Freshwater sponge - Spongilla aquarium care       3/5/15
Hello! There's not much info out there about keeping Spongilla or other freshwater sponges in the aquarium. So, I thought I'd give it a go and see if I can learn a little bit and share what I find out if anyone is interested.
<I/we thank you. The only experience I had w/ such was a friend in the trade, DaveC of Aquarium Flora and Fauna, showing me a patch growing under a bridge/pond account in Fairbanks Ranch here in San Diego years back>
I got a small Spongilla specimen from Carolina Biological approximately one week ago. The specimen is brown-beige in color which is probably normal for one collected in the winter time. This sponge is being kept in a clear plastic livebearer baby nursery in my 40 gallon freshwater aquarium.
I wanted to keep it somewhat isolated since first of all it is pretty small, and secondly, I was afraid the fish/snails/shrimp might eat it.
The baby nursery is in the front of the tank up near the top and is only a few inches below a freshwater led light. The livebearer nursery has an airstone to increase circulation which I am currently not using. But I'm not ruling that out, either!
After a week, the sponge has not yet turned green but it seems to be doing ok. It has become adhered to the bottom of the livebearer nursery and the base has spread out a little. I'm not sure if it has grown any, I should measure it and keep records on that. At any rate it hasn't rotted or fallen apart so I take the adherence as a good sign. I'll be happy to send updates as things progress if you think anyone might be interested.
<Please do>
Here's a link to a page with some great pictures of freshwater sponges in Tennessee:
http://nooga.com/166275/emerging-knowledge-of-freshwater-sponge-expands-southeastern-biodiversity/
<Wowzah!>
Man, I'd love to have my sponge look like that huge green monster!
Thanks guys,
Joanne
<Thank you Joanne. Bob Fenner>

Re: Freshwater sponge - Spongilla aquarium care - Update      4/16/15
Hi guys! I guess it's time to give a little update on my Spongilla experiment.
<Oh good>
The initially light-brown sponge gradually became green from exposure to the bright light. When received, the specimen was a small roundish lump.
As it became greener the shape began changing to include several small fingers. While it held its own, it seemed that the very slow flow of water through the livebearer nursery was not good for it as it got a bit covered with biofilm. Since the livebearer nursery has a place for attaching an airstone (to increase flow) I had decided to try this to see if the Spongilla would be happier.
But I never got a chance - disaster struck! Of course it did. The plastic nursery attaches to the side of the aquarium with suction cups.
One day it somehow slipped down the side of the tank, far enough that the top of the nursery was underwater and the plastic lid just floated off.
By the time I got home several Nerite snails were grazing inside the nursery, and fish were swimming in and out. And the sponge had been eaten, although I'm not sure if it was the snails or the fish that got it.
There was one tiny piece of Spongilla clinging to the plastic which had not yet been eaten. I was able to salvage it, but what to do now?
<Wait; hope>
Didn't trust the nursery anymore and it would certainly be eaten if left unprotected in the tank. Luckily I had a few of these empty moss ball frames around - see picture:
<Looks good>
Hoping the plastic grid would protect it, I put the remaining tiny piece of sponge in the ball frame and placed it into my 5 gallon cherry shrimp aquarium. That was a week or so ago. It's still hanging in there. The piece is still green and the shrimp and snails have so far left it alone.
I'm waiting to see if it will recover and begin to grow again.
<Can move on up to an inverted berry container (plastic); like those that folks offer Strawberries in...>
I'll keep you updated if anything interesting happens!
Thanks,
Joanne
<Thank you, Bob Fenner>