Bolbitis heudelotii- Sponge filter+ Paradise Fish?
 

Will Bolbitis Heudelotii (African Water Fern) do well in a 20 gallon tall aquarium with a sponge filter and Paradise Fish? The fish need little to no water movement. I was wondering if anyone has grown this in these conditions. The tank will be room temp as well. (around 74-78)

I don't know if the fish will eat it.

Any help from people growing this plant would be appreciated very much.

Best Wishes

I'm not aware of Paradise Fish eating plants particularly. Keep it well fed.:-)

Place the Bolbitis heudelotii close to the return from the sponge filter. This plant does best with some current. It also prefers soft acidic water and sometimes blackens in basic harder water.

Byron.

I don't see why bolbitis shouldn't work, but ceratopteris would be a better fit.

The water sprite is pretty too. I still love how the African water fern looks, plus I can tack it onto driftwood with the java fern.

If the water sprite can survive and thrive in the same acidic conditions the fish need, and is pretty hardy, I will pick a bunch of that up too. I need to look it up. If it doesn't need to be in front of the outflow from the sponge filter it would be beautiful to fill in some areas with it.

I was thinking I could maybe get a bubble wand and lay it under the driftwood that the bolbitus would be on. That would maybe give it the current it needs without disturbing the overall tank current much. (and give me an excuse to get one of those neat lighted bubble walls.. lol)

This tank is in the planning stages still. I am in no rush to get plants especially since mailing them would probably result in cooked plant goosh when I open the box.

Thank you for your suggestion!

Best wishes

Water Sprite is better floating; check our profile (click on the shaded name).

I would caution against a bubblewand. These devices drive CO2 out of the water, and that robs plants of a macro-nutrient, carbon, that they especially need.

Gads! Thank you for that bit of information. I had no idea they would do that. :( I am foiled yet again in my attempt to rationalize getting a bubble wall with a pretty blue light. (LOL)

I have a small Tom filter with a spray bar suitable for a small tank that I am not using. I can always hook that up special for the bolbitis. I am fairly sure I can remove the carbon filter thing inside it and just replace it with a rectangular piece of sponge. (I was trying not to have to resort to using that.) I will also look up powerheads, and see if I can find one with a VERY adjustable flow. I don't want to make the current strong enough to make the fish unhappy. I can kill two birds with one stone with the powerhead though.

Somewhere I had read that I should be keeping the stems thinned a bit on the bolbitus if I can get it to grow since it tends to melt and gather algae really bad if there isn't enough water circulation around the stems. From the problems people have on with this plant I will be amazed if I can get it to do well my first go-round, but if I can make it happy it should make quite a big and beautiful plant.

Floating works on the water sprite. I think I can swing that. If it propagates as easy as the page says I can probably toss some in with my Bettas if I look up how to acclimate a plant to such a drastically different PH as well.