Monti like - Purple Sponge ID

[Bongo Shrimp]

I bought a small piece of this awesome rare sponge and want to know a name to look up to get more info on its needs and care.

Here is a link to the only thing I could find that resembles it, this site calls it purple chalice sponge, that however, must be made up because I can't find anything else about it under that name.

Link: http://www.reefready.net/add.php?ct=collector&name=Purple Chalice Sponge&id=140&page=5

Here is a pic that I took of the main colony at the shop I bought it at:
(The main colony is not for sale but they let me buy that small chunk in the bottom right corner of the pic)

Anyone know what it is or have any info on it???

 

[dalston]

It's a purple plating sponge (don't know the scientific name). I'm not sure how 'rare' it actually is, there is a ton of this stuff within my local reef club. Unlike most sponge you can freely take it out of the water and it won't die. I also believe it's photosynthetic. It's a pretty fast grower

 

[Bongo Shrimp]

Do you have a site that I can look at, or can you find a scientific name for it if possible?
It's not that I don't believe you, but I can't find anything about purple plating sponge on the net.

And where I am, it's pretty rare, and expensive too.

 

[greenbean36191]

Sponges are next to impossible to identify to species and often even genus, even for experts. Doing so requires dissolving samples in bleach and acid. With only a few exceptions it cannot be done from a picture, especially without knowledge of origin.

You have a purple, plating demosponge and that's about as specific as you can hope to get (accurately).

 

[greenbean36191]

Sponges are next to impossible to identify to species and often even genus, even for experts. Doing so requires dissolving samples in bleach and acid. With only a few exceptions it cannot be done from a picture, especially without knowledge of origin.

You have a purple, plating demosponge and that's about as specific as you can hope to get (accurately). Unfortunately, that won't likely help you find any info about care requirements, but neither would knowing the scientific name since very little is known about sponge husbandry in general, much less for specific species.

 

[Bongo Shrimp]

Ok then thanks for the help...

 

[Airwolf75]

I got one, looks the same, there's frags of these floating around our area. Everyone is having great success, treat it like an sps coral.

 

[mscarpena]

Very cool. I for one have never seen one and have been reffing for about 7 years. Maybe they are relatively new out on the market. Very pretty and good luck with it.

 

[Airwolf75]

They came out of SoCal originally, and seem to be getting around the Southwest. They're actually not very difficult to keep. Mine is 3 months old and has doubled in size. I've seen them in about 7 other tanks around town, they are under so many different lighting schemes and conditions and everyone's looked really good.

 

[GreenSarco]

I have had it growing in my tank for around two years. I have to prune it every so often because it starts shading some of my corals. I have had pieces grow as much as 3" in diamter. I've placed it other tanks, and it seems to thrive everywhere. I've thrown away huge pieces of this stuff, it only comes back faster.

 

[Airwolf75]

Yeah, I have a few poping up all around the tank now oo.

 

[Bongo Shrimp]

Gee I wish I was having as much success as you guys, mine seems to be slowly dying as I can see a lot of its skeletal matrix around the edges.

Any advice as to what you think may help bring it back?

 

[Airwolf75]

It actually happens sometimes when you move them, but much of the time they recover. especially if you happened to take it out of the water. Give it a bright spot with good flow. That's about all you can do.