I replaced my stock battery with a heavy duty sealed battery and have no need for the breather hose.  If yours is sealed ...........no need hose.  Hope this helps

Thanks for the responses!!! After removing the old battery, it was indeed a sealed battery. The replacement battery that I just bought has a breather hose next to the positive lead. The parts mgr told me that they sold me the replacement with the breather hose because they did not have any sealed batteries in stock at the time I made my purchase. Next time, I am buying the sealed battery  , because getting to this battery to keep checking the levels is going to be a pain.