# crypt parva in low tech?



## Nick Norman (17 Feb 2017)

I am looking for a foreground plant that stays healthy and my amono shrimp don't dig up before the roots grow!

My tank:
110L 80 x 40 x 45 high cm
Aqua Ray LED Aqua Bar x2 (think this is low light)
Liquid carbon (daily)
Easy Life Profito
50% Macro EI

The plants that do well are crypt wendtii, crypt lucens, anubias nana, java fern trident and limnophila heterophylla. other plants that i have tried haven't lasted.

For foreground i have tried s. repens which doesn't do much and the older leaves die leaving them looking like palm trees. Dwarf hairgrass didn't do much either. Hydrocotyle tripartita got dug up and pulled apart by my shrimp before it had a chance.

As the crypts are doing well i though crypt parva might work? or dose it need more light? Though i would get some advice before buying another plant that will fail.


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## zozo (17 Feb 2017)

I have C. prava in a medium lit, non co2 tank on inert fuji sand/fine gravel substrate with some clay balls and little peat mixed in. It doesn't grow nor propagates that much and it stays very small. Maybe 2 cm at the highest. In my case i can't say it failed, i planted a lot, maybe 4 pots and it still lives and is a healthy plant after 14 months into the process. It just doesn't realy grow above the substrate or so slow i even do not notice. But if i pull a plant out it definitively developed a rather large root system compaired to it's status quo on top. So it isn't a plant you expect to propagate on it's own that soon and much as a carpet.

It might be substrate and or light related in my case and probably needs even more time. Hence it's a slow burner, so what's a year? I have the hunge it would do way better and bit faster in a soft pond soil based substrate with clay. And i planted it on a rather rocky and mainly lava based substrate.

It's very hard to say, many things coul dbe different in other setups and i have no numbers. But it wont die on you in a low tech that's for sure..


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## Ryan Thang To (17 Feb 2017)

Yes crypt parva is a brilliant plant for low tech. In my tank no fert or anything else jusy shrimp poo lol check out my journal. You can see when i plant it untill tge last page how full it can grow. Definitely slow gowing though

Cheers
Ryan

https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/ryans-twin-aquanano-featured-in-pfk-magazine.33329/page-3


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## Nick Norman (18 Feb 2017)

It looks good! I think i will give it a go. I will get a few pots to fill the area if it grows very slow. I don't mind slow, I just want something that looks healthy.


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## alto (18 Feb 2017)

Nick Norman said:


> Hydrocotyle tripartita got dug up and pulled apart by my shrimp before it had a chance.


what kind of monster shrimp do you have 


Gratiola viscidula does fine in my no-tech  tanks

Cryptocoryne beckettii 'Petchii' - not quite as small a leaf as C parva, but a little "easier"/faster growth, different color & leaf
(I like C parva as well)

Potamogeton gayi is another fav, I find the 1-2-Grow takes some time to establish (only way I've grown this plant)

You might try a few different plants & see how each does in your tank


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## Nick Norman (18 Feb 2017)

I like the shrimp but they cause a bit of trouble! they sift through the substrate as soon as i planted the Hydrocotyle tripartita uprooting it. had to replant every day then gave up as it broken up into smaller peaces each time. they do the same with s. repens cuttings until they have roots, but they are easier to replant.

They also like the eat through the stems of the limnophila heterophylla leaving large sections floating around the tank.

I will have a look into your suggestions, thanks.


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## BexHaystack (18 Feb 2017)

Your shrimp sound crazy!

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