Freshwater Sponges: check it out

[vitaly]

I went to collect some gobies for my Dniester Biotope project and guess what I found? A real life freshwater sponge or Spongilla fluviatilis. I have heard of freshwater sponges, but until now, I have never seen one.



This is what I have noticed on a pieces of wood. At first, I thought that it was some sort of egg clutch. But it just felt weird, almost like moss. But it turned out a beginning of a new sponge colony









Another look at small sponge colony









Close up of Spongilla fluviatilis







And than I saw a fully formed freshwater sponge colony. Looks like something out of the ocean. almost like a coral. Just not as colorful

A crappy look at the freshwater sponge colonies underwater











Another piece of the sponge











Looks like a piece of coral, but it's a freshwater sponge!!!











This little piece of the freshwater sponge I took home to put into my new tank. Let's see how it goes















My silly face in front of the great Dniester River)))

 

[HarleyK]

Totally Old School (in an awesome way) to go out and harvest, and to come across crazy stuff like that. I'm fascinated.

 

[vitaly]

I took some more photos of freshwater sponges today. this time they are bright green. probably due to algae

Bottom View​

smaller colonies of sponges​

Oh, and they do smell pretty funky))) kind of like something rotten)))

 

[HarleyK]

Looks like I'm the only one posting in this thread, Vitaly, but this is totally cool.

I guess other members can't see the beauty. Surprising, actually. Considering these things are so rare in the hobby that you'd think MFK is the place with people who know to appreciate it. Weird.

Keep it up, please. Keep posting this stuff.

 

[vitaly]

Looks like I'm the only one posting in this thread, Vitaly, but this is totally cool.

I guess other members can't see the beauty. Surprising, actually. Considering these things are so rare in the hobby that you'd think MFK is the place with people who know to appreciate it. Weird.

Keep it up, please. Keep posting this stuff.

thanks. it does seem like this board is dead. kind of strange.

I took 2 polyps home to put into my aquarium. according to russian language sites they do really well in fishtanks. but we'll see

 

[Deadliestviper7]

Nice vitaly, I would totally keep them, but I had to break down/ give away all my tanks
We have freshwater sponges here in the United States but they aren't as interesting, we also have bryozoans

 

[vitaly]

Nice vitaly, I would totally keep them, but I had to break down/ give away all my tanks
We have freshwater sponges here in the United States but they aren't as interesting, we also have bryozoans

yes, broke down all my tanks since i moved out florida to europe. this is my first tank here. what are bryozoans? i'll have to look them up

 

[Deadliestviper7]

Bryzoans are kinda like sponges, they grow on branches in clean water, basically they look like greenish or brownish globs and can grow as big as a basketball

 

[Hendre]

Cool stuff vitaly! Keep us updated

 

[Desert Bus]

I would love to try and keep FW sponges but I don't know where to get them.