African water fern

Care at a glance

Overview

Attach the rhizome to wood or rock with thread or glue and never bury it in substrate, because a buried rhizome will rot and kill the plant. It tolerates low light and no CO2 but grows painfully slowly that way, so injected CO2, a steady iron-rich liquid fert and good current give the fullest, healthiest fronds. Patience is the main requirement here, since a new leaf may only appear every few weeks, and stunted or browning fronds usually mean too little flow, too much light driving algae, or a buried rhizome.

In the wild

Bolbitis heudelotii comes from tropical West and Central Africa, where it grows clinging to rocks and wood in fast-flowing streams, rivers and even waterfalls. It does best in shaded, well-oxygenated water with strong current, and the same fast-moving conditions in the wild are why it appreciates good flow in the aquarium. It can grow both submersed and emersed, but in the trade it is kept and sold as a submersed plant.

Good to know

This is an aquatic fern in the family Dryopteridaceae, growing from a creeping rhizome that produces finely divided, translucent dark-green fronds. Like other ferns it has no flowers and reproduces by spores, though aquarists almost always propagate it by splitting the rhizome. The fronds are notably tough and somewhat unpalatable, which is why fish rarely bother them.

Did you know

Bolbitis is one of the few aquarium ferns that genuinely prefers strong current, and in nature it can be found growing right in the spray of waterfalls.

Related plants

• 

  Bolbitis Difformis

  Bolbitis heteroclita 'Difformis'

  Low lightEpiphyte2.8 in (7 cm)

• 

  Floating water sprite

  Ceratopteris cornuta

  Medium lightFloating15.7 in (40 cm)

• 

  Water sprite

  Ceratopteris thalictroides

  Medium lightBackground15 in (38 cm)