# minima - cordata - affinis



## Kai Witte (Jan 30, 2006)

Hi PP,

Welcome to the forum!

I took the liberty to start a new new thread for your previous posting:
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...cannot-grow-c-wendtii-save-my.html#post201613



> I have some C. Minima, C. Affinis, C. and C. Cordata in my 2 planted tanks for quite some time... All of them collected from wild. They live in acidic water condition. Some of them I collected from peat swamp.
> 
> So far they are in good condition and do not melt at all after I introduced them in my tank. I do change 50% of the water fortnightly and add in NPK and Trace element with Fe. Seems ok for these plants. Root fert is required to keep them growing in good shape. Strong lighting is not a must as in the natural habitat, they grow under shade. But truth is they do grow very very slow.


I don't think it's feasible to grow minima alongside with affinis in the long run. C. affinis likes carbonates in the water (it's apparently limited to streams draining limestone areas) while minima prefers acidic water (naturally occuring in less extreme peat swamp forests) - I'd give them different homes. While all are a bit slower than the fastest growing crypts they do grow reasonably well in my experience when their requirements are met.



> Below is C. Minima (submerged) I collected few months ago.


Thanks! Do you have a pic of the current aquarium specimens?

My submersed minima (from Bukit Merah, Perak) has leaves like this under low light conditions:


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## Kai Witte (Jan 30, 2006)

> In one wierd incident my friend encountered was he introduced new Crypts into the crypts tank, the new crypts melted away fast. All other stable crypts follow to melt and all die in a week time. I mean whole tank gone. Can some one advice what is the actual reason that cause this.


Usually established crypts shouldn't be affected much less die from mere melting of a few new crypts. There's always the possibility of introducing some parasitic fungus with new plants but I doubt this is the answer in this case... :-k


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## ppyeoh (May 15, 2006)

Hi Kai

Thanks for your help to start a new thread.

I collected the C.Minima from the same place. Yup, you are right. C. Minima loves acidic water. As for the C. Affinis, I collected from a river which the water PH is 7.6-7.8...incredible. 

So far they seems ok in the same aquarium but growing very slowly, but still they are new leaves growing. Bet I did not put in any root fert for them. All my planted tanks have no base fert at all.

I will post some crypts I have in the tanks in later post. Let me take some pic first.

PPYeoh


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## ppyeoh (May 15, 2006)

Kai Witte said:


> Usually established crypts shouldn't be affected much less die from mere melting of a few new crypts. There's always the possibility of introducing some parasitic fungus with new plants but I doubt this is the answer in this case... :-k


It might be the reason. I read about some infections which may melt the plant's leaves.

Thanks.

PPYeoh


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## ppyeoh (May 15, 2006)

Here are few pictures I took just now...C. minima, C. Cordata, C. Afinis, maybe also mix with some others that I do not know their names.


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## ppyeoh (May 15, 2006)

2 more Crypts pics:


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## Kai Witte (Jan 30, 2006)

Hello PP,



> As for the C. Affinis, I collected from a river which the water PH is 7.6-7.8...incredible.


That's a perfectly normal pH for affinis habitats. Not surprisingly, this is one of the crypts who do really well in tapwater tanks without CO2 dosing.



> I will post some crypts I have in the tanks in later post.


Thanks for the pics! Your affinis looks quite happy.

The cordata seems to do fine also - where is this stock from?

Your C. minima doesn't look too convincing - I think it deserves to be placed in a dedicated blackwater tank. A pH around 5 may do (it's less demanding than some other blackwater crypts) but I'd aim at pH 4 which opens up more options regarding plants and, if submersed, fishes as well...


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## ppyeoh (May 15, 2006)

Hai Kai

Maybe you are right. I should put the Minima into separate tank with low ph togather with rasbora/boraras fish. One thing I found about Minima, they grow well in peat swamp.

C. Cordata are from Kelantan.

PPYeoh


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## EDGE (Feb 28, 2004)

At what point after getting a new crypt do you considered it has sucessfully grown in your setup? i.e. When it has new leave, new root, runners, 8+ leaves per plant, or a huge robust plant? Crypts can be small and still send out runners to fill in an area.


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## ppyeoh (May 15, 2006)

Hi Edge

To me if the crypt start growing new leaves and has runners, I consider it is sucessful. To grow it bigger and better, I learn from others that crytp need base fert. Best if could setup environment as per their original habitat.

PPYeoh


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