What Eats pink sponge?

[chrisstie]

I have identified some sponge growing in my tank as Aplysilla rosea. I am wondering if there are any cool inverts out there that may eat it.

I was thinking of trying a sponge eating nudibranch but I'm not sure if there are any specific with that kind of diet. It'd be cool to get one and try to see if a commensal imperator shrimp would live with it. I've seen pictures but not too sure if they could be together.

I plan to do a LOT more research and asking my LFS owner (she's got 30+ years experience in the hobby and is one of the few I trust with good advice) to see what else is out there but if anyone on RC here would be willing to chip in, my mind is open and I'm very willing to learn.

 

[greenbean36191]

There are several species of nudibranch reported to feed on A. rosea, but since it doesn't come from areas where anything is collected for the hobby that's not your sponge. There is really no way to ID most sponges beyond class in most cases without looking at them microscopically and knowing about their natural environment. Even then it's hard. Other than angelfish, most sponge predators are very specific, so without a proper ID it's going to be hard to find a predator.

Even then, most would eat themselves out of house and home pretty quickly unless you had a constant supply of the sponge. I had a few small (dime sized) sponge feeders and about a basketball sized chunk of their food sponge. It only took them about 3 months to eat it all.

 

[chrisstie]

Hmmm I hadn't really thought about that- again like I said when it comes to sponge and its matching inverts I'm in new territory.

Do you know of any places willing to identify sponge or perhaps a catalogue to match an ID to as I have access to a microscope.

If I could identify it closer I have ~ 60 lbs of rock and a bit of this stuff just absolutely taking over. It grows relatively quickly (probably overfeeding on my part if its filtering leftovers out of the water) and would love to have something eat it.

It is encroaching on a zoa colony right now and I am like "well I could take the colony out and expose it to air... or find something to eat it"... Considering how the colony is mostly grown onto one of my heaviest pieces of rock I thought it'd be nice to have a sponge eater as I have none as it is.

Thanks for the great advice and if anyone can help point me in a direction for sponge ID that'd be great