# Cryptocoryne albida



## tsunami (Jan 24, 2004)

Does anyone have any experience with this plant? I have read that it is one of the trickier Cryptocoryne species to grow submersed.

Does it grow well emmersed? Any information would be highly appreciated.

Carlos


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

I have had good luck with albida once. See the lingua picture and see what I said about how I fertilized that tank. The albida in that tank was grown in a very rich peat-soil mix. I have two small plants just getting started now. Time will tell how they do. 

For some reason, I suspect that albida and many other crypts do best if the N and P are metered out fairly frugally. Keep 'em a bit hungry. Give 'em lots of CO2 and room and good light, but make 'em work a bit for N and P. It seems to work better than keeping N and P levels high all the time. I don't know why. I am not sure it has to be both N and P that are kept low. Maybe it is just N. I doubt that it is just P.


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## cS (Jan 27, 2004)

- REMOVED -


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## MiamiAG (Jan 13, 2004)

CS,

Welcome to APC!


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## Phil Edwards (Jan 22, 2004)

I've got some growing emersed in one of the greenhouses here at school. It's in a peat/chicken grit substrate, probably 80% peat, with the pot sitting in a windowsill in a dish with an inch or so of water. After losing most of it's leaves due to my stupidity it's started growing back well and is doing better than most of the others in the collection. 

It gets light, occasional fertilization with a 15-16-17 liquid fertilizer and is watered every day. Once it's worth photographing I'll take some pics.

cS- that's a nice looking tank you've got there.


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## plantbrain (Jan 23, 2004)

C albina is easy to grow.
C alba is not submersed but does well emergent.

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## Pantanal (Jan 27, 2004)

Hi Carlos,

During my trip in Germany last year I've sent some crypts to Brazil by mail. I don't know why, but it took one month.
Albida was in the packet and has surprisingly survived.
It's growing very well submersed under the following conditions:

tank: 45 Liters = 11,8 gallons
substrate: laterite + humus + gravel
lightning: three 20W daylight 6500K PL bulb and one 20W 2700K Pl bulb
no liquid fertilization
DIY CO2

Best regards,

Fabio


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## tsunami (Jan 24, 2004)

Thanks for all of your replies. Tropica, Oriental Aquarium Handbook, most sources in general refer to Cryptocoryne albida as one of the more difficult crypts to grow submersed. As I don't have any experience with any crypt that has ever been referred to as 'difficult' (only grown wendtii var, walkeri, undulata, retrospiralis, spiralis), I didn't know quite what to
expect!

Your responses are all very promising. I will try to grow it emmersed first. And yes, cS, I would love to hear details on your emmersed setup. I have grown the more common crypts in my hydroponic setup, but they have never flowered. Also, I have to be constantly thinning them out during the summer as they propagate vegatively very quickly (especially wendtii 'green').

Carlos


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## Svante (Feb 8, 2004)

Albid isn't at all a hard to grow plant, it just needs a lot of time to settle in, but once settled, it will grow really well. It has done better immersed than emersed for me.

//Svante


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## Cavan Allen (Jul 22, 2004)

Mine is perfectly healthy but doesn't really get anywhere. I got three at the last AGA conference and still have three. Old leaves fade away prematurely and there have been no runners. The plants are a bit larger now, but that has taken a very long time. I've tried Flourish tabs, jobes, a brighter location, less light, all with the same results. Oddly enough, I moved them recently and found some really impressive roots. 

I don't get it.


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