fastlee84

hi,
after away for the week, i came back home and realise that my crypt has flowered. is this possible? i planted it in my tank on 16 july. bought it in an emerse form. does the crypt still think it's in emerse form after all these month?

Phil Edwards

I've had crypts flower underwater before. Oftentimes in the wild they'll be growing in shallow submersed conditions and will send up inflorescences that will break the surface. In some of our tanks with higher lighting they can likely get confused and think they can reach the surface. At least that's my hypothesis.

HeyPK

I've actually had C. pontederiifolia flower profusely underwater once for me in a 75 gallon tank. I got one or two blooms per plant. The flowers did not open up as in Phil's pictures, and there was no attempt to reach the surface by elongation of the stem.

Cavan Allen

I had a large stand of Cryptocoryne beckettii that produced at least two infloresences while submerged. They developed fully but rotted after about three days.

Phil and Paul,

Am I correct in assuming that your plants were also in large stands/very large, etc?

Phil Edwards

Cavan,

My submerged plants were decent sized mature colonies, yes.

HeyPK

So were my pontederiifolia. They were full sized plants in a 75 gallon tank.