HeyPK

Regarding Illustrator's comments on C. affinis (post #3 in 'what's your favorite crypt?'), I also remember the C. affinis that was common back in the 1950's. The affinis variety available today is not nearly as nice looking. The 1950's variety had a dark, intense green to bluegreen leaf that was intense purple-red underneath. It was a relatively small plant. The colors of today's affinis are much less saturated. The leaf is olive green above and light pink to wine red below and never very intense. This plant also seems to be a lot larger, getting about 1 foot high when grown submersed.

Cvurb

Woah, I would LOVE to have any Affinis, but especially the C. Affinis 'old' LOL

EDGE

HeyPK,

Is the 'old' C. affinis you are referring to the older photos of C affinis on the Cryptocoryne page? and the olive green the photos near the top of the page?

Cvurb

How you described it sounds a lot like my C. Blassii though, almost exactly like it.

THHNguyen

Affinis is impossible to find these days... I only ever saw it once and only once. :/

HeyPK

Only two photos of affinis to my knowledge. I think they are both of the newer variety. I think I should amend my statement about the leaves of the newer variety being olive green. They are green, but not the kind of dark blue-green I saw in the old variety. I was just a kid then and I never got the plant. I saw it in pet store tanks but couldn't afford it. At that time a guppy was an exotic fish for me. I had a goldfish.

Cvurb

Woah that looks like an awesome Cypt! I hope to get one of those someday, the sooner the better, super healthy too, are those yours?

EDGE

I was sent plant over a year ago as C. griffithii. I ID this as C. affinis because it had a green topside with red underside. bullation on the leaves and send out runners instead of the typical wendtii clump forming bush. This is one of the more better looking crypt in normal aquarium setup. I have them growing in 2x HO T5. light is approx 4" above the 10 gallons. no CO2 injection. Just flourite/onyx mixed with NPK+plantprod micronutrients

HeyPK

Edge: It sure isn't griffithii, but it might be usteriana, which is also bullated somewhat, and has exactly that red color underneath. Usteriana takes a long time to get really big, but when it does it is more than twice the size of affinis. It gets as big as C. aponogetifolia. Your plants don't look exactly like usteriana, however. They seem even more bullated and the leaves look a little wider.
Smaller C. usteriana


Bigger, but not full sized, C. usteriana

EDGE

I will take a photo again once I convert it to emersed form. last 2 time I tried, the plant melted within a week.

Does this plant looks more like usteraina than affinis? The leaves are 1" wide and 4-5" long (excluding petiole) on the mother plant.

They are grown under 2 - 6500k bulbs in the submersed form.