# cryptocoryne species - which ones are small?



## growitnow (Feb 26, 2007)

Howdy:

Crypts grow too big! Which crypts are on/stay on the smaller side? That would be appropriate for mid-foreground.

It seems I always have to move the crypts further to the back as they grow. I would like to find cultivars that stay diminutive.

thanks,


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## Ibn (Nov 19, 2003)

When you say small, how small are you talking about? How big is your tank and how tall of a crypt are you looking for?


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## JenThePlantGeek (Mar 27, 2006)

The one that first came to mind was _C. parva_ - a lovely little crypt .


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## bharada (Mar 5, 2004)

From small-to-large in the "small" Crypt category (at least in my tanks):

C. parva (most times leaves will hug the substrate)
C. willisii (between 2-5")
C. wendtii "Green Gecko" (between 3-6")
C. lutea (between 4-8")

Most of the Crypts I keep stay on the shorter side of the height range until they get crowded, then they send up longer petioles to get their leaves above the crowd.


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## growitnow (Feb 26, 2007)

Hard to answer what 'small' means, I have seen few in person to be able to draw comparisons. I have tried Crypt wendtii green, which is my reference point, and that gets a good 8-9" in my tank. Current tank = 20gal non-CO2, but interest is for 90gal CO2 being set up. 

I am using the 20gal to pilot plants I will later get for the 90. I would like to find alternatives to glosso/HC that could serve as a mid-foreground planting, creating a "foreground-like" effect in the non-CO2 tank. If they work in my hands, I will use them later.

So I guess a couple inches high, but a general sense of comparison among crypt species would be helpful since web site pictures are not always best indicators of size. Thanks,

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When you say small, how small are you talking about? How big is your tank and how tall of a crypt are you looking for?
__________________


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## bharada (Mar 5, 2004)

If you plan on creating a carpet of C. parva in a 90g tank you had better find a source for a lot of plants. C. parva is one of the slowest growing Crypts that you'll find and is something that will "fill-in" over the course of years. :icon_lol:

C. willisii spreads a lot faster (but still not in the same class as wendtii) and if kept in the open will stay in the 2-3" height range.


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## Ibn (Nov 19, 2003)

You'll want to check out the first two plants that Bill mentioned then. They tend to stay rather small, especially the parva. I'm using it as a sort of right behind the foreground plant in my little 4.4. gallons. It tends to grow very slow though so keep that in mind.


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## @[email protected] (Oct 24, 2007)

i reccomend prava or wendtii

also glosso wont do good in a no CO2 tank. you can use HC though or baby tears.


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## A Hill (Jul 25, 2005)

@[email protected] said:


> i reccomend prava or wendtii
> 
> also glosso wont do good in a no CO2 tank. you can use HC though or baby tears.


Wendtii has gotten very big in my 10g maybe its trying to get more light?

Can crypts be trimmed the same way we say clip lotuses to keep their growth more compact and not shooting up to the surface? 

Thanks for posting that list Bill!

-Andrew


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## bharada (Mar 5, 2004)

In my tanks C. wendtii will stay in the 5-7" range (leaf + petiole) so long as they're uncrowded and under good light. Once either of those conditions change they grow as tall as they need to to be in the clear.

This is me with a stand of C. wendtii bronze that was left to its own devices in a 40g tank for about six months. This was about half of the wendtiis that were in the tank. The tallest plants were about 15" not counting the roots.









Definitely not a foreground plant unless your tank is over 4' tall. :icon_lol:


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## spypet (Sep 15, 2006)

I would not attempt a C.parva foreground without compressed Co2.
those slow growing, exposed to light - crypts can be algae magnets
without good tank keeping skills and consistent Co2. curled so low
to your substrate, they can also become tank debris catchers too.


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

I wonder if you grow c. parva faster emersed.

and crypts aren't too bad... I grow them in my low tech tank with no CO2 and they're doing fine and growing very big..
I'll have to check out c. parva.


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## growitnow (Feb 26, 2007)

Many thanks, this is very helpful.

What is the difference between what I see listed as:

C. willisii, versus
C. willisii 'Lucens'

thanks,


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## Guillermo (Dec 19, 2005)

_Spypet wrote _:



> those slow growing, exposed to light - crypts can be algae magnets
> without good tank keeping skills and consistent Co2. curled so low
> to your substrate, they can also become tank debris catchers too.


Spy's words exactly describe what I'm experiencing with my C. Parva  

It´s in my 10 gal Cube with fluorite, 3 x 15 watts 6500 K cf lights and DIY Co2, EI-ish fert method. It's growing in a strange way, the leaves curl upwards, as if they were aiming for light, each plantlet looks like a "little crown", these "crowns" catch debris and algae like mad.


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## jade_dragon71 (Dec 2, 2005)

I wish my crypt parva were nice and green...they look craptacular despite of the jobe's fertilizer sticks under them. (Weird yellow looking leaves with a bit of darker green in the center.) I wouldn't even mind that they are bigtime "debris-catchers" if they looked better!


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## TammieKaye (Nov 16, 2007)

Fish Newb said:


> the same way we say clip lotuses to keep their growth more compact and not shooting up to the surface?
> 
> -Andrew


Not to hijack, but how is this done? With the lotuses, that is??


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## limnidi (May 2, 2007)

My dream is to have a crypt parva foreground for my 150 gal. At this rate, it should take 5-10 yrs.


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## A Hill (Jul 25, 2005)

TammieKaye said:


> Not to hijack, but how is this done? With the lotuses, that is??


Just trimming the leaves going up off at the base. Eventually it will stay down.

Maybe a search can show pictures?

-Andrew


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