Bolbitis species have long been regarded as a low-light, undemanding plant, that survives in most aquariums. It’s a nice looking fern, adds a deep green to the tank, and can be attached to driftwood, or other hardscape materials. A couple months ago, a species of Bolbitis showed up at a GWAPA meeting that our club hadn’t seen before. This is what I’m calling Bolbitis sp., since I don’t know the proper name.

At first, we suspected that it was a terrestrial fern, but due to the quantity brought to auction, it was clear that it grow just fine underwater. It was sent to the club by a rainbowfish breeder and collector, who happened to order it from an order source. The leaf form has many more indentations than the usual type. I’ve been keeping it in my 75G aquarium, and growth has been quite slow, but it is growing nevertheless. If anyone can identify the species of this bolbitis, please leave a comment.

My new favorite accent in the 75G aquarium is Rotala macrandra, a beautiful, but delicate red stem plant. Notorious for being a more difficult plant to grow, I can understand its’ reputation. The plant doesn’t seem to have much of a problem growing, but if I go too long without a water change, I start to notice little holes in the leaves.

Additionally, leaves that reach the surface, appear to easily get holes, or fall apart, instead of converting to emersed growth. That may also be due to the heat from the light as they get rather close to them. Nevertheless, it is a gorgeous plant, with striking orange and red tones. I started with a single stem, and in just a month or two, I’ve now got a decent sized bush of R. macrandra. I’m hoping to grow it out even further, as I need more red in my 75G to offset the large number of green plants in there.

Fortunately, R. macrandra has been in the hobby for some time, so it often shows up in some of the more ambitious fish shops. It you have the chance to buy it, do. However, make sure that you have adequate lighting, CO2, and fertilizers, or the plant won’t stand a chance.

A couple of weeks ago, I got some shrimp from another GWAPA member, and in the bag, he sent along a nice new species of Hygrophila for me to try out. We don’t know the exact species name, but it’s being referred to as Hygrophila sp. ‘Low grow’, due to the way that it grows compared to some other Hygro’s.

The plant seems to creep along the substrate, even in more high light conditions. I’ve grown the common Hygrophila polysperma in this same fashion before, but it requires constant trimming to maintain it low to the ground. This ‘Low grow’ does not appear to need the same. In addition, I’ve found it to be a much slower grower than other species of Hygrophilia which can be outright weeds if left unchecked. The leaves are larger than that of H. polysperma, and contain more pronounced (prettier) vains.

Due to the leave size, I may not use it in many of my aquascapes, but it might be perfect for some larger scapes. I’m going to wait to to let it further grow out before I fully decide that, however.

Here’s an updated picture of my 75G tank. As you can see, it has really started to fill in, and besides needing a trim, I’m pretty happy with how it’s looking. The Utricularia graminfolia in the foreground has started growing over and on top of itself, and the Ludwigia and Limnophilia aromatica on the left/middle have started to layer themselves and bush out quite nicely.

I’ve still got a little bit of black-brush-algae on some of the rocks and wood, but it’s being kept in check by my algae crew, and actually gives the tank a bit of a natural flare. (Or that’s the story I’m going with for now.) The Blyxa japonica looks as good as it ever has since I’ve been growing it, and the Blyxa aubertii is actually starting to look a tad nicer as well, since I moved it from my 40G. All-in-all, I’m looking forward to shaping this scape slightly with some trimming, and fine tuning, but the initial work is done. I’d love to hear your comments/critiques!

It’s been awhile since I last showed a picture of my 40G tank. I’ve been trying to fight an algae problem in this tank by adding more circulation. I recently hooked up an old Fluval 304 canister filter that I had sitting in the basement. It did a good job for awhile, but just yesterday, I noticed that it had air-locked, and was not circulating any water. I have no idea why that happened, as I’m not injecting any CO2 into this filter — that still goes through the Eheim 2213 — but it happened nevertheless. Hopefully that won’t be a reoccurring situation.

Additionally, I recently added Didiplis diandra and Rotala rotundifolia to the back, right-hand, corner, so that’s why it’s a bit bare back there in this picture. (It still hasn’t grown over-top of the rocks.) I need to trim the Rotala macrandra var. ‘green,’ but I’m very pleased with how orange it is getting, with nice bushy growth. I still can’t say enough nice things about the Eriocaulaceae sp. ‘Type 2’ as it doesn’t shoot to the water’s surface, regardless of whether I trim it or not. I love how it wraps around from the foreground to background, and can be trimmed to pretty much whatever mid-ground height I want it to stay at.

On a different note, I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday! Cheers!