StevenA
Member
Hi all just looking for some recommendations for foreground low growing Crypts please? Anyone have any suggestions?
It depends a bit on your setup, size especialy height and co2 or not. And substrate type a bit. I got a 90x35x35 cm low energy tank with several crypts on inert substrate with Tabs and water column feeding..
As is with all plants in there are almost 3 years growing, didn't do much trimming..
Sorry for the bad picture, i got a lot of light spill in the room during the day.. But it still might give you an idea.
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Front right is C. parva, as Mick describes, extremely slow growing and stays rather very small. More staying alive than realy growing. Funny is most of the root tabs are under the Lily, the parva close to and even shaded under the lily leaves grow the biggest and most dense. So a rich substrate is definitively a pre for parva in low energy.
Front mid left from the lily is C. Wendtii brown. I never did plant it there, actualy never bought it intentionaly. It came as a sneakin with a bunch of java ferns. It was a very tiny cutting when i found it. Because i didn't know what to expect i planted it midground behind the lily and it turned out to be the best growing crypt in this tank. It ran and spread like a champ and have about 9 seperate plants most of them all in the mid front.. In this condition it stays rather a very low plant but runs like hell.
Back right the light green bush i bought as C. willisii.. It grows into a 15 to 20 cm adult.. In this tank it would be to big for a front placement. Left from it stands a C. Indonesii, both grow very simular, indonesii a tad bigger and is darker green. But also not a front plant for this size tank.
Also contains a bit C. Albida brown.. But it seems it doesn't like it in this tank, all melted away and now and than i see some pop up again. But it's not happy. The C. lutea hobbit same story, it didn't realy like it in here. And it actualy is a Walkeri mutation, some hobbits i planted forgot the were hobbits and grew into ful size walkeri.
Luckily and completely unintentionaly the C. wendtii overtook the hobbits front position with it's own runners from the midground. 🙂
What's the crypt mid back left with the reddish underside?
C. Walkeri
See also the pages for C. beckettii, C. undulata and C. wendtii for comparison, the differences can be rather small.
There you see the big differences.. Tims c.wendtii brown is a rather robust lush plant and mine growing for over 2 years stays rather lean, very close to the substrate and rather spreads horizontaly with runners than grow big. Mine is slowly carpeting the tanks fore ground on it's own.
Beats me if that is growing condition such as light, substrate, fert regime, water parameters or genetic strain. But the differences can be very puzzling varied.. 🙂
Nice crypt tank I have just set my crypt tank up 2 weeks ago so just going through the melt stage at the min.This was my low energy Crypt tank. The Crypt plant list is:
Cryptocoryne willisii/nevillii - in the foreground
Cryptocoryne becketti "petchii" - lurking behind the C. willisii bottom right
Cryptocoryne crispatula var. balansae - tall crypt with hammered leaves back right
Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Green' green plant with wavy edges
Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Tropica' red/brown plant with wavy edges
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