Plant arrived with Spathe - Page 2 - Cryptocorynes

FarCanal · 07-24-2008, 06:17 PM

Here's a pic of the same plant in a different tank as it throws out a new leaf;

I have 3 variations of Crypt Crispulta in the one tank and at this stage I'm calling them;

Crypt Crispulta var. Balansae - The biggest of the 3 and the one I have most of. It's getting leaves to 70-80cm long, stays green and throws out plenty of runners. It's the one at the back of the tank in the link.

Crypt Crispulta var. Tonkenisis - Stays alot smaller than Balansae and gets red leaves with green edges. It doesn't look anything like the plant pictured on "The crypt Pages" site however. My LFS has a plant book with a submersed picture and discription that match this plant to this name. Can't find any other GOOD pictures of this plant growing submersed and hopefully it will grow in my emersed tank. What ever this plant is it does send out runners in my aquarium which tonkenisis isn't supposed to do again according to the crypt pages discription.

Crypt Crispulata - About the same size as the Tonkenisis (?) but the leaves are growing brown in color and with a narrow leaf. I have this plant growing in my emersed setup and will take some photos soon.

I'm sure I've got 3 different Crispulata's and I'll take some photos tonight (Aussie time) and post them. I only have one growing in my emersed tank but plan to get all three going to get an ID on what they may be.

Kai Witte · 07-29-2008, 03:39 PM

I'm with Paul & Richard: Definitely a spathe!

It's not uncommon for imported crypts to develop a spathe which successfully opens. Good luck!

Please show a pic of the whole plant. Many populations of the crispatula group can open their spathes when growing submersed. Depending on the ongoing development it may be preferable to lower the water level if the spathe doesn't make it to the surface though...

mats808 · 07-29-2008, 10:10 PM

Hi FarCanal,
Nice plants, nice culture.

I was looking at the newest picture you put up and I am sure that this isn't C. crispatula var. tonkinensis. Like I was saying, tonkinensis has very thin leaves. 1 to 2mm at the widest in my experience when grown submersed. Also it is a smaller plant than the one pictured, at least when grown by me

Could be poor culture but I had the plant growing submersed for over a year and it was consistently throwing out new leaves and looked very healthy. My plant never grew more than 8-10cm tall....maybe even shorter (it was several years ago and my memory isn't perfect) Part of the reason why my plant was on the shorter side was that the leaves would tend to kind of curl a little bit outwards. The leaves were also very much flat, not "ruffled" at all like the one in your picture. I looked for a picture I had of it but I think I accidently threw it away when I moved last. I found one pic that shows the top of 1 leaf. It would only be good to demonstrate the thinness of the leaf and the outward "curling" that I was talking about. If you like I can try to scan and post it.

I would also like to say that you grow your plants very nicely. And I hope that I'm not offending you in any way. I just thought that you might want to know so that you can continue looking for C. crispatula var. tonkinensis if you find it necesary.

aaron

FarCanal · 07-30-2008, 01:54 AM

Kai Witte - I've moved one of the 2 plants into my emersed tank and the spathe is growing, it hasn't opened yet but my fingers are crossed. Here are some pictures of the same plant in a regular fish tank;

and here is a picture of a runner when it first popped up;

When I first moved the new plant with spathe to my emersed tank I took this photo;

Hopefully I'll be taking another photo of it soon, it's straightened up and about an inch longer.

Mats808 (Aaron) - Mate I'm not offended at all, don't worry about that. I've seen pictures of and read what I can find on Tonkenisis and according to all but a quite old book it looks vastly different. The plant you are discribing matches up perfectly with what I've found on the web and I don't dispute that you're right. The book I found with a picture that matches mine is quite old and has most likely been re-named to something different. I might start calling my plant "C. Crispulata Red" until I can get a better discription.

rs79 · 07-31-2008, 06:27 AM

Nice. Very nice. More photos!

FarCanal · 07-31-2008, 06:41 PM

I just went in to give this tank a bit of a mist spray and some ferts and the spathe is opening ...

I'll take it out and get some better photo's if it fully opens.

AaronT · 07-31-2008, 06:51 PM

Well, there you go. I was wrong.

FarCanal · 08-03-2008, 03:59 AM

The flower is now fully open, so here's an update on the pics;

orlando · 08-03-2008, 05:24 AM

Holly molly I also was in the wrong!

That thing looks very large! And very nice...Gotta love it..

FarCanal · 08-05-2008, 03:39 AM

I've taken some more photo's today. The spathe looks closest to a Crypt Crispulata var. Balansae. If anyone want to have a go at an ID ... please go ahead. Anyway the photo's.

Here's a leaf from my emersed tank, pretty much how it came from the supplier;

Here's a leaf from my 4' fish tank;

The spathe and kettle removed from the plant;

I had a go at cutting away the kettle wall but I don't have a macro lens to get a better shot;