Wanted: your bucephalandra pics + tank conditions

[hn5624]

So I've been growing them out for a few months now in lower lighting and I've got a theory.

All of my buces I've bought with originally large and submersed leaves (not transitioning) seem to all turning into dwarfs.

All new leaves are incredibly small and multiple growing crowns on the same stem. The issue is they don't seem to really get much bigger leaves overtime. Leaves stay small and they keep growing a lot of crowns. I will post some pics later with my DSLR camera to show you what I mean.

My conditions are
Low light.
Medium CO2.
Lean dosing.
Ro water remineralized to 100tds.


Im starting to think for buces to grow larger leaves (and thicker) you need higher lighting to trigger it.

Another thing could be they don't like lean dosing too much, so if you could post your nitrate levels or how much you dose that helps too.

For reference
Here is a pic of it grown in ada Amazonia + worm castings (very heavy in nutrients). Planted directly into the substrate with good roots. Ones in growing right now don't look nearly big or full. Especially when attached onto rocks.

40+ ppm of CO2 as well with estimate index dosing. 150+ par. (48 watt led over a 20 gallon long.)

Here's one with lower lighting, but much higher CO2. Much less "dwarfism" happening here. Perhaps CO2 is the biggest difference? Most of them are super glued onto coconut husks here







Just a theory so I'd like to see some of ur buce tanks + tank conditions for some more examples.

 

[PARAGUAY]

Try google for George Farmers visit to Scaped Nature . Ray the owner has great success with Buce

 

[bazz]

Medium light intensity, 10ppm NO3, 1ppm PO4, 6ppm K and 15 mg/l CO2. They were slow growing for me under these conditions but after 3 years...


The ones nearer the light appear to have larger leaves but this may due to species. The most expensive one Brownie Ghost 2011, actually and fortunately grew the fastest and largest.

That tank of yours with the hanging baskets is going to look fantastic in a years time.

 

[hn5624]

Medium light intensity, 10ppm NO3, 1ppm PO4, 6ppm K and 15 mg/l CO2. They were slow growing for me under these conditions but after 3 years...

View attachment 228678View attachment 228679View attachment 228680
The ones nearer the light appear to have larger leaves but this may due to species. The most expensive one Brownie Ghost 2011, actually and fortunately grew the fastest and largest.

That tank of yours with the hanging baskets is going to look fantastic in a years time.

Very good shots!

We are essentially keeping extinct bucephalandra species alive at this point. (Well we did cause it but meh).
I actually took down that 40 gallon breeder filled with buces and split them into other tanks.
I noticed that I had a lot of duplicate species, and most of the buces looked nearly identical to one another. So i tried to keep only what I believed were unique species and threw away the rest.

 

[DeadFish]

The two biggest things I have noticed growing Buce:

1. Flow seems to drive faster growth (and maybe leaf size) when all else is left the same. Specimens of mine grown in high flow always grow better. FWIW, the "slow flow" areas are still pretty high flow, but they seem to love being blasted with current.
2. Water column nutrients help, but substrate nutrition is the best method for sustained, strong growth. I've had decent growth on wood, rocks, and even SS mesh, but planting roots directly into AS or a nutrient rich substrate is a night and day difference for me. YMMV, but just what I've noticed. When grown emersed, it seems that the gap closes a little bit. Mine do just about as well on whatever surface/substrate when grown emersed.

 

[hypnogogia]

but planting roots directly into AS

Amazed they grow there. Thought they are strictly epiphytes.

 

[G H Nelson]

Amazed they grow there. Thought they are strictly epiphytes.

They will grow in the soil, as long as you don't bury the whole rhizome. Soft soil, like Colombo/Tropica, etc., is better.