What is that?
- Thread starter Cu455
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They do look like sponges, and there are many fresh water sponges throughout the world. I pulled one out of a water intake from Lake Michigan about the size of a baseball mitt a number of years ago, and they are quite common in the US Great Lakes, although there they are more flat, than forest like.
But in Lake Baikal there are forests of freshwater sponges.
Even in a small lake like Barumbi mbo in Africa there is a cichlid that uses sponges as a primary commponent of its diet, the cichlid is Pungu maclareni
But in Lake Baikal there are forests of freshwater sponges.
Even in a small lake like Barumbi mbo in Africa there is a cichlid that uses sponges as a primary commponent of its diet, the cichlid is Pungu maclareni
That is what I thought at first too. But you can see the camera pan from the fish to the sponges.
Cool did you try to put it in your tank? I just took a piece of sponge from my saltwater tank and stuck in my freshwater HOB filter. I will see how it does.
I thought about the freshwater sponges, but for me there are large 3 problems.
The ones from Lake Michigan are cold water sponges (temps in L Michigan average around 50'F.
Another problem is that when threatened, sponges use a kind of chemical warfare to protect themselves, and could easily take out an entire tank if picked at by a fish.
And the other, maybe most important factor, is that the food required to keep them alive might be hard to come by. Some ingest free floating algae, and other planktonic particulate and other microscopic substances that are often not a normal part of our aquarium biotope.
While they might make it temporarily, over time starving to death and fouling the tank, in a similar manner many clams do when placed in home aquariums.
The ones from Lake Michigan are cold water sponges (temps in L Michigan average around 50'F.
Another problem is that when threatened, sponges use a kind of chemical warfare to protect themselves, and could easily take out an entire tank if picked at by a fish.
And the other, maybe most important factor, is that the food required to keep them alive might be hard to come by. Some ingest free floating algae, and other planktonic particulate and other microscopic substances that are often not a normal part of our aquarium biotope.
While they might make it temporarily, over time starving to death and fouling the tank, in a similar manner many clams do when placed in home aquariums.
A sponge taken from saltwater will not survive in freshwater, period. They aren't meant to do that. It's like taking a coral and sticking it in freshwater- it'll just die. Also, most sponges die when exposed to air.
Plus, saltwater sponges feed on plankton, and there just isn't that much plankton in freshwater.
Plus, saltwater sponges feed on plankton, and there just isn't that much plankton in freshwater.
You can take a small piece and give it a try. I doubt anything will happen to your tank. I keep cold saltwater species of sponges at tropical temps and they do fine. If they are the encrusting kind it may have enough food to survive. The encrusting sponges tend to do fine in aquariums, The large branching ones are what usually starve.
Where do you find them? Depth? docks, rocks? If I can get a hold of some I will give it a shot.
It probably won't survive but I will give it a try.
Where do you get the idea that most sponges die when exposed to air? Some of the sponges I have in my tanks were collected from the shore line. I have also seen exposed sponges during low tide in Australia. People remove rock with sponges from aquariums and put them back with no issues. If you order rock from Tampa Bay Saltwater they will have tons of sponges on them and would have been exposed to air.
The small rock-clingers that like the tidal line are fine, yes, but many large species of sponge will die if removed from the water for too long- air gets into them and interferes with everything. The small sponges that pop up in aquariums are on rock that's already been removed from the water, so any sponges that can't stand air are dead before they get anywhere near the tank. They're rarely found in the aquarium industry because of that. "Most" might have been a bit of an overstatement, but exposure to air isn't great for most species, and there are plenty that it'll outright kill.