Sea Squirts

[aquadonkey]

Anyone here keep them?
I keep seeing them on DD and am a little tempted - just would like to hear some first hand experience before taking the plunge

 

[truebeliever71]

DD? - Dunkin Donuts! ;-)

I've been thinking about doing sea squirts too and am interested in hearing others experiences with them.

 

[toddmh]

DD = Divers Den...pretty sure lol

 

[AIR-FX]

contact randy-o and ask him. i just inquired about getting one and if i remember correctly,he said they are very hard to keep,but they are possible. he said you need a constant drip of phytoplankton to feed on. i might be wrong (my short term memory has issues...lol) but to make sure contact him....he can tell you

 

[amazo]

I have a few different types that came as hitchhikers on live rock from saltwater paradise. I have 1 orange and 2 purples with the 2 long tubes and a colony of pinkish ones that look like vases.The colony has come and gone a few times I don't know if something nibbles on them or what happens to them but they all but dissapear and then a week or two later there are a whole bunch of them again.I dont do anything special for them. I do feed phytoplankton to the tanks once or twice a week.

 

[aquadonkey]

Thanks for the info.
AIR-FX - I don't think I can swing a phyto drip.... I'll have to poke around some more. Maybe Randy will jump in
amazo - do you have any pics? I'd be interested in having a look

 

[Gravesj1s]

aquadonkey wrote:

amazo - do you have any pics? I'd be interested in having a look

You and me both!
I was always told these ere extremely hard to keep alive for any real length of time.I know shimeck has done some writeups on them and it was never very promising.From what I remember 1 was capable of filtering a signifacant amount of water and starving.
This thread could be interesting.

 

[amazo]

I'll see if I can get some. The orange shouldn't be a problem the pinkish are kinda scarce right now though I saw some new ones .The purple I'm alittle afraid for becuse of an algea bloom I'm just recovering from(I put in t5 lighting and a mantis decimated my clean-up crew so it got a little out of hand).Only a little more algae and it happens to be covering the purples and near the pink ones(I think the pink ones are scarce from there rock being cleaned but they pop back pretty quick).I'm letting my crew do the work I figure they will be more delicate than me.I've never put up pics but I'm sure I can figure it out.

 

[amazo]

These have the orange one when I 1st got him 6 months or so ago he is near the top of the rock that looks like it's givving you the finger he's a bit fatter and tubes are a bit longer

 

[amazo]

opps pics didn't work
http://http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h344/Neil_Flagella/DSC00531.jpg

 

[amazo]

I'll have too work on posting pics lol

 

[aquadonkey]

hmm - the link didn't work for me

 

[dreaminmel]

Link had extra http://

Here's amazo's pic.

 

[Jacwil]

Whoa! Those are cool as heck!

 

[amazo]

thanks for fixing my pic,was going to get new one but I miss placed the rock when I moved the tank last week I know i was careful when I put him in but I must have blocked it from veiw with another rock (how do you miss place a rock that looks like its giving you the finger)I'll have to carefully move stuff around if I can get my nipping black clown to cooperate.The purple ones don't look that promising they are all tight and compact but might open back up now that most of the hair alage is gone.Its funny that I started the post thinking how easy it was to keep them and now I'm having trouble with them left and right lol(atleast the problems are external not with difficulty of care).I forgot about the 2 big chilie pepper looking ones I got with some rock from gulf live rocks they didn't survive the curing process but they ship with some wet paper towel and were pretty dry when they arrived.One was D.O.A. the other lived a few days but looked pretty rough and had a few black spots (I might have pics).

 

[amazo]

http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h344/Neil_Flagella/DSC00571.jpg Would have been cool if they survived even the sponge died but you can't expose them to air and like I said they ship dry.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

fwiw

fwiw

I would rate the husbandry of Ascidians/Sea Squirts/Tunicates about the same as many species of sponges: very difficult.

The ones that survive the best are the ones that arrive on liverock.
I have Sea Squirts in my reef aquarium system but they are small, bland and cryptic. You'll only ever see them when moving or breaking up liverock.
Tunicates would have the best chance for survival in a dedicated non-photosynthetic aquarium or very large reef aquariums containing a lot of biodiversity.

IMO/IME don't purchase "aftermarket" sponges and/or sea squirts.