Yellow Green Spongy thing with tubes, and and bright orange tentacle in the middle?

fit

fit

Member
This thing looks beautiful to me. I love it. Great neon color. Wish it were bigger. But what is it and should I kill it?

It may have hitchhicked with the hammer. It is growing slowly bigger. It's now slighlty smaller than a quarter, was perhaps the size of a dime about six months ago. I thought it had only one orange "polyp" tentacle, but I think I see two now in the photos. I also never noticed the tubes before the photos today.

Sorry about the out of focus camera pic. I'll borrow a better camera if I need to.

Any ideas?
 
G

Greg

Member
Sponge. Dont kill it, its a good guy! Pretty much just a non-photosynthetic filter feeder. :)
They do not like being exposed to air or medium-to-strong lighting. Being exposed to air does not kill them, but it is not recommended for long periods of time. After being out of water give a decent shake in water to make sure no air bubbles are trapped.

Its a good guy that adds to biodiversity in your tank. Personally I really like them because all they do is filter your water. They are usually small so they dont do very much but every little bit helps. Most of the time we do not even notice them in our tanks because they like to grow in dark areas (under the rocks).

I have a whole bunch just like that one that I have had for years. They are growing in my sump refugium, under rocks in display tank, and even on my maxima clam. I have many different kinds, but I would say the neon yellow/green ones are the most common to survive longterm in our aquariums. Some do just die and dissapear though. I have every kind/color immaginable in my rocks. Most are tiny-small, but they are growing. Ive had some grow to the diameter of a baseball in my sumps.
 
fit

fit

Member
Ok great! Thank you.

What about the "flowery" orange tentacle "polyp" structure in the middle? Is this a "commensal parazoanthus"
 
fit

fit

Member
Sorry Nino. If I had more I would gladly give you some. But this is the only one I have and its attached to a 15 polyp hammer colony. I really like that I have this useful, colorful, unexpected hitchhiker. Biodiversity is one huge reason I love my aquarium. I hope more sponges show up.
 
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