I have no idea what this is...
- Thread starter Starwar
- Start date
Ron Reefman
Active member
My first guess is that it's a sponge, but that's really a guess as I've never seen one quite like it before. Yours seems to be encrusting and the one I've seen in the Keys is not encrusting and it has obvious 'exhaust' holes for exporting water after it's filtered out the food.
What kind of light does it receive? As in bright, medium, dim or almost none?
What kind of light does it receive? As in bright, medium, dim or almost none?
Dogshowgrl
New member
I am going with an encrusting tunicate. Filter feeder, easy keeper. Nice find.
I dont have any coral yet, so lights are at 90% with an Orbit pro led
Ron Reefman
Active member
You may well be right about this being a tunicate, many of them closely resemble sponges.
However, your comment of "easy keeper" makes me wonder. Are you saying no harm so easy to decide to keep, or that they are easy to keep and care for in an aquarium? I've only tried a couple and found they die rather quickly. I also found this online.
"Tunicates in marine tanks
Unfortunately, while tunicates are really neat to observe, they don't usually last very long in closed aquarium systems. Because they sustain themselves by filter-feeding on microscopic plankton (of a particle size that's by no means practical for the average hobbyist to provide), most specimens are doomed to starve to death in captivity. Some may hold on for several months to a year or so, but the end result is more or less preordained.
So, if you end up with hitchhiking tunicates in your tank, enjoy their rare beauty while you can but don't expect them to be permanent fixtures."
I've got transparent tunicates growing up a sort of a network on the glass in my sump. I assume they came in on the liverock in late November, and it took until June for me to even spot them, so I'd say that some tunicates (in this case, a crystal-clear sea-squirt) can fare fairly well in captive systems . . .
~Bruce, who's seen something similar to OP's life-form - but not in a long time, and doesn't know what it is . . .
~Bruce, who's seen something similar to OP's life-form - but not in a long time, and doesn't know what it is . . .
Dogshowgrl
New member
I said easy keeper because I have the same type in my tank. They open and feed a year later and look great. I add very little to the tank. I feed LRS and some phyto once a week. I consider that basic care of a Reef tank and for this type of creature it seems to support live. I know other tunicates can be more difficult, but these seem to not be very demanding. As for light I have a rock that has them on top and bottom both are very happy. As for flow I have them in moderate and high flow. I don't really have a low flow area in that tank but they survived a low flow during 10 weeks of curing.
So IME, (I have lots of them and friends have had them for 6 years) I have found them to be easy keepers and not invasive.
So IME, (I have lots of them and friends have had them for 6 years) I have found them to be easy keepers and not invasive.
It absolutely looks like an encrusting sponge. The only thing that makes me hesitate to say for certain is that there are no obvious oscula. That said, they aren't always visible. If it sticks around for more than a couple of weeks, then it is almost certainly a sponge and not a tunicate.
