Dwarf African Fern

Bolbitis heteroclita

rhizome on stone and wood midground nano tank foreground

(C. Presl) Ching

Other scientific names:Bolbitis cuspidata (Presl) Ching, Edanyoa difformis Copeland, Acrostichum flagelliferum, Acrostichum heteroclitum, Acrostichum modestum, Acrostichum proliferum

A small fern for wood and stone, closer to a java fern in habit than to its larger African relative. It grows slowly, needs no substrate and suits a nano tank.

Light: low–high
Difficulty: medium
Temperature: 18 – 28 °C

Leaf colourgreen

Plant typerhizome

Growth rateslow

Tolerates lightlow – high

pH5 – 7

Carbonate hardness0 – 14 °dKH

General hardness0 – 30 °dGH

Placementon stone and wood +3

Propagationplantlets on leaves +3

Grows emersedyes

Appearance

Dark green leaves, some whole and some divided into narrow fingers — the same plant can carry both shapes. Growth is slow, a couple of leaves a month.

Keeping

Moderate demands: dim light will do, carbon dioxide is optional, but it wants moving water — in a still corner it collects algae and stalls. The thick horizontal stem must stay above the substrate: buried, it rots. Sudden changes in the water make it shed leaves.

Placement

Tied to wood or a stone in the middle or the front, ideally where the filter flow passes. Its size suits small tanks, where the big African fern would be too much.

Propagation

Young plants form on the older leaves and can be detached once they have roots; a piece of the horizontal stem with a leaf also grows on.

Water conditions match

The water suits 855 of 1249 species in the catalogue — these are the ones people look up most often.

Butterflyfish Julii Corydoras Featherfin Synodontis Red-finned Parotocinclus Gastromyzon monticola Egg-shaped Goldfish Flame Tetra Gardner's Killifish African Tetra Hypsolebias picturatus Common Zacco Labeo Bicolor Gambusia Flying barb Gastromyzon scitulus Albino Zebra Danio Geophagus Brokopondo Homaloptera bilineata Red-tailed Rasbora Boraras naevus Lampeye Killifish Spotted Raphael Catfish Corydoras melanotaenia Festivum cichlid

Will eat this plant

These species damage plants, especially when their diet is short of vegetable food.

Bengal Loach Zebra Loach Burmese Border Loach Emperor Botia Marbled Headstander Pellegrin's Leporinus Leporinus striatus False Black Tetra Common Metynnis Mylossoma duriventre Red Whiptail Catfish Moonlight Gourami Melanotaenia parva

The same plant with a different look: light, water and care are shared with the species.

Bolbitis heteroclita 'cuspidata'

Bolbitis heteroclita 'difformis'

Other varieties: Bolbitis heteroclita difformis Ecoscape, Bolbitis Heteroclita on Moss Ball, Bolbitis sp. ''Baby leaf''