The blue sponge is a beautiful marine specimen that can add a great deal of color to the home aquarium. Blue sponges require a certain amount of water movement, light, and salinity in the water to thrive.
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There are over 8,000 different species of sponges in the ocean and some of them exhibit striking shapes and colors. The blue sponge is known and loved for its brilliant shade of electric blue that lights up the saltwater aquarium. Sponges are one of the simplest forms of multicellular aquatic animals, they don’t have tissiues and organs and their cells remain largely unspecialized. While many species of sponge can grow very large in the home aquarium under proper conditions, the blue sponge is unique in that it tends to grow better than other species from very small species. Every specimen of the blue sponge species has a unique shape which makes it a very unusual addition to the reef tank.
The blue sponge feeds on bacteria and detritus in the water, absorbing water and food into the many pores on its body. Sponges are very useful as filter feeders in the home aquarium and they also help to filter out ammonia and nitrogen from the water in the tank. Though adequate light is important for keeping blue sponges healthy, these creatures are non-photosynthetic so they require supplemental feedings with various forms of phytoplankton and zooplankton.
Tank requirements:
One of the most important elements of the marine blue sponges care is filtration. Sponges are filter feeders and as such, they feed on the bacteria and detritus in the water. If the aquarium lacks adequate filtration and water movement, a sponge may starve. Make sure your sponge gets enough food by providing supplemental meals of marine snow, phytoplankton and zooplankton. Stirring the aquarium substrate once in a while to release food particles into the water may also be helpful.
Adequate lighting is also essential to the survival of marine blue sponges. Thought sponges are non-photosynthetic creatures, low level lighting is required to reduce changes in the algae growth on their surface. Place the sponge in a shadier area of the tank. Sponges are also sensitive to changes in water chemistry. Maintain a salinity equivalent or as close as possible to sea water to ensure that the sponges thrive.
It can be very harmful for the sponge to be exposed to the air. When taken out of the water, air becomes trapped in the atria within the sponge and it may keep food and water from reaching the cells. Sponges should be placed on live rock away from hard corals.
Compatibility:
The best environment for the marine blue sponges is a non-photosynthetic reef aquarium with no fish or invertebrates to feed on them. When a sponge dies, it becomes very toxic and has to potential to wipe out an entire tank’s worth of inhabitants.
