- Sponge Stowaways -

i do like a good sponge.they are a interesting creature that finds its way into the aquarium via rock and coral.most good some bad.i just wanted to share this one as it has a strange jagged growth pattern unlike other sponges i have seen.many grow according to flow but ones like these that are under rocks are in a next to no flow enviroment so oddly enough this sponge must make these formations on its own.
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i love sponges for reasons i cannot explain, but i want a cutting of that bad boy...

i can just rip the whole thing off for you.or maybe i can just sling you the rock.there is a nice duster in the rock i really like though so we will see.but its pretty much yours if you want it.

i dont wanna take the duster if you wanna keep him, i will check it out this sunday and we will handle it then i think...
if thats kosher?

Here is a sponge that seems to be outgrowing the zoanthids it is encrusting.[img][/img]
Its really in there good.

Same sponge and frag other side with the sponges openings showing.
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Same type of sponge different frag. [img][/img]

WOW ....I did not know sponges could out-compete and encrust over corals.....

There was once a sponge that a friend had that we deemed "THE BLACK SPONGE" ,yes it was black.
It came in on the bottom of a wellso open brain coral that a friend had purchased for a low cost. This sponge in particular seemed to not mind light and started to grow up towards the flesh of the coral.This sponge would grow back after scrubbing,kalkwasser,smothering via burying in the sand, and we even tried to put in a angelfish with the coral protected by a egg crate barrier.but still the sponge remained as the angel would not eat it.I ended up giving the coral back with the sponge hoping it did not get into my system.In the end it went away in its own.The coral went into a low nutrient system with SPS and I believe the sponge starved and faded away.

Just thought I would share that little story as there are many sponges out there and a few are not all that good.

Interesting. I have a few sponges myself which I suppose I will post some pics of soon. I actually have a black encrusting sponge myself isolated on a piece of liverock...along with some of the more common masses of yellow spheres...