[jjmears]

I bought this "asian water fern" in a tube at Petco. I was told to just glue the rhizomes to a rock or driftwood and it would be fine. I purchased it at the same time as this regular java fern, also from a tube. The java fern is doing fine, but this poor poor asian fern is not. The name on the tube is b. heteroclita. The leaves, when put in the tank, were beautiful and green and had all these little black rooty things on the back, I assumed they were offshoots?

It's been submersed in my tank for about a month now. Is it salvageable? How do I take care of it?

Pics are from left to right, before, before, and two after being submerged, and one of the Java fern that was planted at the same time. I would appreciate any help I can get. I've asked in several Facebook aquarium forums with no help.

 

[Plinkploop]

That's a pretty hard plant to grow fully aquatic, I hate to say. It's better in palludariums or partially emersed. It can grow fully aquatic but the adjustment period is hard to deal with because of how slow growing it is, it's usually outcompeted for nutrients and CO2 (if it's partially emersed it will get CO2 from the atmosphere). If you want to grow it you should consider keeping leaves out of water and misting frequently. It's a pain though. There's truly aquatic forms of bolbitis that are much easier to grow underwater and take less time to acclimate. If you like the look you should check out some of them.