# Bolbitis heudelotti and Bolbitis heteroclita



## Roan Art (Jan 5, 2006)

Another question from me 

Apparently there are two types of bolbitis: _Bolbitis heudelotti_, which, I think, is known as the "African Fern" and _Bolbitis heteroclita_. One of these is native to Papua New Guinea and/or Irian Jaya. I suspect it is not _heudelotti_, which I've read is from Africa only, but _heteroclita_.

Searching the web only leads to confusion on these plants. Images are mislabled and I really can't tell which is which. To confound me even further, I ordered _heudelotti_ from two different places and received two different plants.

Can someone point me to the correct plant for PNG and pictures to match?

Also, does anyone have a source for _heteroclita_ in the USA?

Thanks!
Roan


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## Momotaro (Feb 21, 2003)

I have B. heudelottii in my 75G. Here is a shot of it:

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?p=214143#post214143

B. heteroclita looks like an Ivy. In fact I have heard it referred to as Chinese Ivy from time to time. I have always had a problem with it, and have never been able to grow it. As I understand the plant would rater be grown emmersed, so submerged growth can be less than optimal as the plant does struggle when submerged.

Mike


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## Roan Art (Jan 5, 2006)

Momotaro said:


> I have B. heudelottii in my 75G. Here is a shot of it:
> 
> http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?p=214143#post214143


Gorgeous tank and a beautiful plant!
The plants I received from AquariumPlants.com look just like yours, the one I got from another place does not look like that at all. It actually looks like a "real" fern, but it's hard to say because it's not "leafy".



> B. heteroclita looks like an Ivy. In fact I have heard it referred to as Chinese Ivy from time to time. I have always had a problem with it, and have never been able to grow it. As I understand the plant would rater be grown emmersed, so submerged growth can be less than optimal as the plant does struggle when submerged.


Hrm, an ivy, eh? I don't think I've ever really seen a picture of it at all then. Do you know of one?

Have you noticed that _heudelottii_ takes great exception to becoming dry, even for short periods of time?

I've planted several on Malaysian driftwood about my tank, some in high outflow, some low outflow, to see which ones do best, and I noticed that the one I have on my highest piece of driftwood (2" from the top of the waterline) always looks ragged after a waterchange. I'm not sure if it's from being partially dried out for a bit, or placement, or my imagination.

Roan


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## Momotaro (Feb 21, 2003)

> Have you noticed that heudelottii takes great exception to becoming dry, even for short periods of time?


No. I have taken the plant out while doing a trim and not noticed.

Can you take a picture of the plant you have?

Mike


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## mrbelvedere (Nov 15, 2005)

How long before that giant stand of B. heudelotti came to fruition? I just added some to my 37 high w/ CO2 and 3.5 WPG attached to driftwood. Would you consider it a fast grower?


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## Momotaro (Feb 21, 2003)

It took a few months.

In my experience Bolbitus will grow fairly quickly when it is grown in the right conditions, good light, good CO2, and a ton of water movement.

Mike


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## timr (Mar 23, 2005)

here's the best pic i could get of heteroclita. Mike is right, growth is tough, you can see the large emersed growth leaves, and the smaller submerged growth. However, it grows faster than c. parva.


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## Momotaro (Feb 21, 2003)

The smaller submerged leaves are really pretty, they are just so darn hard to get!

Nice job, timr!

Mike


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## Trail_Mix (May 17, 2011)

I know this is an old thread, but there's just so much confusion and lack of knowledge concerning Bolbitis right now that I have to ask and see if anybody knows... There are clearly more than one type of B. heteroclita circulating in the trade right now, (I can think of 3 or 4 off the top of my head depending on what is actuallly a different plant and what is just something mislabeled) which is obviously adding to the mass confusion regarding the entire Bolbitis genus. I am curious myself, since I have plenty of what I would call the common B. heteroclita, you know, the same plant they now sell at Petco in those tubes as (I believe) "Asian Water Fern," the one with those large flat leaves that are kinda spade-shaped and look almost like an ellongated ivy leaf just in a pale and (imo ugly) green color... The reason I have so many is because one leaf can turn into over a half dozen plantlets and I have been growing them out emersed.

I had read that this plant was strictly a terrarium/paludarium/emersed plant, and that it would not survive underwater for more than a month or so, (and honestly, if it is dying slowly over the course of a month, does that really count as "surviving?" Cause I know you can take it out and "save" it, especially considering it grows from a rhizome, but following that logic, humans can survive without oxygen! And what gives, are the petco employees really all that ignorant?!!!??! And do the average shoppers there really enjoy watching plants slowly rot in their aquariums? I don't get it... cause evidently many do, it's kinda like the neon tetra symptom, they think of aquatic life as similar to buying a bouquet of roses, they look nice in water for awhile, then you throw it out... not cool. Especially when there are TONS of great fully aquatic plants that they could be spending their money on instead, and perhaps if they didn't have rotting plants in their aquariums, their water quality would be more stable and their fish would live longer, healtheir, happier lives.

But I want to know, is this true, that it only thrives emersed? Or does it just require high light/co2 and/or being placed in an area of high water flow providing rich oxygenation to grow submerged? Or is it just the other Bolbitis varieties that are also labeled simply as B. heteroclita that I see pictures of growing beautiful B. heudoltii like leaves? I wonder cause I have a bunch of the "common" B. heteroclita growing emersed that are either sitting in tubs or being utilized in other projects, but if they can thrive submersed given proper conditions, AND grow attractive foliage, I'd really like to know!

If anyone can help clear up the confusion surrounding this entire genus, I'd greatly appreciate it!


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## Guest (Jan 24, 2014)

*Possible answere.*

I have a schrump-ton of these things in both my 10 gal. planted jungle-type tank and my 10 gal. Paludarium set-up. So far, I have not seen any deteriation in either set-up, despite having several for months on end. But, to be fair, I did OFFICIALLY read in a recent issue of TFH in their plant article section that this species (B. heteroclite) is much harder to grow submersed than B. heudelotti is. I work at PetSmart, and we totally sell these things in those tubes; that's how I've gotten all of mine. We call it 'El Nino Fern' for some freaky-ass reason, but the scientific name is B. heteroclite. I'm tending to agree with most assertions that this plant is difficult to grow submersed, not just because everyone and their mom, including an official primary source is saying so, but also because out of every single aquarium plant book that I have ever read (and mind you, this is 18 years worth of books read), not ONE has ever mentioned this species. This to me seems to confirm that it's not really regarded as a great species to grow underwater. But, weirdly enough, it's doing great in my aquarium.


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## Trail_Mix (May 17, 2011)

Psybur said:


> I have a schrump-ton of these things in both my 10 gal. planted jungle-type tank and my 10 gal. Paludarium set-up. So far, I have not seen any deteriation in either set-up, despite having several for months on end. But, to be fair, I did OFFICIALLY read in a recent issue of TFH in their plant article section that this species (B. heteroclite) is much harder to grow submersed than B. heudelotti is. I work at PetSmart, and we totally sell these things in those tubes; that's how I've gotten all of mine. We call it 'El Nino Fern' for some freaky-ass reason, but the scientific name is B. heteroclite. I'm tending to agree with most assertions that this plant is difficult to grow submersed, not just because everyone and their mom, including an official primary source is saying so, but also because out of every single aquarium plant book that I have ever read (and mind you, this is 18 years worth of books read), not ONE has ever mentioned this species. This to me seems to confirm that it's not really regarded as a great species to grow underwater. But, weirdly enough, it's doing great in my aquarium.


Can you include a picture please? I'd love to see your tanks, how the Bolbitis look, and your jungle set-up. Why do they sell so many non-aquatics in those tubes though?!!!??!


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## micheljq (Oct 24, 2012)

Bolbitis heudelotti is quite easy to grow, problem is that in the right conditions it can become quite big and difficult to manage. It can grows emersed or submerged. I have mine submerged since 3 years. It does not well in low light, i mean in low light, it gets algae easily but lives. I had more success with it with medium lighting, where it looks more healthy. That's my personal experience with it.

Bolbitis heteroclita i have seen some in the past and it is does not really look like the heudelotti. It does not look like a fern, or may have a fern like look only with newer/young leaves.

Michel.


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## Miss Cellany (Nov 23, 2012)

I bought a B. heteroclita (the "standard" type that looks similar to java fern but with tri-lobed leaves) from a chain aquarium store not knowing it wasn't a submersible aquarium plant.

It was under water for a week or so in my low light, low tech (no CO2) tank before I read up on it - no deterioration in that time - the leaves are really quite tough and impervious. I happened to have put it under my HOB outflow (java ferns always seem to grow the best there so I treated it as a java fern) attached to a piece of driftwood about 6 inches from the surface (so bubbles from the outflow were constantly stuck to the roots and leaves), perhaps that's why it survived with no melting?

After reading up on it I slowly moved it up the driftwood bit by bit over 2 - 3 weeks until the topmost leaves were out of the water. These I misted 3 x daily to help acclimate them to being emersed, and kept the tank lid on to increase humidity (I normally leave most of my tanks lid-less for extra oxygen transfer as my fish aren't really jumpers). I continued to move the plant up until most leaves were out of the water (roots, rhizome and lower leaves are fully submersed still), I also added DIY CO2 to the tank.

The plant has taken off.
I don't know if it's the CO2 or the partially emersed state that did it but it's put out 3 new fronds in the last month and is growing faster than my java ferns despite that it's not directly under the lights nor receiving any root fertilization. One or two of the older leaves have started to brown but the rhizome is growing and loads of new roots have formed - it's sticking itself down to the driftwood quite well already. The new leaves are all growing up and out of the water surface so clearly this plant wants to be emersed.

I would say this isn't a plant to grow completely submersed but why not grow it just under the surface so the uppermost leaves are emersed? It looks really nice like this on a large piece of driftwood and it provides shelter for top dwelling fish. The roots and rhizome don't mind being submerged at all - I would hazard a guess that it can grow like this in the wild on the banks of rivers.

Does anyone know if this plant needs high humidity to survive or can I eventually remove the lid on the tank? I'd like the plant to grow up and out of the top of the tank (I think tanks like that look really cool ).


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