wondering about my sponge's behavior

[fourmyclowns]

I'm not finding enough information about this particular sponge that I have. It's orange and shaped like a Mickey Mouse head with the ears being tubes. Some days the sponge is puffed up large and tubes open very wide. Other times it looks shrunk down. I've been told this is an indication of the water being off so I checked it. Everything came out good: Ammonia 0, Nitrite <.3, Nitrate around or less than 5, ph8, temp 75 and Salinity 1.022. The fish seem very happy and healthy. two sponges nearby are doing well. Is it normal for them to be more open some days and open but smaller other days? My other thought was the mantis shrimp (who we are trying to catch) hangs out near it and may be bothering it. A few days ago the crab was stepping on it too. Anyone know what is average behavior for this type of sponge? I consider it important even though it doesn't swim around and entertain me and want to keep all the critters healthy (except the Mantis!)

 

[electrikat]

Do you have a pic of this sponge? I would like to see it . It sounds interesting.

 

[fourmyclowns]

I will try to get one. I had trouble getting my pictures to work as an attachment last time.

 

[fourmyclowns]

I have a few pictures now but I must be doing something wrong. I am trying to do an attachment, going to "browse", selecting the picture from my hard drive and then when it's listed in the browse line I'm clicking on attach. It looks like it's working then I get a big error message. I wish I knew how to make this work!

 

[fourmyclowns]

sponge picture link

Hopefully I did this right! I took a picture and posted it on Webshots for public viewing. Here is the link:

http://community.webshots.com/user/momndaboyz

Since I started this forum I've been watching it closely. The sponge even had my BIG snail going all over it, cleaning it, sliding over the top and back over it again - shortly after it popped back out into its usual shape. I wonder if they respond to light? Should they close up at night like tulips? I also wonder if it will reproduce? It's interesting seeing it respond to the fish or if the sand is stirred up around it.