In the hobby there is a huge demand for Bucephalandra of the many varieties, which the European nurseries aren’t meeting. For anyone that wants varieties beyond the limited selection from European nurseries, there are two choices:
Firstly, they can import Bucephalandra that has been taken from the wild. This provides inconsistent plants, as suppliers name their plants at their own discretion and taking from the wild threatens the slow growing populations.
And second, if you wish to take a more sustainable approach, the only option is to search far and wide for a fellow hobbyists who grows the variety you want in their aquariums, but they are few and far between and don’t produce a significant volume of plants. A possible solution to this, is tissue culture, but no one else seems to be doing it.
Does anyone know of where I should be looking, to find a tissue culture lab willing to work with a small player like me to produce a small quantity of tissue culture Bucephalandra?
Does anyone know what initial quantity of plant stock one would need for producing a quantity of explants?
Has anyone ever worked for or with a tissue culture lab who could share some potentially useful information?
Finally, what sort of costs might I be looking at?
I have a feeling some of these questions might be impossible to answer, but I’ll try anyway.
I might be out of my depth, but I think this would be a great thing for the hobby.
Thanks a lot.
. (I have seen my share of unacceptably contaminated tissue culture products).
