Sunday March 9, 2025 @ 1200pm
Jebriel Houdroj, is a proud Lebanese American born and raised in the Pacific Northwest. He works at The Wetspot Tropical Fish in Portland, Oregon as a store manager and has been the plant specialist for 5 years.
He has been keeping aquariums on and off for over 12 years; though his love for aquatic flora didn’t start until about 7 years ago. In his free time outside of work, he cultivates and documents his process of (amateurly) dissecting species of bucephalandra and their inflorescences.
His interest in bucephalandra sp. started in 2018 due to finding out their endangered status and he has only grown since then. His goal is to help stop the misinformation spread in the hobby about bucephalandra and other rheophytic plants, and also inform people on the importance of cultivation over exploitation
Jebriel’s talk will be titled “Cultivation over Exploitation” and will discuss how to properly cultivate bucephalandra in the the aquarium in addition to how to properly identify (or at least try to) the species you’re keeping. Additionally he will detail some of his adventures in dissecting bucephalandra and how he was able to identify the species.
Jebriel will further share a ‘How To’ on growing bucephalandra terrestrially and cultivating emersed plants. He will cover the difference between ‘Epiphytic & Rheophytic’ plants and how we have been using the incorrect terms for years as well as the importance of cultivation.
At the conclusion of the presentation Jebreil will host a Q & A and will be available to talk during breaks as well.