Anyone keep a sponge very long???

[briang]

I went to the LFS today and they have a beautiful bright red sponge. It's big, about 4 inches long and 2-1/2 inches wide. The color is fantastic. They have had it for 1 month and it is doing great. Now I do have a really nice bright yellow sponge that popped out of nowhere 2 or 3 years ago and it is doing great. It grew to a rock that was touching it, so I moved the rock and now I have 2 beautiful yellow sponges. I really want to get this red one. I know that if they touch air, they will die. The LFS guy, repeated what I already new about this and it made me feel more confident that he seemed to know what he was talking about. Well, it's only $40.00 and I really want it but I want to here from you sponge keepers 1st.

 

[trido]

AFAIK red sponges dont do well long term. Ive seen several with hobbiests and had one myself. None that Ive seen are still alive and of course there are always the exceptions to the norm.
The white, yellow, purple and grey sponges that come in as hitch hikers seem to do very well in most tanks. White and yellow seem to be the most common IME.

 

[user 26995]

Is it a red tree sponge? They are really pretty but yeah, they are hard to keep.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=497+527+577&pcatid=577

I have had one for a couple months now. It is pretty touchy. Personally if this one dies, I will not get another. Water flow, trace elements, ph, everything has to be just to their liking. Mine is still alive. A couple weeks ago it was almost like it was disintegrating but I got it to stop doing that. Now it is losing some color and fluffing up a bit. Not as dense as it should be, but I'm trying to keep it alive. We'll see. It’s kind of up to you. For 40$? Give it a try. You never know.

 

[lvsuckerfish]

I had a few sponges in my system invluding a red ball sponge I would say average care needs. I did nothing special other then place in a low flow section of my tank. I also had photo syn sponges that thrived in my system proper feeding and making sure there is no live stock that will nip at it you will be ok. I think go for it 40 bucks is a small loss compared to other things that could be bought.

 

[briang]

Thanks guys for the info. Yea, I had to do it. Heck I've lost alot more than $40.00 when my Anthias decided to go sky diving. I'll be posting a pic. soon and let you know how it works out.