# Emergent Growth Cryptocoryne Tank



## travis (Oct 5, 2004)

I've been growing Cryptocorynes emerged in a shallow (6" height) tank for about six months now, using sunlight from a south-facing window. Some _H. sibthorpioides_ was allowed to grow wild as well and has formed a fairly thick ground cover. I've gotten spathes from _C. cordata var cordata 'blassii'_ and _C. wendtii 'Green Gecko'_. I will be adding _C. nurii_ in the near future. I apologize for the poor picture quality as I am using my cell phone until I get a new camera.










_C. cordata var cordata 'blassii'_ spathe:










_C. wendtii 'Green Gecko'_ spathe:


----------



## hooha (Apr 21, 2005)

where can you get a 6 inch tank?? 

that's a great setup, cheap low maintainence, and quite visually striking. Can you review your setup, (substrate, lighting, progress and growth, etc)?


----------



## travis (Oct 5, 2004)

hooha said:


> where can you get a 6 inch tank??


I got the tank from a reef store that had used it to display corals. Turns out to work well for growing emergent aquatic plants, too.



> that's a great setup, cheap low maintainence, and quite visually striking. Can you review your setup, (substrate, lighting, progress and growth, etc)?


Thanks hooha. I can't remember the exact mixture of the substrate but I used a mix of bonsai soil (lots of fracted clay), worm castings, peat, and a little vermiculite. Lighting is sunlight from a south-facing window so it varies seasonally but I seem to be getting a lot more spathe formation recently than I did in the winter so it is possible that the longer photoperiod is a factor.

Progress was quite slow for the first 5-6 weeks for the Crypts (_C. wendtii 'Green Gecko', C. cordata var cordata 'blassii', C. parva, and C. petchii_) but has stabilized in the last three months or so. I had some initial issues with keeping the humidity stable but things have improved noticeably since I resolved them. Growth rate is still quite slow compared to the submersed growth that I am familiar with from these species.

The _H. sibthorpioides_ was a major surprise. I threw it in the tank as an afterthought. I have had excellent luck flowering _H. verticillata_ emerged so I was curious to see _H. sibthorpioides_ flower. It has gone nuts in this tank and has formed a very nice ground cover, but not thick enough to choke out the Crypts. It is flowering heavily. I'll try to get a picture but my camera is not good at close ups and the blooms are very small.

I just counted four new _C. wendtii 'Green Gecko'_ spathes this morning so I should have more photos to post soon.


----------



## rs79 (Dec 7, 2004)

H. sibthorpioides grows in my lawn near the river. I have acres of that crap. It smells funny when you run the lawn mower over it.


----------



## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

wow, this is really nice. you know if you were to add a lot more crypts and some more water this would look just like those forest pool mudflats that you see in many of the _Cryptocoryne_ biotope photographs that get around.


----------



## fjc973 (Aug 8, 2007)

wow !! great tank .I like yuour set up .


----------



## mudboots (Jun 24, 2009)

hooha said:


> where can you get a 6 inch tank??
> 
> Hooha, check out glasscages.com. They have tanks of every size you can imagine, and will even custom build if they don't. They've got the 6 inchers in many shapes and sizes in both rimless and rimmed. I've never bought from them, but found them while browsing around for some larger tanks.


----------



## travis (Oct 5, 2004)

mudboots said:


> Hooha, check out glasscages.com. They have tanks of every size you can imagine, and will even custom build if they don't. They've got the 6 inchers in many shapes and sizes in both rimless and rimmed. I've never bought from them, but found them while browsing around for some larger tanks.


I recently found out that this is indeed a Glass Cages tank.


----------

