Hey Salty...

[corky]

I was doing a search on this site for sponges and was wondering if you ever got a sponge for your tank? I keep hearing they are easy to keep yet, at the same time it seems everyone has trouble with them.

 

[mr . salty]

I havent really seen a whole lot of them out there. Either in the stores or in peoples tanks.So I'm guessing that they do not do well.

 

[tjswanson]

The big thing is when you transfer them from the dealer's tank to yours. You have to keep them under water the whole time. They cannot touch the air or they'll die. I have a red sponge and it's on the bottom of the tank. They like a lot of current but not much light. TJ

 

[corky]

hey tj, I had read about the sponges not being able to be exposed to any air and how that can kill them which raised a thought. If I was to order them through the mail, I can't see how the handler cares for the sponge. A five day guarantee would do me no good if it's mishandled.

 

[mr . salty]

Buying sponges online is a bad deal if you ask me.As the air thing may take awhile to show up.And as said in previous posts,you never know how it was handled during shipping. The air kills them by cutting off thier ability to filter feed. They have millions of tube like pores on thier surface that filter the water by syphoning it into these tubes. If an air bubble gets into this tube it blocks,or stops this syphon.and the sponge basically starves.

 

[corky]

yeah! that's what I was thinking.

 

[tjswanson]

My tank has small air bubbles in it(I think just about everyones does) and my sponge is having no troubles what so ever. TJ