The story begins back in 1978 when Dr Neils together with  Josef Bogner visited Henry Ong in Kuching, he one day received notice that a “bullosa” was found near Bau. They went there but it had just rained so it was impossible to go into the river and did not get the plant when they were in Sarawak in 1978. After the visit, Henry sent Dr. Neils a package with the “bullosa” from the new locality but no spathes. He subsequently counted the chromosomes on all accessions and proved that the “new bullosa” from Bau had a chromosome number of 2n = 20 – just like C. striolata, while the true bullosa from the Sibu region had 2n = 34. So the “Bau-bullosa” had to be a new species. Later on Henry Ong went to find flowering plants which he sent to him, and this material is the type material from Cryptocoryne keei (named after Henry Ong Kee Chuan). The end. – Sources from Dr Neils.

Continue Reading »

Many of the traditional fishermen as of now, the fish caught, using ordinary methods of fishing and handling will be liable to forfeiture. Over the years, in rural area like this fisherman making a living by catching Betta fish to the supply chain in Kalimantan barat got very little help and support from the authority, and they often being bullied by the local supplier who claimed the high mortality rate from the fish they received on them.

Continue Reading »

I have been told by my friend that thousands of this plant was collected and treated in the international market; yeah, there are none left in the pool, not a single one! I had even heard a story about the collector is a foreigner but after all, who cares? Do you?

Continue Reading »

Homemade electrofishing tool

Continue Reading »

Bucephalandra is getting more and more popular recently; it is in fact a demanding plant for plants hobbyists. This genus is a sibling to Cryptocoryne under Araceae family. But unlike Cryptocoryne, this genus got less attention from botanists and only three species are described so far and many others are left without a name.

Continue Reading »

Here we got this betta caught in my hometown a couple of years ago, at first I thought its common pugnax but after a close inspection and some advice from my friend; it could be a new species.

Continue Reading »

This variant of nurii is consider extinct in the wild due to habitat destruction. The unique character of this plant is it dressed with cordata outfit but having the heart of nurii. You will never know it identity until you see the flower, and here are some photo taken in my cultivation.

Continue Reading »

C. purpurea was one of the most common plants in Europe in the early day; not only because it has high adaptability but also one of the most easy plant to cultivate. Habitat destruction is one significant cause of the cryptocoryne’s recent decline reason, not to mention the over collection and over treat in the market. This species has become rarer and hardly seen in the hobbyist collection today.

Continue Reading »

This species is known to have no hesitation of throwing flowers in cultivation. But even then, this is the first time it flowered in my tank.

Continue Reading »

An unopened spathe was spotted by me two days ago in my routine checking, the plants began showing sign of  healthiness after topping with some peat soil a couple of months ago, before this the plants was growing purely on mineral soil.

Continue Reading »