Bolbitis Heudelotii (African Water Fern)

My plant profile video on Bolbitis Heudelotii

Another great video article ! Enjoyed them all, and I have been a subscriber to your YouTube channel for a while now.

alexmtl wrote:Another great video article ! Enjoyed them all, and I have been a subscriber to your YouTube channel for a while now.

Thank you Alex, this is going to be a huge series. I have tons of plants profiles I am going to do in video format. And they will all also get posted here. Have you ever commented directly on my video's on YouTube. I am just wondering if I have talked or responded to you on there, and did not know who you were.

Thank you for sharing Guppyguy I may have to try it out in one of my tanks.

That was an excellent video clip on my favourite aquarium plant. I wish I had had access to info like that when I first started with it.

Please don't imagine me in a rocking chair with a dog at my feet when I tell this story. I got one rhizome about 3 inches long in 1992, when I first joined the local club and saw the plant in the auction. That rhizome was a 30 inch piece within a few years. I now have its descendants/extendants(?) in most of my tanks.

I got some more from Cameroon in 2004. It was really hard to acclimate, but I saved some (maybe 3 pieces out of 20). Wild, it looks a lot different from cultivated forms. It has very broad light green leaves. Within a year, it looked like my other Bolbitis.

It grew like mad when I was treating for cyanobacter with potassium nitrate ferts.
If you put it off the edge of a light source with a powerhead behind it, it will extend towards the light quickly and hit 22-23 inches quickly. It grows more slowly under a direct light. It likes to be ambitious.
When it stretches to a light, it keeps the leaves down low. It doesn't get all stalky like a lot of root plants.

It drops off plantlets without the rhizome being cut. Not many, not often, but every once in a while, it seems to get very busy.

And of great interest to me, you can buy a piece and still have it going 20+ years later. That is remarkable.

Watch the video - you want this plant!

guppyguy wrote:Have you ever commented directly on my video's on YouTube. I am just wondering if I have talked or responded to you on there, and did not know who you were.

No I just lurk and creep around.

Fores41 wrote:Thank you for sharing Guppyguy I may have to try it out in one of my tanks.

Your welcome. It has few needs and is pretty easy plant and quite unique in its looks too.

GaryE wrote:That was an excellent video clip on my favourite aquarium plant. I wish I had had access to info like that when I first started with it.

Please don't imagine me in a rocking chair with a dog at my feet when I tell this story. I got one rhizome about 3 inches long in 1992, when I first joined the local club and saw the plant in the auction. That rhizome was a 30 inch piece within a few years. I now have its descendants/extendants(?) in most of my tanks.

I got some more from Cameroon in 2004. It was really hard to acclimate, but I saved some (maybe 3 pieces out of 20). Wild, it looks a lot different from cultivated forms. It has very broad light green leaves. Within a year, it looked like my other Bolbitis.

It grew like mad when I was treating for cyanobacter with potassium nitrate ferts.
If you put it off the edge of a light source with a powerhead behind it, it will extend towards the light quickly and hit 22-23 inches quickly. It grows more slowly under a direct light. It likes to be ambitious.
When it stretches to a light, it keeps the leaves down low. It doesn't get all stalky like a lot of root plants.

It drops off plantlets without the rhizome being cut. Not many, not often, but every once in a while, it seems to get very busy.

And of great interest to me, you can buy a piece and still have it going 20+ years later. That is remarkable.



Watch the video - you want this plant!

Thank you Gary and glad you enjoyed the video. And that is incredible story you just told.. It just shows how tough and long lived this plant is. Don't worry I never imagined you in a rocking chair with a dog at your feet when as I read the story. But I did get a chuckle out of that. I have not had a plant for 20 years yet not even close actually, maybe five years with some of my java ferns. I believe the low light slower growing plants will have a considerably longer life span. This is a great plant I recommend to those who have not tried it.

alexmtl wrote:

guppyguy wrote:Have you ever commented directly on my video's on YouTube. I am just wondering if I have talked or responded to you on there, and did not know who you were.

No I just lurk and creep around.

lol ok its all good. At least I know you checking out the videos.

These video profiles are excellent.

GaryE wrote:These video profiles are excellent.

Thank you Gary and much more to come.