Did I score some good plants? Or at least decent?

Last week I was on one of the Big Box Pet Stores, and they had a table of things that were marked down. Wellp, I saw some tissue culture plants marked 50% off, and decided to give them a possible future.

When I got home and looked up the names, I started thinking I scored big, but now I'm not sure. I'll take any info folks may have on them.

The larger cup is Hygrophilia lancea araguaia "chai", which is sometimes listed as "rare", as well as "difficult".



The other item was a 4 pack. I had trouble finding either of the bucephalandra online. If they were marked correctly, they are:
Bucephalandra sp. sekadau Giant Blue
sekadau Bukit Betung
anubias sp. Microcarpaea minima

... BUT it looks like there may be 4 different plants. The bottom 2 look like anubias? Are the top 2 the bucephalandra?

Those plants are pretty healthy looking and you got them half price- that's a win regardless! The red one is $35 on Buceplant. It doesn't say CO2 required, but said it'll do better with it. The picture they have has very thin leaves- looks different than what's in your bag, but maybe it's one of those that changes once it's immersed? Who knows.

At any rate- if you can get most of them to live and some to thrive, it's a win! I like to buy some marked down plants sometimes to see if I can make them do ok- most of the ones I get look way worse than what you got, though. Nice find!

Yea the red one supposedly looks slightly different when totally submerged, at least some sites say so. I'm learning that red aquatic plants can be difficult as a whole? I'm very far from able to have the correct tanks for them, so it is all one big experiment for me while the outdoor garden sleeps for winter.

Those "buce" ones, I can barely find them listed unless the text shown is some sort of bad translation.

As for price, all of those (4 tiny cups, one standard cup with at least 4 plants) = $10 or so ;-)

Of the plants I shared before, well... there have been casualties Hey, they didn't cost much and I learned water plants are not as easy as garden plants!

ANYHOO, the other day I made another decent Petco score, according to various prices found online. This time I found Anubias Pinto



From what I have read, these can be trickier than most anubias. To stay white, they need brighter light than usual. I hope they last, as I'm not having the best luck teaching myself about aquatic plants...

Have you checked out the plants on the Tropica website? They have most of the plants in the hobby, including care guides!

Personally I think you scored well, and don't feel bad if the odd one fails. It happens to all of us.

The reds are more difficult to make them stay and go really bright red without CO2 and high quality plant lights, but it doesn't mean they'll die in a low planted. They just grow slower, and might grow more green than red. But some of the most difficult might just fail in a low-tech (as in, no CO2 and ordinary tank lights), but if they're cheap, it's always worth a try!

Bear in mind that buces and anubius mustn't be planted in the substrate. Those plants have a rhizome that mustn't be buried, or it rots and kills the plant. But can be attached or poked into gaps in hardscape, and then they grow that way.

Honestly, Tropica is such a great site for looking all these up, and also checking out scapes for inspiration!

A tip on doing red plants without CO2 is to add an iron supplement such as Flourish Iron. Worked well with my Red Tiger Lotus until a couple of fish decided it tasted good.

jaylach said:

A tip on doing red plants without CO2 is to add an iron supplement such as Flourish Iron. Worked well with my Red Tiger Lotus until a couple of fish decided it tasted good.

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Can you remind me of this when I finally get my new tanks set up please?? I want to remember this, but I have a feeling I'll hvae forgotten by then!

AdoraBelle Dearheart said:

Can you remind me of this when I finally get my new tanks set up please?? I want to remember this, but I have a feeling I'll hvae forgotten by then!

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I'll try but doubt that I'll remember unless you mention red plants again. Would probably be better if you wrote yourself a note.

YUP I've browsed the Tropica website. Their plants aren't that easy to find over here, though. I have found a couple in better shops, but they tend to be more advanced ones, or ones that would end up way too tall. Still, all the plant sites are great for self-teaching!

You don't have to buy Tropica plants, just use their site to help decide which plants to buy.