Hi all, good to see everyone. Any suggestions for crypts that will not outgrow a 10G tank and look perfect for it in terms of size? Thanks.

C. parva.

James

C. parva is a good choice, green and grassy, 2 inches tall submerged.
C. petchii (the triploid beckettii) is a nice bronze crypt that stays small enough for a 10, 5 to 6 inches tall, personal favorite of mine
C. willisii another green plant, long thin leaves, about 5 inches tall.
C walkerii only gets about 5 inches tall in my tanks, broader green leaf than willisii.
I have plants that were labled as C. lucens and C. lutea, which are synonyms of willisii and walkerii respectively, so I don't know what they are but they are small enough for a 10.
I'm getting ready to order some C. pygmaea and C. minima to see what they are like, I think they'd be the right size but I don't know how they'd hold up.
A small form of C. wendtii might be ok but could get to 12 inches tall.
C. blassii would fit, 8 to 12 inches tall.
C. moehlmannii and C. pontederiifolia would make what the oldtimers called centerpiece plants, 12 to 13 inches tall but big broad leaves like a swordplant.
C. spiralis starts out nice sized but I had some hit 16 inches in a ten gallon tank :shock: , the guy that won them at our club auction loved them.
C beckettii, C. balansae, and C. retrospiralis, no just too tall.

Also, C. x willisii. And probably C. wendtii "Tropica" since it tends to lay on the substrate. C. retrospiralis might do well in the back. Mine doesn't get anywhere near the length of spiralis or balansae.

James

parva i would definitly agree with i got 20 of these little plants and had no idea what they were @ ist. They have stayed small since i got them

I would also stay away from the tropica as mine are over 1.5 feet high with 20- 40 leaves

so the wendtii's outgrow the tank eh?

i was in walmart the other day and i saw these real nice size wendtii's about 2 inches tall, 5 inches in width. beautiful when they are that small, but i don't like the big version the way it looks. any crypts that look like wendtii's but stay small???

C. wendtii will definitely outgrow your tank, but if it's a slow tank, it will take a while. You get to enjoy them for a space, then you might could just aquabid the plants when they get too big, and start over. Got to be a lot of folks that would give you some bucks for a respectable stand of healthy wendtii.

I forget what willisii is a cross of, but the leaf is similar to parva and should be OK in your tank. I have had some for several months and it is only about 4" above the substrate. Your mileage can definitely vary, as I have not grown these things under anything but low light.

James

C. willisii is a natural hybrid and no one has figured out exactly which crypts are the ancestral parents.

A green form of C. wendtii may stay small enough in a low light tank and grow the broader leaves you want. The C. wendtii I got from AquariumGardens.com is staying short with a broad leaf.(pic attached)

ok aquariumgarden has the willisii lucens and the wendtii. i'll give those a try. too bad they don't have petchii or parva.. i wouldn't mind some balansae growing up to the surface and trailing there.
by the way , the wendtii looks very nice!

C balansae is almost too tall for my 30 gallon tanks, way too tall for a 10 if you are aquascaping. It will grow ok in a ten, just not be pretty. This is comming from a guy who once grew giant vallisnaria almost 6 feet tall in a 29 gallon tank. I used to wind it around the top, almost like I had combed it. Not pretty, but impressed people who didn't know what pretty was in a planted tank.
If you want "trailing" in a ten use C. spiralis. I actually didn't know how big mine had gotten untill I took them out of the tank to attempt an aquascape.

Ok Sean, no balansae it is,

i definitely will be getting some spiralis. How about retrospiralis? what is the difference between the too and may i get that too??

ohh,, and i'm hearing a little mention about the golden ratio and stuff..what exactly is that? and how is it used in aquascaping??

Whoa! hubbahubba, spiralis will definitely outgrow your 10G in short order. Mine grew leaves well over two feet long in my 40G before I took them to the store for credit--too tall even for my tank. Sorry I didn't catch this sooner. C. retrospiralis isn't quite as tall as spiralis, but still substantial. You might be able to incorporate it into the tank, but I'm not all that confident of that. Another thing to consider is that while C. balansae and spiralis tend to grow more vertically, C. retrospiralis tends to spread its leaves out a bit more, making a stand of this species look a bit more sparse.

ok seems like i have a problem ok. while we are talking about my small 10 G, any suggestions for other plants that would go well with small crypts and are small enough for my 10??

anubias nana comes to mind, java fern, java moss, sag subulata dwarf?? anything else i'm missing?

THANKS! You guys saved me from making some BIG mistakes