# huge tall crypt at Aquatics Unlimited in Milwaukee



## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

hi all,

a couple of weeks ago i took a trip to Milwaukee and made a stop at Hoffer's and at Aquatics Unlimited. at the latter store they had quite a few plants--i scored a 'Florida Sunset' there--and there was an especially interesting one in a tank in the rear of the store.

i wish that i had brought my camera. this was a crypt with really long petioles (~40cm) and robust spoon-shaped leaves with bright magenta red undersides. what was this? i asked if i could by one and the said "no way". could this have been _C. cordata_ 'Blassii' (sorry if that is incorrect moniker for _that_ plant)? i didn't know that Blassii got that big.

thanks

hydrophyte


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## chris_todd (Dec 18, 2008)

Sounds like it could have been emersed-grown C. cordata 'blassii', possibly grown by Florida Aquatic Nurseries. At about that same time, one of our LFS that has great plants got in a shipment from FAN that included the Florida Sunset you mention as well as c. cordata 'blassii', one of which I bought (the blassii, not the Florida Sunset). It was as you describe - about 16" tall with very long petioles and leaves with red undersides (though the leaves on mine are not purely ovate, they have a bit of a point). 

Thankfully, it did not melt when I planted it in my 75g (where its leaves just reach to the surface). It has since thrown up a new leaf, which after a few weeks has only grown to about 6" in height, which seems more typical of this species when grown submersed.

I should be able to get a picture of it tonight, so you can confirm whether that was what you saw.

Chris


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## chris_todd (Dec 18, 2008)

Here are two pictures I took of my c. cordata 'blassii' before it threw up a new leaf:



















Sorry the pictures aren't very good. For some perspective, this is a 75g tank, so it's about 20" tall. And the color is a bit off, because the driftwood is still leaching tannins, so everything looks yellowish/tea-colored.

HTH,
Chris


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

Chris

hey thanks! that plant looks real similar and it is probably the same thing, although i do remember the leaves of the plants in Milwaukee as more rounded. i think that those specimens also came from FAN.

if you think of it it would be great to get an update on how this plant does for you. do you plan to give it any special treatment? i understood that 'Blassii' is rather demanding, but i don't remember what its particular requirements are.

now i have to figure out where i can get one!

regards,

hydophyte


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## chris_todd (Dec 18, 2008)

Hydrophyte,
I'll be happy to post an update in a few weeks. As I mentioned, the plant has already thrown one new leaf, whose petiole is only half as tall, but whose leaf quickly grew to roughly the same width and length as the other two remaining leaves.

This tank is less than 2 months old, so I'm still fighting a bit of the new tank algae outbreak, though it's not too bad, mostly some diatoms and a bit of spirogyra. The substrate is ecocomplete capped with 3M ColorQuartz black sand, and I've been using Flourish, Excel, and Flourish Potassium every 2-3 days per the dosing instructions on the bottle (many of the cryptocoryne moehlmannii and pontederiifolia I planted in this tank came from a tank that was suffering K deficiency, so they have small holes in their leaves). I just bought dry ferts from GLA, however, so I will soon be using PPS-Pro, hopefully using a DIY autodoser. So I don't plan anything special for this plant. Water conditions are: 76-78*F, pH ~ 7.6, NO2 0ppm, NO3 < 5 ppm (basically, my tap water, though the plants appear to be effectively sucking the NO3 out of it - my tap water contains 10 ppm NO3). Lighting for this 75g is from two T-12 shop light fixtures with lousy reflectors, each fixture with a pair of 40W 6700K bulbs.

Chris


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