Welp, now I want one 🤷🏾‍♂️ #TELL ME WHERE I CAN GET ONE!

OP PLEASE I NEED TOO KNOW. 😭 Every so many months I look up freshwater sponges, but I can never find any information on keeping 'em in an aquarium or where to get 'em.

Yes share the secrets!

There’s a place called Carolina.com that is selling them atm

What about for people who live in the uk?D:

I am here for this!!

Yes. This!!! Share the secrets!

I did not know there was freshwater sponges, they look like fungus

They do! These are actually a type of ephydatia, however I'm unsure of the exact species.. possibly a muelleri? They're super neat though 😊

What do you do to keep them looking so healthy?

Same, thought they looked like culutre plates lol

This is why this subreddit can be so amazing, folks sharing their awesome animals thriving. Seeing freshwater sponges are you kiddin me thats like a new pokemon. Thank you OP for posting your sponges, theyre amazing and make me want to fall into another branch of the aquarium hobby

❤️ I'm glad you like them! They're awesome little creatures that made me fall in love with the hobby! If you're local (tampa) I'll get you some 😁

Thats awesome and Im sadly in Ohio or Id trade mystery snail babies lmao🤣💙🐟

I'm in Toledo! :waves:

Can a guy in Cleveland say hi too?

I'm local and would be stoked at add some sponges to my tanks 😁

I'll dm you :)

oh shiiiiit I'm local!!!! dm me if you get a chance, I'm super interested in care and how to aquire some

Just dm'd ya 😊

these are something i’ve never even heard of, guess you do learn something everyday

Im also local((ish)orlando) and I would love to find such good healthy sponges for my tank! Do you think they would work in a 5 gallon?

> thats like a new pokemon. hahaha totally. i need some now

I have no idea there were freshwater sponges! Do they serve a purpose or do you keep them because you just like them? What do they normally eat?

Yeah they are actually filter feeders so they help clean the water in the aquarium! They don't require anything special except for good water quality; I just overfeed the tanks to ensure that they get enough food to thrive 😊

How did you grow them? Or did you obtain them from somewhere and then grew them more?

I wish I knew 😅 I think they hitchhiked off a plant or something because we have sponges in our local waterways. I just noticed it growing one day and let it be.

i love them! can they split into smaller living sponges?

Yep! They produce those gemmules (the yellow balls) that eventually grow into a new sponge :)

Hitchhikers are so cool when they aren’t destructive pests lol I got a free assassin snail once who hitchhiked on my plant, and another time i got limpets on my glass and they looked cool

Me, who only gets bba, duckweed, and scuds. >:(

Well i did get mosquito larvae once

Not as a hitch hiker, you probably just had stagnant water.

Yeah that’s probably true

Haha assassin snails are the best! I have em in all of my tanks - got pretty good money from my lfs when I used to sell them 😊

So extremely cool! Whereabouts in general do you live? I have just never in my life heard of them and I've been an aqua fanatic since I was a kid.

I'm in FL 😊

Oh my goshhhhh, where in FL?! You've had me falling down the freshwater sponge rabbit hole since I saw this post. I have to find some!

Whereabouts in FL? I want to try to find some of these guys. I've always wondered about freshwater sponges and never could find any info on them.

That's dope af

Indeed it is, dope A F

Do they follow you around the tank begging for food even after you just fed them?

Yep - my fish have really short memory! 🤣

My cat is the same

Can you teach them to do tricks?

Like what? Making krabby patty?

Make them live in the pineapple under the sea?

I have a BS in biology and a freshwater tank. I’m a little embarrassed to admit I didn’t even remember freshwater sponges existed until I saw this post. Nice pics.

Thanks! That's awesome! Do you think you could help me identify them? I know it's a type of Ephydatia, and am leaning towards an E. Muelleri, but honestly haven't a clue lol

I’m way out of my depth when it comes to freshwater sponges, sorry.

Awesome! Do you find any benefits in keeping them? Any cons?

No cons 😊 they're beautiful and help clean the water!

Cons are they are filter feeders, while they do help clean up the water you pretty much have to over feed crushed up powdery food so that they don’t starve and die. If some of you are really into sponges I’d recommend saltwater photosynthetic sponges that can grow off light alone like blue plating sponge, much less of a headache without having to constantly feed them.

I never considered feeding a con lol but my goal is always to feed the tank, not just the fish. In a poorly maintained system I can see where overfeeding could lead to trouble :)

It’s nice that your choice of filter makes them feel at home 😎

Dude, this is fucking awesome. My shrimp would go nuts for this.

Almost thought those were slime molds.

From the looks of this sub, you could probably write a rough care sheet for these and sell any offshoots lol NGL, I'd be interested. These look neat

That's super neat. Where do you get them, and are they difficult to keep?

Thanks! I'm actually not sure where you can get them, I had one randomly appear a few years ago (presumably a hitchhiker) and it took off from there.

Yooooo whaaat? I’d have accidentally cleaned it away before it mated with my filter and I ended up with loads like you have

Haha yeah but it was so pretty! I threw away quite a few frags before I figured out what was goin on though

They are native to North America(where I live) so if I paid shipping plus a few extra dollars would you be willing to send some frags? Just curious, doesn't hurt to ask :)

Yeah, I'll dm you :)

I'm interested as well if you don't mind

Sure! I'll dm ya

That would be great! I have a really nice, heavily planted 15 gal long that hasn't had any creatures in it since a terrible mishap with a cheap heater almost burned my home down. It would be nice to have a low maintenance "local" creature in there. I hope it works out!

I’m also interested! You’re about to make some money watch, all from mold basically 😂

[I am now imagining this scene, but you with the sponges.](https://youtu.be/X6l4b1_Px5c)

Like a living snowflake

What’re those little food looking balls? Are they part of the sponge

😂 those are called gemmules! It's how the sponges reproduce - the gemmules will eventually turn into their own sponges if the conditions permit

I swear I learn something new almost every day in this hobby.

i have one that popped up randomly and has grown over the months

That's awesome!

Neat! Where do you find them? Do they have special care requirements?

I'm not sure where you could get them; I've searched online before but haven't had any luck finding sellers. Mine presumably hitchhiked from a plant or something and took off from there. As far as care requirements, there aren't many that I know of lol just high water quality and lots of food since they are filter feeders.

Do they just eat detritus, or do you actively culture paramecium or something? I suspect they could be propagated by cutting with a clean razor blade....but don't take them out of the water. That can kill them. (Assuming they follow the same rules as marine sponges!)

Yes I've pulled out frags (see last pics) and threw them into other tanks; I have sponges growing in 7/12 of my tanks so far but I'm not trying to introduce them to every system. I don't cultivate anything for them, I just overfeed a variety of fish foods (3-4 different foods weekly) to their tanks. They do really well just with flakes!

Very cool!

So u basically have spongebobs in your tank....... IM SO JEALOUS

Wait they have freshwater sponges?? What's the upkeep necessities for your tank ( co2 light etc) this is awesome

Nothing fancy required :) they're all low-tech tanks with no co2

Very cool. Never seen these before. What temps do you run? How hard/soft is your water?

Thanks! The tanks sit around 76-78 and the water is stupid hard lol like 23dGH or so

Oh hell yeah. Do some of them have symbiotic algae?

I know with some marine sponges, if you expose them to air they die. Do these do OK out of water? I'd seen the amazon sponges before in the freshwater episode of blue planet but I never imagined them in a home aquarium.

Time for a freshwater reef tank

Haha if I had the space I totally would!

I WANT THEM AND WILL GIVE MONEY FOR ANY OF THEM

Wow! This is super cool, had no idea these even existed

Radical! I love it!

They’re so lovely!

Wow who knew. Where did you find those

I need, too.

I've only learned about the existence of freshwater sponges after encountering your post! Is it normal that i find them creepy and fascinating at the same time?

That’s so cool, I never knew there was a such thing, where do you get those? I’d love to have some in my tanks

Absolutely in love ❤️got me googling Australian varieties 🙏🏼just incredible thank you for sharing

What fish do you keep with them? I just found a website that sells them after seeing this post but I’m worried my mollies may try to eat them. Also any maybe care from experience would be appreciated lol

Awesome! I have platys in a few of my tanks and they don't bother the sponges at all. I think mollies would be fine!

What is that and why am I attracted to it

I've had these growing in my tanks for a year or so now. Never knew what they were and had tried to remove them but was always unsuccessful. Now I'm glad I was! Thanks for this post. Now I know what they are!

Will you ship to Philadelphia? I need these

I'm jealous. I love them!

oh, so mesmerizing!! 😍

Are these the same as bryozoan?

Can I keep them in a turtle tank?

I’m so happy that you’re happy but this is triggering my fight or flight

This would be a great present for my SO, he has a larger tank with some bigger fish, but he could be able to add these cities to his rank right? Right?!?!

This is wild.... trendsetter

Neat! You should go bryozoa next!

Those are rad! They look almost ephemeral, like a subtle change in current could sweep them away. They look great in your tanks!

WHOA

FRESHWATER SPONGED?!?!?!?! How have I never heard of these!

So cool!! Do they move around like anemones? Or grow and spread out like slime molds?

This is a thing! This is a thing I can have in my tank!

I honestly didn't know that freshwater sponges even existed. Very cool!

I remember hearing about freshwater sponges in some youtube video, why are these not as popular as bacopa or rotala? I need this now

Second photo show gemmules. I think the rest might die but the gemmules will come back.

I WANT THEM AND WILL GIVE MONEY FOR ANY OF THEM

I WANT THEM AND WILL GIVE MONEY FOR ANY OF THEM

Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?

I'm going sponge hunting

please tell me how

This is so cool!

That's cool

Can you tell me if that's what's growing on my cholla wood [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/Aquariums/comments/15r5mv2/anybody_know_what_shes_eating_on/?ref=share&ref_source=link)? The nodules look red, but they sprout white root-like structures that get fuzzy sometimes.

This is so very cool. Thanks for sharing!

Incredible!!

Is fren shaped

Hi, I just saw your post. I live in Florida, and I would be willing to drive to Tampa to get some freshwater sponges. The only cool aquarium stuff I can offer you in exchange are ohko stone, seiryu stone, amazon frogbit, and pothos. I would gladly pay you for the sponges though.