Chromodoris joshi sponges

[Calappidae]

Is there anyway to supply Chromodoris joshi it's food source directly or is it a matter of luck on what it can find in large displays.

[pagojoe]

You've probably already read up on food sponges, but it goes like this: "I saw a Chromodoris joshi eating a yellow sponge." So I ask, "What species?" and you say "Yellow," because there is no practical way of identifying the sponge short of microscopic analysis. If you're really good, you might be able to narrow it to the genus level. So, you go and collect several variants of yellow sponge, hoping you have the right one. If you are lucky, you might have gotten a sample of the correct one, but chances are good that, even if you did get the right one, you won't be able to identify it again with any certainty when you see it, unless it's really distinctive. This problem presents itself over and over when trying to select food for a very picky sponge eater, and is one of the reasons it's next to impossible to keep sponge-eating nudibranchs, with the exception being when they arrive as hitchhikers on a particular sponge. Then the problem becomes keeping the sponge alive and healthy while it's being eaten by one or more predators. You might accidentally have the right balance in a huge aquatic ecosystem, but it's usually not practical in a small reef tank (even if "small" is several thousand gallons).

Cheers,



Don