# Bolbitis Difformis "Mini"



## MadMensch (Jul 2, 2017)

Hi all,

I just picked up a couple pots of Bolbitis Mini (sp. difformis) at a LFS and it was a total impulse purchase because I knew nothing about the plant. When I got home I started researching the plant a bit more while quarantining it and could not find any recent threads on it.

The older threads that I did find had mixed reviews with most people saying the plant is nearly impossible to keep alive submersed long term. Is this still the case or is there more recent info on the plant that might help with it's longterm success?










*On a side note:* My wife asked me why I was feeding the fish parsley when she first saw it! LOL


Thank you in advance!


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## Tnalp (Mar 25, 2017)

I would take this but I'm about 40min sway


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## MadMensch (Jul 2, 2017)

Tnalp said:


> I would take this but I'm about 40min sway
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk




Are you in San Diego? If so I got it from PetZone on Convoy, they have plenty. 


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## pwolfe (Mar 2, 2011)

I've tried this plant twice. For me, the leaves fall off and never come back. I still have the rhizomes in my tank, but while green, they never produce leaves. And this has been months. If you figure them out I'd love to hear how!


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## MadMensch (Jul 2, 2017)

pwolfe said:


> I've tried this plant twice. For me, the leaves fall off and never come back. I still have the rhizomes in my tank, but while green, they never produce leaves. And this has been months. If you figure them out I'd love to hear how!


That's extremely disappointing to hear but I'm not surprised. All the threads I've read in the past have had the same experience.

Just curious, how long did it take for the leaves to fall off?


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## pwolfe (Mar 2, 2011)

weeks. It was a slow decline. I'll see if I can nab a picture of them. Its strange- The rhizome is a healthy green, but after roughly 9 months this tank has been up, not one leaf sprout.


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## MadMensch (Jul 2, 2017)

pwolfe said:


> weeks. It was a slow decline. I'll see if I can nab a picture of them. Its strange- The rhizome is a healthy green, but after roughly 9 months this tank has been up, not one leaf sprout.


Every day I'm starting to notice small leaves disconnecting from the stem and floating around the tank. Not sure if this occurred during transport or if this is how the plant eventually starts going downhill.

It's a shame because it's a really nice looking plant!


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## Preetam (Jan 19, 2017)

Direct the flow of water over the rhizomes. An additional power head or the filter outlet directed at the rhizome will be good. This keeps the plant healthy and makes it grow faster. This works for all types of ferns.


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## Stacy1 (Dec 15, 2016)

Ive got this plant in a few of my tanks. Mine seem to do better in warmer water. My rabbit snail tank is 80 degrees and it does bettet there than my 74-76 degree tanks


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## pwolfe (Mar 2, 2011)

Preetam said:


> Direct the flow of water over the rhizomes. An additional power head or the filter outlet directed at the rhizome will be good. This keeps the plant healthy and makes it grow faster. This works for all types of ferns.


Interesting, I'll try that!


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## MadMensch (Jul 2, 2017)

** UPDATE **

It's been 3 weeks since I initially introduced the "mini" bolbitis to my tank and I finally decided to give up on it. Since I first introduced the plant to my tank I've lost about 85% of it and the rest is browned out and looking like death. Every other plant in my tank is doing great and thriving.

The weird thing is I do have 3 new healthy green stems growing from the rhizome that are about 3" in height with small leaves sprouting. I'm thinking this plant is very sensitive to water parameter changes and the old leaves will initially die off while sprouting new leaves that are acclimated to the new tank parameters. Seeing how slow the plant grows and how sensitive it is I probably will just toss the rest of the plant out and try the non-mini Bolbitis next.

Anyway, it was worth a try.


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Jun 15, 2008)

Hi MadMensch,

I don't know if the species will survive submerged or not but it is possible that the plant shed all of its emersed grown leaves and now is starting to grow submerged leaves....it may be worth continuing this 'experiment' a few weeks longer.


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## d33pVI (Oct 28, 2015)

I've kept some submersed for nearly two years now in a low tech tank. It grows, but extremely slow. Pretty sure it needs to be emersed to keep it's leaf structure. One of these days I'll get around to trying to transition it back to emersed growth.


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## Bananableps (Nov 6, 2013)

Even if you give up on it submerged, why not try an emergant setup? Get a little shallow glass vase, add some cuttings, make a lil swamp jar.


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## houseofcards (Mar 21, 2009)

I"m still not sure what motivates an LFS, Chains, etc to sell plants like this that are primarily terrestrial. I still see mondo grass and others for sale. I know they look good at first but still - Customer buys plant, plant dies, customer blames store and doesn't go back. 

Even if technically you can get it to live, most won't be able to nor would they want to build a setup around it.


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## MadMensch (Jul 2, 2017)

d33pVI said:


> I've kept some submersed for nearly two years now in a low tech tank. It grows, but extremely slow. Pretty sure it needs to be emersed to keep it's leaf structure. One of these days I'll get around to trying to transition it back to emersed growth.


While keeping it submersed did the plant lose all of its leaves or did it eventually get accustomed to submersed conditions.


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## MadMensch (Jul 2, 2017)

houseofcards said:


> I"m still not sure what motivates an LFS, Chains, etc to sell plants like this that are primarily terrestrial. I still see mondo grass and others for sale. I know they look good at first but still - Customer buys plant, plant dies, customer blames store and doesn't go back.
> 
> Even if technically you can get it to live, most won't be able to nor would they want to build a setup around it.


Of course it's money that motivates them. I think the stores definitely do have to take some responsibility though. I've tried searching online everywhere for info on the Bolbitis "mini" and have only found random forums posts of people's experiences but nothing concrete. 

Reminds me of when I was in the reefkeeping hobby and would see stores selling the carnation coral or even mandarin gobies to new aquarists.


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## d33pVI (Oct 28, 2015)

MadMensch said:


> While keeping it submersed did the plant lose all of its leaves or did it eventually get accustomed to submersed conditions.


It lost all it's leaves early on and they have not come back. It still grows, but the submersed form isn't terribly attractive.


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## 4f1hmi (Apr 22, 2009)

I have bought some of these a few years back together with some sulawesi shrimps when they are still new to the hobby. We got the same healthy looking plants but slowly deteriorated. I tried it on my low ph , high ph sulawesi tank and even on tap. All died. Sigh.


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