We have had this sponge for over a year now. It is extremely hardy and very unusual. Most of the sponges that live in captivity are the cryptic ones. You don't really see them much. The Purple Chalice Sponge is quite the oposite. This strange cupping sponge has been through a lot. When Matthew Juner first saw it he thought it was a chalice coral. He took it out of the water to examine it. It was in a bucket aclimating. It was at the store Natural Life Aquarium in Sunnyvale California. Manfred Eng (the owner of the store) told Matt to put it back in the bucket because it was a sponge. At first Matt didn't believe him. After close examination he found out that Manfred was right. Matt ended up buying this sponge and it has been in our tanks ever since. It has been fragged three times so far. Each frag has lived succesfully. We have seen two other colonies of this sponge come in. We don't know if this will become a common aquarium inhabitant in the future but for now it is not.