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Trimming/pruning/maintaining Crypts (Wendtii?)
Can't find much in the APD archives, the Krib, or Jan Bastmeijer's
(http://users.bart.nl/~crypts/index.html) pages on trimming. I bought a
single small crypt which the LFS had (mis?)marked C. willisii 7/4/99.
The leaves now resemble pictures of C. wendtii in Baensch I, Tepoot, &
Scheurmann more than C. x willisii, though it's never flowered. By
7/9/00, it had developed 3 daughter plants each about 3-4 inches away.
The leaves on the mother and daughter plants are now about 7-8 inches
long, perhaps 3/4 - 1 inch wide & slightly ruffled, on petioles about 4
inches long. Thus, it's now getting pretty large for my 20 gallon
long. There must be 6-10 grandaughters getting larger every week, with
more sprouting all the time. How do I keep it from taking over the
whole aquarium?
I'm thinking that I could uproot the whole family, carefully pot some
of the smaller grandaughters, and submerge the pots back in the Flourite
substrate, but I'm slightly concerned this would induce an algae
outbreak (none now or recently, knock on wood) due to the substrate
being so dislodged. I don't vacuum, since there's hardly a square inch
that isn't planted, though I guess I could do a 50-75% water change, or
several, to clear the water. Scheurmann (p 39, Aquarium Plants Manual,
1992) seems to describe uprooting & dividing the whole group. I'm also
guessing that if the holes in the pot(s) are small enough, or
non-existent, the pot will confine future runners from the rest of the
tank.
I've also thought about sticking a knife straight down into the
substrate (eg after Tom Barr,
http://www.actwin.com/fish/aquatic-plants/month.200002/msg00551.html)
between a given plant & it's mother, try to slice the umbilical root,
and remove just the daughters, but with the reputed fragility of crypts,
I wonder if that might kill the daughters -- I'd prefer if I could trade
them to the LFS instead.
Anyone have any other ideas, procedures you use, or pointers to past
discussions? Thanks in advance.
Alex Ling,
Rockville, Md