Bucephalandra Fan Club

So, I tried tying the Buce roots to slate pieces t'other day...  This, presumably, is a skill that doesn't come naturally, lol, and was a bit of a failure...  Did what I thought was a fab job on the first piece, but no sooner did I put it in the tank, the plant just came off the rock easier than an easy thing...  Hmmm...!!!  Plan B in effect: SuperGlue...!!!

Even glue wasn't all that easy, but got there in the end...  Left the newly glued pieces in the quarantine bowl for an extra day then finally got to putting them all in the tank yesterday...  It's amazing how quickly such a small plant apparently shrinks or almost vanishes in scale when popped in the tank, but they're in there now...  Will try and get some pics later... 

Took a few and not sure which shows 'em best, so here they all are...   

Thanks Donna... 

I always preferred the idea of "aquascaping" with plants and avoiding the use of large rocks...  I must say that I use that phrase very loosely though...!!!

Always seemed to me that putting several large rocks in a tank would potentially reduce the available space for water and so my guidelines were to put taller plants at the back and the sides, with medium plants in front of the back row and small plants in front of those...  The only exception is the bogwood, but then that (I feel) serves a little more purpose, slightly... 

Still planning on changing a few of the stem plants on the back there and maybe adding a few more plants along the way too...  Using what I have learnt so far, I will certainly aim for plants with slower growth rates and less required maintenance etc...  The Bucephalandra in particular fit that bill perfectly... 

I've used rocks in my river tank, but there aren't many plants in there due to flow rate. Also lots of wood in that tank. The bucephalandras seem to be fine with the flow rate though, so they are heavily used.
I certainly don't call what I do aquascaping for several reasons, mainly because the focus is on the fish rather than the plants, but also because I still kill plants and can't really grasp the art of design.
The smaller anubias are quite cute. Is the pinto the variegated one?

Right there with you on the aquascaping. I've had my planted tank for 8 years and I've spent longer than that looking at other people's designs (I have a coffee table book of Takashi Amano tanks). I realised when I left my tank alone for a long time, that it aquascaped itself better than I could! Eventually I have managed to absorb enough that I got something half decent. The latest thing I've tried is the use of plants like anubias on rocks and smaller bits of bogwood. I can then move them around if I think they don't quite look right. And I'm really pleased with my 'tinkering' so far, I'm working out how to fit the stones in so they look natural and actually contribute to the aquascape instead of just being a base for a plant. It's a lot easier and less messy moving a rock than moving a rooted plant!

Whenever I go plant shopping I always admire the display tanks. They've put some benches in that part of the shop. All they need to do is add a coffee machine and I'd be very comfortable. However, I do accept that my tanks are never going to look like the ones in the shop. 

The benches in front of the display tanks are at Aquarium Gardens, rather than at the LFS. I have enough trouble at the various LFS here as it is.
A while back, when visiting family in Cardiff, I visited the MA at Morganstown. Not only did it have a lot of stock, and a main display tank that was approx.10ft square, containing fresh water rays and black ghost knife fish (with a bit where you could duck into the cabinet and stand up in a glass bit inside the tank), but it also had a quiet section with display tanks and 2 sofas. It's probably a good thing that I don't live in Cardiff any more. 

I hope you have a great time with the Cardiff crew. 

Couple of pics of the Bucephaladras and Anubias Nana "Pinto"...  Managed to catch them today with my little Lemon BN Pleco (blue eyed) in the frame...   

You can just about see the new Bacopa, to the left of the Bacopa Compact there...  They're a bit bent to one side at the mo, after a couple of days in a quarantine tub...  No doubt it will straighten up nicely over the next day or two...  Also planted some more Ludwigia Repens Rubin in the front left corner, but the pic with those in was too blurred to post...  Had a disaster with the Echinodorus Red Diamond though - the plant that arrived was obviously an older plant and had a monster root system, plus you could see several stumps where leaves had been removed, in the middle of the rosette...!!!  Needless to say, I had a moan at the vendor and hopefully a replacement should be on its way here pronto... 

That being said, I am delighted with the Pinto...  it wasn't cheap but it's a lovely plant and there were two distinct plants in the pot too...     Originally wanted to pop the Pinto on one of the large wood pieces, but I couldn't figure out a suitable way to secure it without the hassles of taking the wood out - the Cory Cats love to hide behind there and taking them out might be a bit stressful for them, so the two Pintos got glued to the one piece of slate instead...