I’m becoming more fond of Cryptocoryne as submersed aquatic plants. They come in a wide variety of colours, sizes and textures, tolerate low light and are pretty much maintenance free. I always plant these after cutting off the emersed leaves to promote faster Cryptocoryne adaptation to submersed form growth whilst avoiding ‘crypt melt’.
Cryptocoryne walkeri in a low tech aquarium
C. walkeri raised by Aquadip was sourced from Pro Shrimp and has been thriving in the Shrimphaus for a little over three months now. As usual with potted Cryptocoryne, you tend to get many individual plantets in a single pot.
rockwool grown
plantlets
ready to plant
I may have shaved these down a little close to the crown. Going forward I’m going to leave a small amount of the emersed form stems on to avoid scalping the new plants.
newly planted
+5 days
+38 days
+61 days
Aquadip says C. walkeri is ‘easy’ and that has certainly been my experience. The submersed form has attractive medium-dark green leaves. Walkeri and most other crypts are generally considered to be slow growing, but I have found the growth rate to be pretty reasonable even without injected CO2 gas in the ‘low tech’ Shrimphaus.