New Orange Sponge

Hey everybody,
I just got an orange sponge yesterday. LFS was selling it for $10, about 8" tall with 6 or 7 stalks (are they called "stalks"?), looks beautiful in my tank. Ive never had one before but the guy told me not to expect it to live for more than a year or so. Anybody have or had one? Does that sound right? He told me it wouldn't need anything more than strong flow and some plankton now and then.

 

Sponges are one of the creatures that should be left in the ocean.Yes survival is dim.they just don't get enough filter food in our tanks.

 

I have had one for about 3 months, and it is deteriorating. I have it low in the tank, but getting light. I found out after I epoxied it, that it needs shade (in a cave). I will probably remove it today. Good Luck with yours, and remember, no direct light.

 

wow, i guess i was misinformed. thanks for the info guys. i was told to keep it under moderate light. i have it now placed under a rock ledge, about half is in the shade the other half is exposed under the metal halide. i can move it today. also the guy at the lfs told me, if possible, to wedge it between two rocks. with limited space i buried the base in the sand, looks better like that anyways. was that a bad idea as well?

 

No, that should be fine.

 

You should be fine if you regularly dose a lot of phyto, have it in a very low light spot and also dose zeo's sponge power. That's how I had the best success with mine (you can see it in my sig thread before I moved it to low light.)

 

I have two sponges on the decline. A orange fan and a red ridge. The came in healthy and were placed in the lower half of a 110 under T5 lighting.
Fed infrequently with marine snow and whatever parts of coral frenzy were small enough to be ate.

They looked great for several months and I thought, this sponge keeping thing isn't so hard.

Then in a matter of weeks small holes have begun appearing in the flesh of the orange fan, and the "fingers" of the red ridge have begun to have their color recede. On the ridge I initially thought it was growing but after watching it, the red is going back and leaving a translucent appendage. I have a total of $22 in both of them so the joy they gave far outweighs the cost of ownership.

I do not , wholly, agree with those that say some things should be left in the ocean. Perhaps 200 years ago when man was still respectful of the balance of nature that statement would have bore more weight. However, in today's commercial climate where things are bought and sold only to give immediate gratification and then be discarded, any other approach would be living in a dream world. I am a realist...I keep sponges.

Good luck, and be ready to replace your fixture in a few months.