Leaf colourgreen, pink or purple +2
Native range
- Borneo
rhizome on stone and wood midground nano tank foreground
A small plant from the rocks of Bornean streams, kept exactly like an anubias: tied to wood or stone, in dim light, without carbon dioxide. Its leaves are speckled with tiny bright dots that show up under water.
- Light
- low
- Difficulty
- easy
- Height
- 5 – 10 cm
- Temperature
- 20 – 26 °C
Parameters
Plant typerhizome
Growth rateslow
CO₂ demandlow
Tolerates lightlow – high
pH5 – 7
Carbonate hardness0 – 10 °dKH
General hardness0 – 30 °dGH
Placementon stone and wood +3
Propagationrhizome division, division +1
Grows emersedyes
Appearance
Firm leaves 2 cm wide and up to 5 cm long with wavy edges, from dark green to bronze and violet depending on light. Under water the surface carries scattered white specks — a mark of the genus, not a disease. The plant is 5–10 cm tall and branches on its own.
Keeping
Easy but slow: dim light is enough, carbon dioxide is not required, and growth is a couple of leaves a month. As with anubias, the thick horizontal stem must stay above the substrate — buried, it rots. A newly bought plant often sheds its above-water leaves and grows new ones; that is normal and takes a few weeks.
Placement
Tied or glued to wood and stones in the front or middle of the tank. Its small size suits a nano aquarium, where several pieces on one stone make a whole layout.
Propagation
Cut the horizontal stem into pieces with three or four leaves and tie each down separately. Cut with a clean blade and leave the roots alone.
Fish and this plant
Water conditions match
The water suits 814 of 1249 species in the catalogue — these are the ones people look up most often.
ButterflyfishJulii CorydorasFeatherfin SynodontisRed-finned ParotocinclusGastromyzon monticolaEgg-shaped GoldfishFlame TetraGardner's KillifishAfrican TetraHypsolebias picturatusCommon ZaccoLabeo BicolorGambusiaFlying barbGastromyzon scitulusAlbino Zebra DanioHomaloptera bilineataRed-tailed RasboraBoraras naevusLampeye KillifishSpotted Raphael CatfishCorydoras melanotaeniaFestivum cichlidPseudomugil paskai
Will eat this plant
These species damage plants, especially when their diet is short of vegetable food.
Bengal LoachZebra LoachBurmese Border LoachEmperor BotiaMarbled HeadstanderPellegrin's LeporinusLeporinus striatusFalse Black TetraCommon MetynnisMylossoma duriventreRed Whiptail Catfish
Cultivars
The same plant with a different look: light, water and care are shared with the species.
Other varieties: Bucephalandra pygmaea "Bukit Kelam / Sintang", Bucephalandra pygmaea "Kapit", Bucephalandra pygmaea ’Bukit Kelam’, Bucephalandra pygmaea Bukit Kelam Sintang, Bucephalandra pygmaea Bukit Kelam Sintang Topf, Bucephalandra pygmaea Bukit Kelam Sintang in Vitro XL, Bucephalandra Pygmy