Is this Bucephalandra?

[bluebubbles]

I stopped by at Y618 today, saw this bucephalandra suspect with star dust characteristic on its leaves. Usually crypto's leaf looks plain and smooth. The owner didn't know its English name but told me they tried this plant before, by placing two tap of iron fertilizer next to this plant, it turns totally red in color. It is a soil rooted plant according to them.



Any enlightenment from Bucephalandra or plant expert?
Thanks for viewing.

[soltari007]

Looks like a bucephalandra to me bro

[soltari007]

Come to think of it.. if it's planted in the soil directly, it may not be bucephalandra after all

[bluebubbles]

Not too sure, the roots structure quite resemble those of nana (roots growing out of the stem node). Than again, can't rely too much on LFS's explanation. I have the guts feel it is Bucep. The leaf seems to be giving off its identity when I look at all other bucep photos in this forum. More of its photos can be seen in my blog.

[qngwn]

Maybe the price will tell you if it is or not..

[Ebi]

Looks like a Bucep. You can wait for it to flower to know its identity. Most of my Buceps have similar flowers when submersed. Color differs though. Flowers differ when allowed to bloom emersed. Though you can plant the Bucep in soil, it doesn't appear to be the best option as new growth are from the rhizome and at the nodes of the flower after it withers. Tied to rocks appears best when it multiples.

[Ebi]

Some Fotos...

Tebakang on wood...
Buce Tebakang.jpg

Lamandau Green on wood... notice the small plantlet from the tiny rhizome
Lamandau G (RS).jpg

Kir Royale on wood with pinkish/purplish flower...
Kir Royale (RS).jpg

Lamandau Mini Purple on rock...
Lamandau Mini P (RS).jpg

[soltari007]

That's a lovely bouquet of tebakang bro!
How long have you kept these species?

[cephelix]

very nice bucephalandras dude!
was wondering though, do they do better in direct strong light or a more shaded area of the tank?

[deric79k]

when i looking at it , 90% same as bucephalandra .

[Ebi]

That's a lovely bouquet of tebakang bro!
How long have you kept these species?

Some more than 2 years now. All the Buceps when they grow to a bunch will look nice, especially after they have rooted themselves onto the rocks and DW. But it does take a lot of patience.

Sintang...
Sintang (RS).jpg

the same Kir Royale bunch...
Kir Royale Bunch (RS).jpg

Kapit Sulatan retied for the office tank...
Kapit Sulatan (RS).jpg

[Ebi]

very nice bucephalandras dude!
was wondering though, do they do better in direct strong light or a more shaded area of the tank?

I'm no expert but since I keep them in a few tanks with different conditions. i.e. with CO2, w/o CO2, with Seachem Excel, low light, high light, long photoperiod, short photoperiod, etc., I'll just share what I have experienced. I'll just highlight the 2 extremes.

If you blast your tanks with ferts, lights, CO2, etc. the Buceps will even pearl, but not as much as those rotalas, etc. The plant will grow faster (depending on type, up to 3 leaves a week on some) but you will have to deal with the algae issues as the plant grows closely, especially those with small leaves, such as Lamandau minis, Berlindae, Catherinae, Aridarum mini, even Schismatoglottis Roseospatha, etc.

At the other end of the spectrum, where you have low light and shorter photoperiod with just minimum excel, you have very nice clean growth, but it takes a really long while to see a new leaf or plantlet (depending on type, up to 2 weeks for 1 leaf).

Best is to tie to rock. DW is OK, just that I noticed they root faster to rocks than DW.
Worst is to leave it floating. If you do not secure the plant, they tend to slowly melt away.
Planting into soil give you a nice plant that flowers often but won't multiply cos the roots (in the substrate) are those soft white roots.
When I grow them emersed, the leaves appear to lack the stardust, multi-color effect.

Hope that helps.

[bluebubbles]

I'm no expert but since I keep them in a few tanks with different conditions. i.e. with CO2, w/o CO2, with Seachem Excel, low light, high light, long photoperiod, short photoperiod, etc., I'll just share what I have experienced. I'll just highlight the 2 extremes.

If you blast your tanks with ferts, lights, CO2, etc. the Buceps will even pearl, but not as much as those rotalas, etc. The plant will grow faster (depending on type, up to 3 leaves a week on some) but you will have to deal with the algae issues as the plant grows closely, especially those with small leaves, such as Lamandau minis, Berlindae, Catherinae, Aridarum mini, even Schismatoglottis Roseospatha, etc.

At the other end of the spectrum, where you have low light and shorter photoperiod with just minimum excel, you have very nice clean growth, but it takes a really long while to see a new leaf or plantlet (depending on type, up to 2 weeks for 1 leaf).

Best is to tie to rock. DW is OK, just that I noticed they root faster to rocks than DW.
Worst is to leave it floating. If you do not secure the plant, they tend to slowly melt away.
Planting into soil give you a nice plant that flowers often but won't multiply cos the roots (in the substrate) are those soft white roots.
When I grow them emersed, the leaves appear to lack the stardust, multi-color effect.

Hope that helps.

As a newbie, I find your explanations quite interesting and informatives. Did their leaf melt away when you first introduced into your tank or it just stay there until a new leaf emerged? Do you need to feed them with medum to strong water current?

[bluebubbles]

Oops! duplicate posting

[cephelix]

I'm no expert but since I keep them in a few tanks with different conditions. i.e. with CO2, w/o CO2, with Seachem Excel, low light, high light, long photoperiod, short photoperiod, etc., I'll just share what I have experienced. I'll just highlight the 2 extremes.

If you blast your tanks with ferts, lights, CO2, etc. the Buceps will even pearl, but not as much as those rotalas, etc. The plant will grow faster (depending on type, up to 3 leaves a week on some) but you will have to deal with the algae issues as the plant grows closely, especially those with small leaves, such as Lamandau minis, Berlindae, Catherinae, Aridarum mini, even Schismatoglottis Roseospatha, etc.

At the other end of the spectrum, where you have low light and shorter photoperiod with just minimum excel, you have very nice clean growth, but it takes a really long while to see a new leaf or plantlet (depending on type, up to 2 weeks for 1 leaf).

Best is to tie to rock. DW is OK, just that I noticed they root faster to rocks than DW.
Worst is to leave it floating. If you do not secure the plant, they tend to slowly melt away.
Planting into soil give you a nice plant that flowers often but won't multiply cos the roots (in the substrate) are those soft white roots.
When I grow them emersed, the leaves appear to lack the stardust, multi-color effect.

Hope that helps.

Thanks, very informative and it did help. Wasn't sure as I saw photos on some other forum saying that it's better to keep them shaded than directly exposed to strong light. This clears up the questions I have. Hopefully mine would turn out healthy...

[bluebubbles]

Wasn't sure as I saw photos on some other forum saying that it's better to keep them shaded than directly exposed to strong light. This clears up the questions I have. Hopefully mine would turn out healthy...

Such question also linger in my mind for a long time. Those who have kept Bucep well have different version and I think Bucep is hardy enough to be kept both in shade and under strong light, so we need to give those versions the benefit of doubt. As long as they are healthy and growing, I am very happy. Another way of getting the answer is to look at their natural habitat. In youtube, the japanese explorer deliberately show us the ambience around the river bank where Bucep was found, and sunlight was filtered through heavy tree leaves, thus not too hot and not to dark My main concern is whether they are "well fed" since I do not have CO2 system, hopefully EXCEL solution works equally good.

[cephelix]

Interesting indeed.Their growth rates have been compared to anubias, so is it safe to say they are slow growers? Therefore the main concern would be more algae related problems under high light and low CO2 instead of stunted growth like what is seen in stem plants.
Am I correct in saying that?
If there are differing opinions, do let me know. I want to learn as well

[soltari007]

Yeah you're more likely to get algae issues under hi-tech/high light setup, and even under such conditions growth rate is at a crawl. You also get plants which were previously harvested/cultivated emersed which may struggle to convert to aquatic conditions, so extensive melting of leaves and rhizomes is not extraordinary. A true test of patience indeed!

[cephelix]

thanks for the information. I superglued mine to lava rocks and so far they are doing well, no melting of anything as yet. As of now my photoperiod is 6hours but will be increasing it by 1hour next week.

Crossing my fingers that there'll be no problems. How long usually would it take before melting can be seen??

[deric79k]

they can live well on lava rock or DW . i also try plant into soil . it also grow well