# don't mix varieties!



## illustrator (Jul 18, 2010)

Hi all,

For many years I was searching for _C. affinis_. Lately I got very lucky, and got this rare species from no less than 4 sources! No 1, 2 & 3 look similar (1 & 2 are not identical; when grown side by side I see small differences, from No. 3 I don't know yet as I have it emersed untill now). No. 4 clearly larger and darker.

So I planted No 1. in one corner and No.4 in another corner of the same aquarium, because they are so clearly different anyway. All started to grow and multiply rapidly.

Now, half a year later, I have a BIG MESS, with No. 1 and No. 4 growing in overlapping clumps. I pulled all apart and re-planted no. 1 in the aquarium soil and a big specimen of no. 4 in a pot. But I am left with many small plants, which are unidentifiable. Even while the big plants are clearly different, small runners are not.

I aim to keep growing all 4 plants, so I threw away any plant with douptfull identity (even though the origin of all is "local aquarium keepers).

So, as conclusion: if you want to grow similar plants in a single aquarium: there is really no alternative to growing them in pots ...

Happy growing, 
Paul


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## firefiend (Aug 17, 2009)

I haven't kept crypts yet but am hoping to gets some soon. With that in mind I promise that my comments are not meant to disrespect. It is simply an attempt to gather more information for learning purposes.


how much attention was given to pruning the plants? Would it have been possible to maintain better plant separation through pruning?

Would it have been better to plant specimens in different areas of the tank where they wouldn't have easily integrated?


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## illustrator (Jul 18, 2010)

I don't understand what you mean with "pruning the plants", that's something you do with a bush or appletree in the garden ... ? I don't see how to apply this to _Cryptocoryne_.

_Cryptocoryne_ propagate by stolons (also called runners), which are basically horyzontal stems. A new plant is formed on the end of each stolon. Depending on species (and partly on cultivation method), stolons can be long or short and either above and below ground.

_Cryptocoryne wendtii_ has relatively short stolons of a few cm, usually below ground. So with this species you see young plants appear a few cm from the parent plant. _C. crispatula_ var. _balansae_ has very long stolons, of commonly 15 cm, also underground. Young plants stay connected to the parent-plant. When a plant of this species is still small, it can already start forming stolons itself (because it keeps getting nutrients from the parent-plant). The result is that you might see a young plant popping up 15 + 15 = 30 cm away of the parent plant and only when you search for it, you then find another small plant somewhere halfway between them.

_Cryptocoryne affinis_ has stolons of 5-10 cm, which can be either above or below ground. It is a relatively fast multiplying species. I guess that you could have several clumps of this species separated by 20 cm bare soil or so, and then pull out all young plants that appear between them. Only, young _Cryptocoryne_ develop fastest and nicest when they remain attached to the parent plant for quite some time, so this is not what I wanted to do. (And i don't have space anymore for 20 cm of bare sand).


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## firefiend (Aug 17, 2009)

pruning, trimming, cutting... any action which results in a plant that is shaped to your liking and/or promotes healthy growth.

Couldn't you have cut the runners as you've seen new plants develop? I understand that with them being underground it might be more tedious but with care it seems feasible.

From the OP it isn't clear what your intention was; so if you were trying to propagate them and then the means in which your particular species established runners made it difficult I can see what you're saying.

But if you just wanted to maintain the original plants is their own spot for landscaping purposes then I think that regular maintenance and removal of the runners would have prevented the "big mess."

no?


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## illustrator (Jul 18, 2010)

I started out with a landscaping approach, but gradually switched to having a collection with more and more species and varieties (now around 20).

Removing underground stolons is particularly difficult in a landscaped set-up as these stolons grow also underneath stones and can even go trough styropor (I used styropor plates to put under large stones so that the weight of the stones is spread more evenly on the glass). So specifically in my landscaped approach, the idea of pruning stolons would not work.

For a while I had 2 "islands" in a 80 cm aquarium, each "island" was bordered with some larger stones and consisted of gravel. In each "island" was a nice clump of _C. wendtii _(30 cm high and broad!). Both "islands" were separated by sand, ideal for _Corydoras_. Still, with this approach it is possible to grow only 2 or 3 of the larger _Cryptocoryne_ species in such an aquarium.

Please note that for _Cryptocoryne_ it is NOT good to replant them regularly, so you CANNOT lift them out of the soil every week to check for stolons. If you do, your plants might survive, but they will not grow particularly well. They have (and need to have) an extensive root-system which needs time to grow. Replanting them a few times a year is still OK, but not very often. (a 30 cm high _C. wendtii _also has a rootsystem of 30 cm in diameter, when planted in the aquarium soil).

So, yes, your idea might work with some species in some set-ups, but not with the species I am most fond of and also not in my set-up.

(But I actually have a more landscaped set-up in a second aquarium. Here i have just 2 species of _Cryptocoryne_, and some _Ceratophyllum_. I chose very different looking Crypt's for this aquarium and don't care/mind when they grow "mixed". I started this subject specifically to warn about mixing very similar species and varieties which are later very difficult to separate/recognise.)


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