Blue Buce

Bucephalandra sordidula

A small rock plant from Borneo whose dark leaves carry a blue sheen that shifts as you move past the tank. Kept exactly like an anubias: tied to wood or stone, no substrate needed.

Light: low
Difficulty: easy
Height: 5 – 10 cm (2 – 3.9 in)
Temperature: 20 – 26 °C (68 – 79 °F)

Leaf colour: green
Plant type: rhizome
Growth rate: slow
CO₂ demand: low
Tolerates light: low – high
Carbonate hardness: 0 – 10 °dKH
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

Narrow leaves 5–10 cm above a creeping horizontal stem, deep green with a metallic blue cast that shows best under bright light. Underwater the leaf surface is dotted with tiny pale specks, which is normal for the genus.

Keeping

Easy and slow. Dim light is enough, carbon dioxide is not required, and it will hold in almost any water. The one rule is the same as for anubias: the thick horizontal stem must stay above the substrate, or it rots. Growth is a few leaves a month, so do not expect it to fill a space.

Placement

Tied or glued to stones and driftwood in the front or middle of the tank, where the colour can be seen close up. Its size suits a nano tank.

Propagation

Cut the horizontal stem into pieces with three or four leaves and tie each one down separately; a settled plant also grows side shoots of its own.

Water conditions match

The water suits 972 of 1249 species in the catalogue — these are the ones people look up most often.

Swordtail Guppies Cobra Guppy Blood Red Molly Butterflyfish Red Zebra Cichlid Julii Corydoras Featherfin Synodontis Red-finned Parotocinclus Gastromyzon monticola Egg-shaped Goldfish Flame Tetra Gardner's Killifish African Tetra Kenyi Cichlid Cuckoo Catfish Golden Swordtail Hypsolebias picturatus Common Zacco Labeo Bicolor Gambusia Flying barb Gastromyzon scitulus Albino Zebra Danio Zebra Mbuna

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 Molly sphenops Balloon Molly Lyretail Molly Marble Molly Hi-Fin Platy Hawaii Platy Blue Platy Pintail Platy Black Platy Chocolate Molly

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 sordidula ’Blue’, Bucephalandra sordidula Blue, Bucephalandra sordidula Blue Topf

Scientific and other names, conservation status

Bucephalandra sordidula: Wong & Boyce
Family: Araceae

Blue Buce

Tank conditions

Care and keeping