[HeyPK]

I just looked at Fish-Vet. com, and now Shawn Prescott has 35 varieties of Cryptocoryne listed, including C. cordata, var. rosanervis, C. gasseri, C. hudoroi, C. longicauda, C. purpurea, c. scurrilis, C. striolta, and C. Thwaitesii. The above species are in limited supply and are not cheap, but are not nearly as expensive as many of the rare ones pictured on the Rayon Vert Aqua site. Gentlemen, grab your wallets!

 

[Phil Edwards]

Thanks Paul, that's just what I needed....more plants to get. I was >< this close to paying my card off too.....

 

[HeyPK]

I am in a similar situration, or worse. Still, at least one of these new crypts, C. hudoroi, is not difficult to grow submersed. I think I am going to go for C. hudoroi and maybe one other.

 

[Cavan Allen]

I went to look and it said it was under construction.

 

[gnatster]

Try www.fishvet.com as www.fish-vet.com is a Koi site.

FishVet just worked for me from work behind a nasty firewall that blocks about anything that may be even have the hint of being offensive.

 

[Daemonfly]

Also directly accesable at http://www.aquariumlandscapes.net/

 

[aquaverde]

C. striolata would be my first choice, followed by hudoroi. But...I don't qualify experientially.

 

[HeyPK]

C. striolata is said to be very difficult to maintain in an aquarium, but it certainly is a pretty plant. Emersed cultivation is easier (Kasselmann). They used to say that about C. lingua, but I think it is quite easy to maintain submersed. We will just have to try it out and see. First, we have to establish a primary source in this country for us experimenters. That is what is happening at FishVet. Second, some of us experimenters will have some success and can become secondary sources.

 

[aquaverde]

That it is difficult is not too much of a surprise. That's why these plants are initially reserved for hobbyists with your level of experience, I suppose. Better all the way round to have the knowledgeable giving it a go with the few samples there must be at this point. Of course I and others with less experience but a similar love of crypts will be hoping you meet with good success. Hopefully, you'll be keeping us up on what's happening with this. I'm really interested to hear how it goes.

Edit- I will be retiring my 30g once I get my 65 set up. It now looks like I might have a spot by the window for emersed growth. I'm pretty excited about that. I've been wanting to try some emersed crypts (for example, C. parva) and this will actually have enough room to do it.
Fingers crossed...

 

[fishfry]

how did they have the ability to suddenly acquire all these rare crypts? Some of those plants are rare and expensive even outside the U.S. like var. rosanervig

 

[Phil Edwards]

Shawn's been trying to get them in for some time apparantly. I guess he just got lucky and hit upon a supplier that worked out.

 

[Slaigar]

Hello all,
I have been lurking around for a few months. But I finally decided to register, hehe.

Those are very good prices for Cryptocorynes! For the record, C. hudoroi usually goes for around $25-30USD while the other plants usually go for +$100(atleast from what I have seen) at Japanese webshops(RVA, Dream theatre, etc). I would definitely order some C. thwaitesii if I lived in the US. I hope that Dr. Prescott can get these to grow regularly through tissue culture, it would be a breakthrough in the Crypt market(no more need to wild collect!).

C. hudoroi and C. xpurpurea are good aquariums plants. Even if you are not too experienced, you could have good luck with these plants. The other species will probably need low ph.

The picture of C. striolata is surprising, I never thought it could get a red/brown colour like that. Is that just the lighting in the picture? I have only seen it as dark green.

 

[Raul-7]

So they only sell these Crypts to experienced people?! :?

 

[Phil Edwards]

Some of them, yes. If you're interested in them your best bet is to call Dr. Prescott directly and talk with him. That's what I did and I was able to get my pick of his entire selection at the time.

 

[gregwatson]

Some of them, yes. If you're interested in them your best bet is to call Dr. Prescott directly and talk with him. That's what I did and I was able to get my pick of his entire selection at the time.

I think I'm one of three people he gave Cryptocoryne gasseri too ...

I consider it a 10 year preservation project ... with the goal of cultiavting the plant and getting it into the hands of other preservation minded hobbyists ...

I'm going to be launching a new section on my website soon called the Cryptocoryne Preservation Project ...

Greg Watson
www.gregwatson.com

 

[Robert Hudson]

Are you guy really willing to pay over $20 per plant? One of them he is selling for $40! I told him he was crazy if he thought anyone was going to pay that. Am I wrong?

A couple years ago I bought gasseri from him and sold them for ten bucks each as I remember. Robert here was the only one to go for it. He even got it to flower! None of the rest of you guys were willing to pay that much. Now Shawn is selling them for $20 each retail. I remember when Art was trying to broker an import from the Philippines and you guys thought 3 or 4$ per plant was too high! What am I missing here? Maybe I should go back into the Cryp business with Shawn.

 

[MiamiAG]

Hopefully, things are changing.

 

[Phil Edwards]

Robert,

I think because he's the only person who's currently selling some of those really exotic species that people here are even considering spending that kind of money. For most of us, myself included, we'd only drop that much for a single plant on an impulse buy. The more I think about it the less I feel like paying that much. Unfortunately, someone has to fork it over to get these species into hobby propegation. If he dropped his prices on some of them a good bit no doubt he'd get more business.

 

[HeyPK]

He is attempting to get the new varieties into tissue culture so that they can be propagated rapidly. If he can do this, he says the price will come down. I imagine that this attempt requires a considerable investment. Just obtaining the less common varieites can be very expensive because European and Asian wholesalers only sell large shipments, and therefore you have to pay for a lot of plants you don't particularly want to get the few you do. I would say that the best of the new varieties for us Crypt nuts to get would be C. hudoroi. It is said to be one of the easy ones to grow.

By the way, I am looking for C. aponogetifolia. Does anybody know where I can get a plant or two?

 

[Cavan Allen]

One of the pet stores we visited on the 2002 AGA (in Houston) field trip had a bunch of them in a display tank. I believe the store was called Villiage Tropical.

I don't know if that really helps at all, but I suppose it might be worth mentioning. I hope you have a big tank!