Buce

Bucephalandra pygmaea

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 (2 – 3.9 in)
Temperature: 20 – 26 °C (68 – 79 °F)

Leaf colour: green, pink or purple +2 green, pink or purple, bronze or brown, white markings
Plant type: rhizome
Growth rate: slow
CO₂ demand: low
Tolerates light: low – high
pH: 5 – 7
Carbonate hardness: 0 – 10 °dKH
General hardness: 0 – 30 °dGH
Placement: on stone and wood +3 on stone and wood, midground, nano tank, foreground
Propagation: rhizome division, division +1 rhizome division, division, daughter plants
Grows emersed: yes

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.

Water conditions match

The water suits 814 of 1249 species in the catalogue — these are the ones people look up most often.

Butterflyfish Julii Corydoras Featherfin Synodontis Red-finned Parotocinclus Gastromyzon monticola Egg-shaped Goldfish Flame Tetra Gardner's Killifish African Tetra Hypsolebias picturatus Common Zacco Labeo Bicolor Gambusia Flying barb Gastromyzon scitulus Albino Zebra Danio Homaloptera bilineata Red-tailed Rasbora Boraras naevus Lampeye Killifish Spotted Raphael Catfish Corydoras melanotaenia Festivum cichlid Pseudomugil paskai

Will eat this plant

These species damage plants, especially when their diet is short of vegetable food.

Bengal Loach Zebra Loach Burmese Border Loach Emperor Botia Marbled Headstander Pellegrin's Leporinus Leporinus striatus False Black Tetra Common Metynnis Mylossoma duriventre Red Whiptail Catfish

Matching water does not mean the fish will leave the plant alone.

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

Scientific and other names, conservation status

Other scientific names: Bucephalandra motleyana ''Bukit Kelam / Sintang'', Bucephalandra sp. ''Bukit Kelam / Sintang'', Bucephalandra sp. "Green Velvet", Bucephalandra sp. ''Wavy Leaf'', Bucephalandra motleyana ''Kapit'', Bucephalandra sp. ''Kapit'', Microcasia pygmaea Becc., Microcasia pygmaea
Bucephalandra pygmaea: (Becc.) P. C. Boyce & S. Y. Wong
Family: Araceae

Buce

Tank conditions

Care and keeping