One Tank. One System. Healthy Livestock.
One Tank. One System. Healthy Livestock.
Bucephalandra is one of the newer genus of aquatic/semi-aquatic aroids endemic(originating from) to the island of Borneo, which is governed by Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and contains the small country of Brunei. Originally exported or introduced in the early 2011-2012, while only being fully documented and studied around 2015 onward(first documented by Schott, Heinrich Wilhelm 1858)
Of the 29-30 distinct species that can be differentiated based on their inflorescence structure (flower), location (variant), foliage shape and size. While some have taken it a bit further and sequenced their DNA.
Found throughout many different types of growing conditions, some species are more tolerable to submersed care while some are almost impossible if not outright incapable of being submersed for long term.
Generally speaking, majority of submersible variants and or species (offered commercially) will fall under:
The majority of found Bucephalandra within the same location tends to hybridize through natural pollinators. This in turn causes the resulting hybrids to be very similar in appearance as their parents but with a different structure in their flower/inflorescence and physical structure all together.
Currently with what we know so far, the characteristics that separates (mainly physical appearance) Bucephalandra species are:
(Wong S. Y. & Boyce P. C.: Studies on Schismatoglottideae (Araceae) of Borneo XXX – New species and combinations for Bucephalandra – Willdenowia 44: 149–199. 2014)
The most commonly found Bucephalandra trading names on the market are:
Sometimes you will also find regional/city types, such as:
Pros:
Cons:
Pros:
Pros:
Yes and no. While some Bucephalandra species have been proven to be an adaptive plant that can be kept under weak lighting, minimum nutrients, and without any CO2 injection. This is not always the case when it comes to more vibrant colors Bucephalandra.
For the Bucephalandra with green leaves, their transition to submersed is rather easy with minimal vegetative loss; However their color improvement over time is very limited, at least visually speaking.
However, the Bucephalandra with deep vibrant colors are actually more high-demanding. Their necessity for longer lighting, and higher nutrient requirements(including macros and micros), and Co2 are even higher than stem plants in most cases. If both or one is insufficient and unbalanced, this has the possibility for them to revert back to their green coloration and can likely cause algae and rhizome rotting.
When planting into new conditions, it is best to trim some of the older roots attached to the main rhizome. This can promote more new and healthy growth that is more suited for its new tank condition.
When you see a similar description show up, you can always tell that the author/owner doesn’t really know much about the plant they are selling or hasn’t tested theories before making a conclusion.
Oftentimes you will see that the majority of articles, and blogs are carbon copies of those who know a bit more. Ironically, planting Bucephalandra in aqua soil is so far one of the better ways for growing them: they are rheophytic, their strong root system helps them not only to anchor but also extract nutrients from the soils. Growing Bucephalandra in the aqua soil is not as easy as stem plants and there is still much to learn, for those who want to grow them in aqua soil, you will need to understand some techniques and tools in order to be successful in growing them in this way.
Not all soils are equal, not all substrates are equal. How you build your substrate, changes how plants will react and grow.
(good for Bucephalandra because their origin has, also good for animals inside the tank, would not deduct a lot CO2, use air diffuser )
A common myth that is not entirely a myth is that you should not oxygenate your water with a bubbler or air pump, if you are injecting CO2. While true in some regards, this also causes more issues for some plants as they are transitioning from immersed to submersed. Without oxygen or more so, without a proper balance of dissolved oxygen while in use with CO2, at least when it comes to transitioning, it can cause a lot of melting of the immersed leaves as you are transitioning to fully submersed.
Even though you see the potted Bucephalandra housed inside a tank that is filled up with water, it doesn’t mean they are always grown submersed. Instead, it is just a method for storing them. True submersed grown portions will unlikely if not never be available as potted.
In fact, the reason submersed Bucephalandra are higher in value is that they take the same amount of care it takes to grow faster plants, however due to their slow growth, it is unrealistic to assume that stores would hide this feature of the product from customers. Also, it is sometimes not worth it for the stores to use extra labor and materials to put the submersed Bucephalandra into pots that look like an emersed product.
Again, telling this fact is not intended to make any kind of recommendations for buying, we have discussed the pros and cons in the previous section and this is just one thing that every bucephalandra hobbyist should know.
(Keep updating...)
Emersed: meaning emerging out of water.
Immersed: means to grow while underwater placed in water (it is hard to tell emersed from immersed, most worry only about emersed and submersed).
Submersed: meaning grown 100% underwater.
