Tiger sponges / tunicates

[fishguy86]

Has any one been able to keep these long term now ?

 

[Reefing Madness]

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

Not sure what you're defining as "long-term," but I've always heard tunicates were impossible, and I've never known anyone who kept them successfully, so I've never tried.

I've got no input for tiger sponges...I know a few people who have successfully kept spider sponges though...not sure how similar they are to each other...

 

[teddy13]

i had a tuni for over a year in my tank that came as a immigrant on something else.. never saw it grow and now do not know where it is in the tank if it is still there.. it has a habit of moving bout and hiding normally in my other coral but who knows.. i have never done anything special with it in fact pretty much ignore it.. have been told to take it out it would kill all other stuff but since i did not see this happen either i just left it alone.. i'll see if i can find it later n get a pic of it last i saw it it was approx 1.5 times larger than a pencil eraser and orange in color.

 

[Bongo Shrimp]

Certain tunicates can and do live well in aquariums but a lot of times they are hitchhikers that just so happen to be in the proper conditions. I've only seen a few accounts of people who bought tunicates and kept them for years. As for tiger sponges the real problem that people have run into is (if you can keep the sponge alive at all and get it to grow) the commensal zoanthus typically end up growing faster than and cover the sponge.