Utricularia are carnivorous aquatic, epiphytic or terrestrial plants. Please be aware that the trapping organisms of these plants are so tiny, that they are best observed with a microscope. They have small bladders ranging from a few millimeters to around a fraction of a millimeters. The bladders are vacumized by the plants and closed through a door. Outside of this door there is a hair with some nectar glands, that once triggered open the door. The vacuum inflates rapidly and sucks water including the triggering insect in. Digestion is quite fast at about 90 minutes. After that the vaccum is build up again. The plants capture the smallest water insects up to the size of a mosquito larvae (which it sometimes eats in two sessions, first the tail and then the head!). And while we are at it, some utricularian botany: The bladders are the leaves and the what-you-might-think-are-leaves are flattened stems. Got me?
Utricularia love lots of light and hate nutrients, as they promote algae growth which competes with these plants and can easily overgrow them. Same applies for other competing organisms like Cyanobacter or mosses. Once this is provided they do actually increase in size quickly and flower often. For this Genus the flowers are what is most attractive, which have the beauty of tiny orchids and can be seen for some species year round in large numbers. Generally this genus is only for die-hard collectors of carnivorous plants, who are willing to deal with these small plants.
For the soil we recommend something low nutrient and not too airy like coco peat or real peat. Never fertilize, never let them run dry. Try to put your Utricularia on new medium every year (possibly by only taking the nice “pure” Utri only portions of your pot), that way you can also keep ahead of mosses and other plants competing with it. In fact Utricularia is notorious to appear unexpectedly in the neighboring pots as well, often preferred over the original container :-). The unit for Utricularia is “plug” as we grow them in seedling trays, those have usually 4 cm diameter per plug.
For the aquatic plants we have a small pond with gravel in the bottom, plus frequent addition of some fallen leaves. The tannines of the leaves prevent algae growth. For water only rainwater, aircon runoff, distilled or RO should be used.
Don’t protect this species from sun or water after arrival. Keep it always standing in water at a very sunny spot.