Any Tips for Bolbitis

Death Pony

AC Members
Feb 7, 2009
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Fredericksburg and Newport News, VA
I just picked up two things of Bolibitis yesterday (only paid for one, roots grew together and tangled). Does anyone have any tips for keeping it healthy and thriving? I've heard that it's a relatively difficult plant to keep. I have it in the back of the tank when the least light penetrates in order to keep it from getting burned. I dose Flourish Excel daily (in small amounts) and Iron and Potassium every other day.
 
it likes good flow and needs to be anchored as opposed to planted. I do'nt find it challenging at all.

Sounds easy enough. I've pretty much become an expert on tying down plants to rock and wood with how fast my Java ferns produce plantlets. It's anchored to a piece of petrified wood right now. I'll rotate it with the melon sword if it starts showing any bad signs, then it'll be right by the filter output with plenty of flow.
 
Mine has been very easy to keep. Just over 1 wpg, potting soil under sand substrate, anchored (actually just wedged) into a piece of driftwood. No ferts, no CO2, just regular water changes. It is under the HOB filter so it gets a nice little current. I thought it was pretty much dormant for 4 to 5 weeks as I saw very little growth if any. Then suddenly there were 3 fiddle heads popping up. Now I see one (sometimes 2) every week or two. I would rate this as easy. At least it has been for a newb like me.
 
Yeah, best thing you can do is abuse that plant. It likes hard water and strong flow. I tried to baby mine to get it to grow faster and it didn't, threw it in a junky low tech tank and it took off. I found out the rhizome grows into an unmanageable tangle if you let the plant just sit in the tank, does better if you tie it down to something.
 
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