# Bucephalandra !!



## FreedPenguin (Aug 2, 2011)

Hey I just wanted to chime in and add my 2 cents...
That is a very nice looking plant! 

I have no experience with these bucephalandra sp and I recall thinking it was rather unattractive for a plant fetching such a premium. This was several months ago...

I started my tank with mostly stem plants and in a few packages I purchased, there were maybe 1 or 2 tiny little crypts which grew out very beautifully. Since then I've appreciated crypts much more and on this sleepless night I find your plant emersed setup to be very cool! I wish I had a few plants like this! Time to start saving up $$ again!

I wanted to ask a couple of questions: 
- Does your cracked tank outside have openings on the top? (small slits maybe?) 
- You mentioned coconut peat. (where does one source this?) is it better than potting soil?
- "under the shadow of trees" - does it get direct sunlight ever? - this may explain my failure to properly grow emersed plants, they all just brown out and die. Lol

Thanks!


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## Speaker73 (May 1, 2010)

I have a few types of buce that I got a few months ago and they are all growing submersed in a ten gallon in AS with CO2 and the occasional ferts added. They are doing well and growing, albeit slowly. One of the plants has thrown up a flower a couple of times in the past two months. They will soon be ready to divide and maybe I'll try an outdoor emersed setup when it warms up a bit here.


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## they call me bruce (Feb 13, 2011)

send it to me $


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

FreedPenguin said:


> I wanted to ask a couple of questions:
> - Does your cracked tank outside have openings on the top? (small slits maybe?)
> - You mentioned coconut peat. (where does one source this?) is it better than potting soil?
> - "under the shadow of trees" - does it get direct sunlight ever? - this may explain my failure to properly grow emersed plants, they all just brown out and die. Lol
> ...


yes it does have some small openings, it's not completely covered hence the rain water would pour in and submerge the plants. i guess it becomes some kind of riverbank simulation where the water rise during rainy season.

i bought coco peat from gardening shop. i read it somewhere before that it's good for growing plants from borneo where the soil is somewhat acidic so i decided to try them. i guess the results are better than expected.

about sunlight, no direct sunlight ever goes into this tank. i even put pots of garden plant over the glass cover reducing lighting even more. i guess that's why my bucephalandra has dark leaves.

humidity is the key when planting emersed aquarium plants so cover it well. lighting depends on what plant you grow emersed. if you grow emersed hemianthus cuba you can put them in direct sunlight for hours and the plant will thrive. if you grow crypts and anubias put them in shades they will grow better. 




Speaker73 said:


> I have a few types of buce that I got a few months ago and they are all growing submersed in a ten gallon in AS with CO2 and the occasional ferts added. They are doing well and growing, albeit slowly. One of the plants has thrown up a flower a couple of times in the past two months. They will soon be ready to divide and maybe I'll try an outdoor emersed setup when it warms up a bit here.


why not grow it emersed indoor?
i'm sure there are lots of thread for reference
i live in tropic area around the equator so there's no extreme weather here 



they call me bruce said:


> send it to me $


from my country?
you need even more $$


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## they call me bruce (Feb 13, 2011)

ok ok guess well just have to be freinds


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

the flower openned


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## DogFish (Jul 16, 2011)

ikuzo - Do you know how long each day your Buce get filtered light. I keep mine emersed indoors, sealed tank high humidity and they do well. But, I think they could do better in natural sunlight.

I keep emersed plants outdoors here May-Sept and they do well. Adive on photo period will be appreciated.


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

11am to 3pm
4 hours
other times are ambient light only
hope it helps

i also keep 2 of them in a spot where there's only ambient lighting
they both are doing fine


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## DogFish (Jul 16, 2011)

Ikuzo - Thank you that does help. I have a spot that can get only morning or afternoon light - OR both depending on were I might place the tank. I'm a little
concerned about full midday Sun.

I'll be trying it it with a few plants to see what works best before I move them all outdoors.


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## FreedPenguin (Aug 2, 2011)

DogFish said:


> Ikuzo - Thank you that does help. I have a spot that can get only morning or afternoon light - OR both depending on were I might place the tank. I'm a little
> concerned about full midday Sun.
> 
> I'll be trying it it with a few plants to see what works best before I move them all outdoors.


Have you moved them outdoors?


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