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tizzo
Guest
T
tizzo
Guest
coraljunky
Active Member
paintballer768
Active Member
N
nonphotosynt
Guest
I had seen them on the web under all 3 common names, with 3 different Latin names:
- candy cane sponge, Axinella damicornis sponge with encrusting Parazoanthus axinellae (UK information),
- white line sponge, Trikentrion flabelliforme (Australian and import to Canada from there info),
- spider sponge, Acanthella spp. (Italian information).
Photos and decline of mine are here, other threads are here, here and here.
The sponges, that I had seen, are orange, only jacksock's was red. Polyps are very closely resemble the common yellow polyps, only smaller.
Mine is small, 3 "fingers", but LFS here sells 10 and more fingered specimens, quite large. One of the reefers there told me, that she has it for one year on phytoplankton feedings for a sponge. Mine didn't lasted so long, but my tank has problems and large decorative sponges do not survive for long there, only non-photosynthetic corals.
Polyps are large, able to use small fish food and cyclop-eeze.
If other sponges are able to survive in your tank - that another matter (not hitchhiking, but orange tree sponge, red ball sponge and so on).
After sponge died, I was told, that polyps will die too. So far (very few months) they are alive, only closed in the Q tank with high nitrates and open in the tank with better water quality.
- candy cane sponge, Axinella damicornis sponge with encrusting Parazoanthus axinellae (UK information),
- white line sponge, Trikentrion flabelliforme (Australian and import to Canada from there info),
- spider sponge, Acanthella spp. (Italian information).
Photos and decline of mine are here, other threads are here, here and here.
The sponges, that I had seen, are orange, only jacksock's was red. Polyps are very closely resemble the common yellow polyps, only smaller.
Mine is small, 3 "fingers", but LFS here sells 10 and more fingered specimens, quite large. One of the reefers there told me, that she has it for one year on phytoplankton feedings for a sponge. Mine didn't lasted so long, but my tank has problems and large decorative sponges do not survive for long there, only non-photosynthetic corals.
Polyps are large, able to use small fish food and cyclop-eeze.
If other sponges are able to survive in your tank - that another matter (not hitchhiking, but orange tree sponge, red ball sponge and so on).
After sponge died, I was told, that polyps will die too. So far (very few months) they are alive, only closed in the Q tank with high nitrates and open in the tank with better water quality.
mx#28
Active Member
Thanks for the extra info, nonphotosynt. I declined taking one of these in because I was concerned with feeding the sponge and keeping it alive, but I also watched the polyps readily eat cyclopseeze and the like. I'll be very curious to see if the polyps will live on their own. Keep us updated.
What did you feed the sponge and how long did it take to die off?
What did you feed the sponge and how long did it take to die off?
T
tizzo
Guest
The first google page I found was another forum where a member posted...
I have had it for about 8 months now and the target feed it every 2-3 days with live rotifers and baby brine. I placed it out of the direct light after about 3 weeks and seems to be growing and happy.
I'm not wanting one, just wanting to learn a little about them.
Thanks all!
I have had it for about 8 months now and the target feed it every 2-3 days with live rotifers and baby brine. I placed it out of the direct light after about 3 weeks and seems to be growing and happy.
I'm not wanting one, just wanting to learn a little about them.
Thanks all!
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nonphotosynt
Guest
I have it for a 6.5 months, the sponge was practically dead in 5.5 months (still few orange spots then, but not now). Polyps still alive.
1. Direct conthact with aiptasia and treating aiptasia by kalwasser could contribute to its decline
2. Too mach particulate organic matter in the tank (almost continuous feeding for non-photosynthetic corals, detritus and shedding LR).
3. Too strong flow, eventually breaking contact with the base (medium for everyone else in the tank).
4. Feeding sun corals by grocery seafood blend, if you check the plastic glass where this food was - it has some palpable residue. Later tank developed transparent, likely bacterial, film and red cyano. Switched back to mysis.
Some hitchhiking sponges in the tank are doing very well during the same time, piece of the spiny orange sponge in the sump too.
Food for the 90g tank, low light (110W PC, sponge was 24" below):
- Fish was fed 3x daily, quarter of cube total each time, mix of mysis, Marine Cuisine, Reef Plankton. 1-2 Formula Two pellets for a blood shrimp once a day.
- Food for sun corals, total 7-8 cubes equivalent for each feeding if fed twice a week (less, if more frequently). Mysis, Plankton (zoo, larger, than mysis), some Marine Cuisine, grocery seafood blend.
- Food for NPS gorgonians and snack for planktivores: dried Cyclop-eeze, decapsulated brine shrimp eggs and ZoPlan minimum 5x a day, when I have it - frozen Reef Plankton, rotifers, baby brine.
- Food for scleros, dendro and Muricella plectana: except sleep hours, they are fed every 1.5 hrs, food content changes as I try new varieties: Hikari First Bites (powdered fry food), ESV dried phytoplankton, later - concentrated algae Nannocloropsis, live rotifer culture (super small SS-strain) once in 2 days, for a short time: RotiFeast, Shellfish Diet(this continues now in a very small doses), Brigtwell phytoplankton 8-30 um, DT Premium Reef Blend, Weiss Reef bugs and Spectra Vital.
No live phytoplankton (have no possibility to sterilize and general lack of space and time), it could be the key, together with water, low in particulates content (could clog the sponge's pores).
Post your results, when you will have them, and your thoughts on what contributes to its life or decline, and what else could be tried, please.
1. Direct conthact with aiptasia and treating aiptasia by kalwasser could contribute to its decline
2. Too mach particulate organic matter in the tank (almost continuous feeding for non-photosynthetic corals, detritus and shedding LR).
3. Too strong flow, eventually breaking contact with the base (medium for everyone else in the tank).
4. Feeding sun corals by grocery seafood blend, if you check the plastic glass where this food was - it has some palpable residue. Later tank developed transparent, likely bacterial, film and red cyano. Switched back to mysis.
Some hitchhiking sponges in the tank are doing very well during the same time, piece of the spiny orange sponge in the sump too.
Food for the 90g tank, low light (110W PC, sponge was 24" below):
- Fish was fed 3x daily, quarter of cube total each time, mix of mysis, Marine Cuisine, Reef Plankton. 1-2 Formula Two pellets for a blood shrimp once a day.
- Food for sun corals, total 7-8 cubes equivalent for each feeding if fed twice a week (less, if more frequently). Mysis, Plankton (zoo, larger, than mysis), some Marine Cuisine, grocery seafood blend.
- Food for NPS gorgonians and snack for planktivores: dried Cyclop-eeze, decapsulated brine shrimp eggs and ZoPlan minimum 5x a day, when I have it - frozen Reef Plankton, rotifers, baby brine.
- Food for scleros, dendro and Muricella plectana: except sleep hours, they are fed every 1.5 hrs, food content changes as I try new varieties: Hikari First Bites (powdered fry food), ESV dried phytoplankton, later - concentrated algae Nannocloropsis, live rotifer culture (super small SS-strain) once in 2 days, for a short time: RotiFeast, Shellfish Diet(this continues now in a very small doses), Brigtwell phytoplankton 8-30 um, DT Premium Reef Blend, Weiss Reef bugs and Spectra Vital.
No live phytoplankton (have no possibility to sterilize and general lack of space and time), it could be the key, together with water, low in particulates content (could clog the sponge's pores).
Post your results, when you will have them, and your thoughts on what contributes to its life or decline, and what else could be tried, please.
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alexmir
Guest
A guy at the store i frequent has had one for months, and its doing great. HE has it hidden behind a rock, with good flow over it. HE feeds the tank 2 times a day, and that seems to be working really well.
Their pretty, but VERY expensive.
Their pretty, but VERY expensive.
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nonphotosynt
Guest
CND$40 here. Blue Haliclona sponge, even not in a good shape, was $50 a couple of years ago.
What this guy is feeding it, how much and how? What type of the tank is it: sps, mixed reef, planted tank and what other food and how frequently this tank receives, is there something unusual in filtration or maybe natural seawater? Any details, if possible.
What this guy is feeding it, how much and how? What type of the tank is it: sps, mixed reef, planted tank and what other food and how frequently this tank receives, is there something unusual in filtration or maybe natural seawater? Any details, if possible.
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alexmir
Guest
feeds a little phyto. now and then, but mostly feeds zooplankton, and other commercial invert feeders once a day. It is a 20G tank, t5's lighting, sump/refugium. Mixed reef (everything from mushrooms to SPS), has a nana koralia blowing on it in intervals throughout the day. Its in a cave, so it receives no light at all. The tank is heavily stocked with around 10 small fish. I think its way too small of a tank to have that much going on, but thats his business.