclonasp.htm

my Progess of Aquacultering this Sponge :

Aug, 2007 :


2 weeks later :

and another week :

-------------------------Then i Fragged it !!!-----------------



Continued -----

[ChilisREasy]

Frag Pictures :

Sep 18 2007 :

[ChilisREasy]

Some other Sponges :


Puff-Ball Sponges

Black Sponge :

[ChilisREasy]

Complete Colony Rock of Sponges : if you will notice the fast growth & new Puff-Ball
Sponge near the black sponge

10-03-07 :

[ChilisREasy]

More coming soon, there is a Black-orange parasite sponge.

& A New Orange with Red veins Sponge, pictures coming soon

[Gary C]

I think I've got two sponges growing. Never put them there and not sure where they came from...but they look like sponges. One is black and one is greenish-yellow. And growing.

They are on a rock that used to have mushrooms...but the mushrooms appear to have been eaten by something. The mushrooms were cleaned off completely. Then a month or so later these tiny bits of sponge appeared...now one is about dime sized and the black one is a bit smaller. Not sure I can get a photo of them due to their placement in the tank....and I don't want to take a chance moving them.

[Loverotties]

Love the blue!

[ChilisREasy]

just a small update : just to test how well the Haliclona sponge can adjust to aquaculter conditions a small frag was added to my new tank from the start, 1st coral in the system, that was back in OCT. 2007, well, its still alive, still healthy & very bright colored not much growth because i have only fed it 5 times in that period, this means that in most aquariums that Blue Sponge Haliclona Sp.? can be aquaclutered as well as any soft coral it acutally done better that the montipora confusa & 1 small zoa frag, wich is really amazing if you think about it.

Also : i have noticed my pictures on this thread are not showing up anymore, i will fix that very soon

[tims]

well that is good news all round then!

[Eriksmack]

one of my favorite sponges, this black barrel one. grows pretty quick for me. Nice growth patterns too

[Eriksmack]

Frags of the barrel sponge getting ready for the cleveland frag swap

[tims]

sweet looking sponge! too bad i am not closer

[ChilisREasy]

Originally Posted by tims

sweet looking sponge! too bad i am not closer

yea..too far away for me as well...but i am getting some new sponges soon, tree sponges, common, but should be a good addition & add some color to my brown coral masterpiece and i got an update coming soon on my original colony of Haliclona sponge..seems after i got the tank cleaned & water parms corrected..(mostly calcium & alk) its starting to grow again..almost 1/2 inch of growth over the weekend should start growing rapidly like it did back in late summer before my tank nearly crashed but ive noticed..most colonys ive seen never get much larger than a baseball..not even in the ocean. odd..

also i got those old pictures fixed..made it better this time

[tims]

cool!