"sponge" filter

I haven't seen too many posts on sponges here, so I thought I would share. While out looking for plants a few weeks back I came across an area with a number of freshwater sponges. They looked as one might expect, smaller versions of the marine ones that end up in people's bathrooms. The only major difference being that they had very irregular shapes since they were growing among/around tree roots, stem plants, and the like.

Below is a picture of one of the nicer sponges growing within a stand of ludwigia.
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I thought that they looked pretty interesting but having read that they can be hard to keep, I only brought back a small one, about the size of a shooting marble, to be on the safe side. I was disappointed to find that by the time that I got home it was more than half mush, undoubtedly due to the method of transport (I suspect a small, dedicated jar full of water would have worked better). I added the sponge to one of my tanks with a greenwater problem and hoped for the best. After a day or two it had completely disintegrated and mixed in with the pea-green water, but knowing what little I do about sponges, I remained hopeful that some bits would live and establish themselves somewhere in the tank. Lo and behold, after another three to five days, the tank water was crystal clear, but there were no sponges anywhere in the tank! After some further investigation, I noticed that there were tiny beige patches all throughout my sponge filter, and that's when I realized that my sponge filter is now, literally, a "sponge" filter.

Below is a somewhat focused, up-close picture that shows how the sponge (or "sponges"? I'm not really clear when this kind of an organism is singular vs plural) has infiltrated and established itself within the matrix of the sponge filter.
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For the last month and a half, I have been doing a combination of over-feeding the tank, leaving the lights on too long, and adding the occasional cup-full of greenwater and the sponge/s continue/s to slowly grow in the sponge filter and keep the water exceptionally clear. If it weren't for concerns about them clogging up the plumbing, I would be tempted to add sponges into my other, larger tank systems.

-Alejandro

That is just really, really cool.

A sponge filter you don't have to clean! I love it!

Now I have to have one.

I think that is the coolest thing I have seen in a long, long time. I would have thought that keeping them in captivity would require an incredible amount of work. Having them set up camp in the filter is just amazing.

Hi Ale...
Keep us updated on this with developing pics of your naturally sponged sponge filter. Very interesting. What is the biggest freshwater sponge you have encountered? I cant say that i have ever seen one, though i will certainly look now. Your pic looks like a minature sponge for sure. What kind of habitat are you finding them in? Pond, still water? Along the shore amongst plants?
Good job.
casper

That is super cool. I'm curious on what kind of water to find one of these in too. Just too cool.

Did some research on them. Shouldn't be that hard to raise. Filter feeders. Well-oxygenated water needed. Other than that I didn't find any discouraging info. One thing I did find was the larvae are free swimming so I do not think your's reproduced (not that you said that, I assumed it) but basically lost some cellular mass and is now regenerating. Super super super cool. Good alternative to a freshwater clam for anyone looking for a filter feeder. Now just need to know where to find them because I definitely want one.

Thanks for the interest and replies!

I had a free weekend a while ago and decided to try out my "Florida Collecting Guide" that I got at the NANFA convention. It was pretty spot-on with a lot of the information, although I think that having a GPS handy would be useful since there are just so many streams down there that it was hard to know exactly which was which. Either way, I was in the Florida panhandle area, part-way between Tallahassee and Panama City the whole time and picked up the sponge from a silty, slow moving river with springs alongside it. I only saw sponges along the rather steep banks of the river, not in the springs, and they were attached to the exposed tree roots and stem plants.

The one in the first picture is probably the one of the largest ones that I saw, and I have never seen them before.

I'm curious and hopeful about keeping the sponge alive in the filter and think that as long as it stays small like it is now that I should be okay. I'm not sure that I could really reliably produce enough food to keep a bunch of large ones alive, especially not in a 10 gallon.

Yes, I'm sure that's exactly what happened - tiny bits and pieces of the original sponge got sucked into the sponge filter, attached themselves to it, and are now growing. I love experimenting with things, so I would say that if you find a sponge to give it a shot. Only I would say to take a small one and see how it goes. I'm sure that they have earned their reputation for being hard to keep, and besides, I've only had it for about a month so it's not quite a success yet.

-Alejandro

So i guess if your air pump fails, any live cells on the inside of the sponge probably die pretty quick, but maybe the outermost cells will live.

I did a little Google reading on FW sponges yesterday. Seems like if you find one, they will live better if you never take them out of the water. One suggested to capture underwater and dont put it in a large container, but a small bag/jar so it doesn't 'slosh' around. I never found exactly where I could find one in this area, but I will be keeping my eyes open for one. Also, if you google images you'll see that they don't always have that 'sponge' look. They are super cool.

Nice job, man. Next time you're out on an expedition, poke me, I may very well be available. ;P

I did a little Google reading on FW sponges yesterday. Seems like if you find one, they will live better if you never take them out of the water. One suggested to capture underwater and dont put it in a large container, but a small bag/jar so it doesn't 'slosh' around. I never found exactly where I could find one in this area, but I will be keeping my eyes open for one. Also, if you google images you'll see that they don't always have that 'sponge' look. They are super cool.

This is how most saltwater sponges are handled. Air can get caught in their cavities and it usually kills them. From what I understand their form is generally based almost entirely on their environment. So different flow rates and water chemistry might make for totally different looking sponges. Given the right circumstances you can likely get them to grow considerably larger and in regular shapes. It would likely just take some experimenting.

This is pretty neat. What environment would one look to in order to find whole sponges? I have personal experience with spicules from working in Carolina bay water, but wasn't looking for sponges. I seem to remember green blobs about 1cm in diameter, floating about in the coffee-colored water. Were those sponges?

Hey JayBlalock what part of Kentucky are you in? I'm in Logan county(Russellville).

Mike