Buce? What am I doing wrong???

[EleanorM]

I ordered a couple pots of Buce from Aquarium CoOp and I do t know what’s wrong?

It is the only plant I have that is on the struggle bus.

every other plant seems to be doing fine.

AQUARIUM/LIGHTING

Fluval Flex 9 Gallon with stock light.  Expanded filtration with 2 of the stock sponges each with 2x bio ring bags in each.  No carbon.  Sponge intake cover for Shrimp grazing/protection, low flow “fountain style” spray bar.

PARAMETERS:

6.8 ph, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 10-20 nitrate, 160 TDS, 75.2 F 

DOSING:

1 pump Easy Green 2x weekly + 1 pump after weekly water change.

1 pump Easy Iron every Sunday after 30-50% water change.

LIVESTOCK:

1x Koi Plakat Betta, 14 Celestial Pearl Danio, 20x (give or take) red Cherry Shrimp, 1x Nerite Snail

 

 

[knee]

How long have you had them in the tank? My buce only shown growth after 6-8 weeks and that growth is still slow. They're not like stem plants that will adjust in a few days and show growth after a week. Buce also don't like being moved a lot so I'd make sure they're secured in one spot and glued on the rock well.

[EleanorM]

On 2/26/2023 at 7:19 PM, knee said:

How long have you had them in the tank? My buce only shown growth after 6-8 weeks and that growth is still slow. They're not like stem plants that will adjust in a few days and show growth after a week. Buce also don't like being moved a lot so I'd make sure they're secured in one spot and glued on the rock well.

The Buce is 20 days in tank, 14 days out of pot.  (They “floated”, submerged for six days).

my memory sucks so the order tracking is clutch.

[Expectorating_Aubergine]

Buce are just suuuuuuuuper slow. They take forever. Even emersed, they are slow growers. Give them 4× the amount of time you would give anubias, to show signs of growth. That's part of the reason I try and stay away from it (the other one is price). I've only had it do well in terrariums, and that was only after everything overtook it and I forgot it was even there. Buce is the three things you don't want a plant to be; beautiful, slow growing and expensive 😞

[mynameisnobody]

Completely agree with @Expectorating_Aubergine, Buce is the one rhizome plant that struggles because of the rate of growth is ridiculously slow. Now I stay away from them, but not before watching 4 different Buce’s melt into nothingness. Good luck. 

[Miranda Marie]

I have a piece of buce that's been in my tank for 4 years. It has never changed size. Ever. It could be fake for all the visible growing it's done. LOL. 

[EleanorM]

On 2/26/2023 at 8:06 PM, Expectorating_Aubergine said:

Buce are just suuuuuuuuper slow. They take forever. Even emersed, they are slow growers. Give them 4× the amount of time you would give anubias, to show signs of growth. That's part of the reason I try and stay away from it (the other one is price). I've only had it do well in terrariums, and that was only after everything overtook it and I forgot it was even there. Buce is the three things you don't want a plant to be; beautiful, slow growing and expensive 😞

I love beautiful plants though.  
I don’t mind slow growing.  In fact, after cleaning floating plants out of all 4 tanks and fretting about all the baby Java fern roots all over … I am becoming a bigger and bigger fan of slow growing.  I just cringe at the amount of melt.  These were 3x the size they are now.  Almost 100% leaf loss and very little new growth, if any, to note.

even the anubias has notable growth…

for posterity; an edit:

I added more stone to hold the Buce firmly in place.  I also pulled the worst off anubias out of the shrimp 5 gallon and stuck it in for comparison over the weeks to come.

Edited February 27, 2023 by EleanorM
Posterity.

[Miranda Marie]

On 2/26/2023 at 8:41 PM, EleanorM said:

I love beautiful plants though.  
I don’t mind slow growing.  In fact, after cleaning floating plants out of all 4 tanks and fretting about all the baby Java fern roots all over … I am becoming a bigger and bigger fan of slow growing.  I just cringe at the amount of melt.  These were 3x the size they are now.  Almost 100% leaf loss and very little new growth, if any, to note.

even the anubias has notable growth…

Melt in buse in the first weeks is super common, unfortunately. They're finicky, fragile plants. And then it takes forever for them to grow back. 

[EleanorM]

I will try patience, that usually works.

per advice, i more firmly affixed the Buce, but with stone, not superglue (mostly because I appear to have left the cap loose)

as above in my edit, I added a piece of Anubias Nana Petite for compare and contrast purposes:

Ignore the photo-bombing CPDs.