Found a blue vase sponge, any advise of feeding?

[dustin]

I found this guy on sale for $22.50. I thought this was a great deal, its about the size of half a carrot with no visible dead spots. After reading alot about this species, I am thinking I can feed it by placing it in a clear container in the water and use my baster to fill the container with plakton. That way I can feed all the cells in the sponge, and not pollute the tank.

Any experience with this method of feeding? Will moving the sponge kill the tissue? It has very little live rock at its base so I will have to touch the tissue when I move it. Thanks in advice for any shared experience.

Dustin

[Brooke]

I'm by no means a sponge expert, but i believe the blue ones, especially can not tolerate any contact with air when being moved from tank to tank. So acclimate carefully!!

Try DT's phytoplankton for feeding.

Brooke

[Spanky]

dustin,
There are so many common names, is this Callyspongia sp? possibly plicifera? vaginalis? Caribbean?
If so, we have several of these in our tank (blue, pink,purple, etc) and don't do anything special about feeding. We do feed the tank several times a day with seafood blender mush.
Moving won't hurt it, it's not a good idea to expose it to too much air though. Try moving it without taking it out of the water. They are not that particular about where they are in the tank as long as you have stable water qualities and no algae problems. If not, they are a algae magnet. Your best bet, is to put it in one spot and leave it alone.

HTH
Jerel

[ 08-13-2001: Message edited by: landescaper ]