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jaival
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 Posted: Tue Mar 12, 2013 10:30 am Post subject: Bucephalandra Tank - an attempt to the Journal |
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Greetings,
Once I saw this beautiful plant online in some tank online and looking at it I made up my mind that I have to get this plant, with lots of efforts and rejections (due to budget issue): D I finally got hold of few of the plants to start my collection with.
Not much info is available regarding this plant online so I thought to collect all the pieces of info that is available online and which came through my notice and I made a small summary type of note on this beauties.
To start with some of the information I gathered
What are bucephalandras ?
(Sources: Wikipedia, Google and lots of international forums)
The type of wetland plants from flowering plants in Araceae family, Bucephalandra is adapted slow water moving streams and grows on wetlands and on rocks/woods in the country of origin Borneo. During the rainy season the water level in the stream or river is high that makes this plant grow submerged for few months. And this is the reason this plant settles in the home aquarium very soon
In the appearance Bucephalandra are like Anubias a bit. Rhizomes firmly attach to rocks and crawl on it (like anubias). The shades of Bucephalandra stems are mostly pink or red. Transit period is what that makes this plant stressfull and loose their color. They sometimes also loose their leaves if the condition is changed extremely, but eventually will adapt to new conditions. They are extremely slow grower plants, so person with a good patience is the one who can keep this plant successfully.
The plant came into hobby some where in late 2005 early 2006, mostly traded under the name of bucephalandra sp. Followed by the color of leaves of place collected. The plants are very expensive, because of its rarity and no culturing but over time will become more affordable. Because of the demand in aquarium industry now this plant is facing problem in wild and hence wild collection has been limited so this makes plants more expensive.
The other thing is you can pick the rarest of the Crypts, and in nature you'll see huge colonies of them, entire areas just covered in these plants. Not so with Bucephalandra, you see one or two, maybe a dozen in an area. So they're not only rare to find but you won't find very many when you do.
Tissue culture is the only way it'll be possible to service the pet trade, even at the advanced hobbyist level. I suspect there's more people that want these than there exists Bucephalandra plants in the entire world.
The Confusion:- Those shiny spots on the leaves - these are not air bubbles. This is a characteristic of plant from the Araceae family. Depending on the varieties dots are densely or less distributed (for example on a emerse, dots are less distributed . But on first submerged leaves shining dots are more visible).
PS: I am not an expert nor I grow this plant since years, this is just a piece of info that I gathered and felt like sharing. Sorry for any wrong data that I might have written. With time I ll learn more and share with you guys.
This is my yet another attempt to make a Journal of this plant and my experience, will try to maintain and update with pics on regular basis.
some of the routine questions that might people ask
1) what is your setup ?
i. tank size: current tank is 12X9X9 (making another tank specially dedicated for this plant)
ii. light : 6 X 3W chinese LEDs
iii. filter : a small internal dolphin filter
iv. dosing : API leaf zone every second day 4-6 drope and API co2 Booster every day 2 drops
v. temperature : 26 degree C
2) any special care?
not really just feeding regularly, a good flow in the tank and regularly 50% water change when ever i get time this might be 4-5 times a week
here are some of my pictures to share. not really good images been long that i have touched the camera soo now bit free trying to fiddle with the camera again
the Ex- moss tank, all the weeping moss removed from this tank and given to friend as such i was fed up with it as it was growing but weeping effect was not there
the Buce Tank FTS, this was the image 10 mins later once i changed everything (avoid the scaping, this tank is not scaping oriented but appreciate the comment also  )
few of the Buce images
one of my favourites,
My current Plant list
Lamandau - purple
Lamandau - green
Melawi - green
Sekadau - Mini
Sekadau wavy leaves
Sekadau - Green Round
Sanggau - Round Tip
Sintang
Bukit biru - green
Lubuk Hantu - Fake catherineae
Lubuk Hantu - Belindae
Nanga Pinoh - green
Nanga Pinoh - blue
Melawi - Catherineae
My Experience with Buce soo far
i am keeping buce since a month now and i can say
1) they are extremely slow growing plants, but for me i can say depending on the variety you can see 1-2 new leaf/shoots every week in favorable conditions
2) a good fertilizer and a good rock to ancor is what they need
3) along with a decent flow in the tank to keep of the algae
4) good strong light encourages fast growth of new leaves with beautiful colors (i have kept it in very low light to well lit aquarium)
5) co2 dosing also helps a lot (have kept it in a non co2 and carbon dosed tank both)
6) and they are beautiful, very pretty to see the slow growth of the plant with all new colors from day to day
My Future plan with this plant
setting up a good hi tank with chiller and cree LED lights and then will compare the plants growth rates and colors in different setups
any links on from where to get more variety of this plant will be very helpfull.
thanks for reading any questions on this plants are welcomed as i said i am not an expert but will try to answer. Sorry in advance for any type of wrong info given by mistake somewhere
more to follow soon  |
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jabba
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| Posted: Tue Mar 12, 2013 11:31 am Post subject: Re: Bucephalandra Tank - an attempt to the Journal |
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Do you have any algae issues when you keep it under direct light.....
I think the answer can be given after couple of monce |
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jaival
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| Posted: Tue Mar 12, 2013 11:36 am Post subject: Re: Bucephalandra Tank - an attempt to the Journal |
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soo far i havent came across any algae problem as the light in this tank is pretty mild.
but the photoperiod is quite long morning 07:30 AM to night 10:00 PM as i still need to keep the timer in this tank. |
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mini
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| Posted: Tue Mar 12, 2013 11:52 am Post subject: Re: Bucephalandra Tank - an attempt to the Journal |
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hi Jaival
The light period is too long and initially you will not find any problem with algae but later you will get it.try to reduce the lighting. Buce are very slow growing plants as anubias |
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jaival
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| Posted: Tue Mar 12, 2013 11:58 am Post subject: Re: Bucephalandra Tank - an attempt to the Journal |
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| @ Mini yeah i agree the period is too long but i am in process of setting a timer but no time to get it. will be done soon in a day or two |
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Mortis
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| Posted: Tue Mar 12, 2013 7:23 pm Post subject: Re: Bucephalandra Tank - an attempt to the Journal |
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Jaival since these guys spend parts of the year above and parts under water. I think these guys would fare best in a low-med light tank with CO2 injection and a decent level of fertilization. Maybe a noonday burst in light for an hour or so would bring out the best colour in these plants. As you mentioned there isnt a lot of info on these guys but thinking logically and breaking it down, I would say my conclusions above would work well
Any experience with liquid carbon and these guys ? |
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jaival
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| Posted: Tue Mar 12, 2013 10:38 pm Post subject: Re: Bucephalandra Tank - an attempt to the Journal |
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| Mortis wrote (View Post):
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Jaival since these guys spend parts of the year above and parts under water. I think these guys would fare best in a low-med light tank with CO2 injection and a decent level of fertilization. Maybe a noonday burst in light for an hour or so would bring out the best colour in these plants. As you mentioned there isnt a lot of info on these guys but thinking logically and breaking it down, I would say my conclusions above would work well
Any experience with liquid carbon and these guys ?
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yeah the light is not that intense soo and as i said i will be adding the timer soon may be tomorrow as i am not in town for 4 days then....
thanks for the appreciation
the tank in which all the plants are on API carbon and soo far havent found any issues using it. |
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amchigeli
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Joined: Jul 28, 2012
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| Posted: Wed Mar 13, 2013 10:57 am Post subject: Re: Bucephalandra Tank - an attempt to the Journal |
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bt are these true aquatic plants. i have seen simlar species grwing under areca tree plantations near the watering canals.
nice journal  |
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jaival
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| Posted: Wed Mar 13, 2013 11:11 am Post subject: Re: Bucephalandra Tank - an attempt to the Journal |
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thanks
regarding the true nature of the plant i think time will tell once the tank is matured. will keep the journal updated
but have seen many tanks who are housing this plants and with the new leaves coming up in the tank are more pretty and intense in color with more and more dots... soo this makes me confident that the plant is thriving.... |
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josyjames
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| Posted: Wed Mar 13, 2013 11:41 am Post subject: Re: Bucephalandra Tank - an attempt to the Journal |
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Waiting to see the plants in its own tank.
I feel with the lava rock attached to it, it would be little bit difficult to scape the tank with those plants. Preferably a smaller rock with the same color of the substrate would look nice when you scape the tank.
Do this plant has to be kept in shade similarly like Anubia? Anubia is a shade loving plant. Are these plants are on the same side? |
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jaival
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| Posted: Wed Mar 13, 2013 11:58 am Post subject: Re: Bucephalandra Tank - an attempt to the Journal |
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| josyjames wrote (View Post):
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Waiting to see the plants in its own tank.
I feel with the lava rock attached to it, it would be little bit difficult to scape the tank with those plants. Preferably a smaller rock with the same color of the substrate would look nice when you scape the tank.
Do this plant has to be kept in shade similarly like Anubia? Anubia is a shade loving plant. Are these plants are on the same side?
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i am also eagerly waiting for some un finished stuff to come in
yeah can say that this plant loves shade but mine is under direct light and new leaves are very pretty with more intense colors. soo i think my plants love direct mild light. will try placing few plants under the driftwood and see the difference. |
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mini
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| Posted: Wed Mar 13, 2013 12:05 pm Post subject: Re: Bucephalandra Tank - an attempt to the Journal |
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| josyjames wrote (View Post):
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Waiting to see the plants in its own tank.
I feel with the lava rock attached to it, it would be little bit difficult to scape the tank with those plants. Preferably a smaller rock with the same color of the substrate would look nice when you scape the tank.
Do this plant has to be kept in shade similarly like Anubia? Anubia is a shade loving plant. Are these plants are on the same side?
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Shelly - As these plants are slow grower and when more light is given to it algae tends to grow.Keeping these plants in shade is a good idea |
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jaival
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| Posted: Wed Mar 13, 2013 1:05 pm Post subject: Re: Bucephalandra Tank - an attempt to the Journal |
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| @ Mini thanks will keep in mind when this plants goes in their own tank |
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jaival
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Joined: Aug 03, 2011
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| Posted: Thu Mar 14, 2013 11:27 pm Post subject: Re: Bucephalandra Tank - an attempt to the Journal |
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didnt had time to click more pics.. but the tank was pearling
this was shot yesterday afternoon
hope this continues and buce florish in this tank. i am not in town for few days and no one to take care off  |
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