Aquarium plants. Cryptocorina Wendt: breeding and grooming (photo)

Cryptocoryne wendtii (Cryptocoryne wendtii) is a fairly simple aquarium plant, which can be advised even for beginners-aquarists. Care for him will not be difficult, because it does not require any special knowledge and experience in this matter. However, we can note a few secrets and rules, which should pay special attention.

Cryptocoryne. Whence this guest?

The birthplace of Wendt's cryptocoryns is the waters of Sri Lanka. This decorative plant has corrugated leaves and a beautiful bronze hue on a green background. That is why it is especially recommended to grow in aquariums having a large depth of the water layer, where over time thick, incredibly beautiful thickets are formed. Due to its low height, up to 20 centimeters, cryptocoryn is ideal for decorating the average aquarium plan, the lower the water level, the more beautiful its leaves are located on the surface, creating a unique landscape. The width of the bush averages 12 centimeters. Cryptocorin grows quite rapidly, but when kept in small aquariums, its dimensions will be slightly smaller, somewhere 6 cm high and 8 wide. In voluminous aquariums, this plant can reach a height of up to 30 centimeters.

Description

What are such aquarium plants? Cryptocorina Wendt has the form of a bush that lacks a central stem. Lancet leaves come straight from the root, located on very short petioles, almost invisible in a well developed, dense bush. The roots of cryptocoryn are powerful and creeping. The foliage color can range from light green to brown and red. Under good conditions of content, the width of the green part can be up to 5 cm. The leaves can be either straight or strongly corrugated at the edges, which gives additional decorative effect to the plant.

In the nature of cryptocorina, Wendt grows on river banks, various streams that do not tend to dry out, and also on a pebble or rocky bottom, where fast flow can predominate. The thickets can move with time. It should be noted that in one place there are almost never seen different species of this plant.

Varieties

Cryptocoryn is an aquarium plant represented by numerous varieties, among which there are the most popular in breeding. They differ in form, color and bush density.

The most common and often occurring is the Wendt cryptocoryn brown. The plant has oblong red or olive leaves with a brownish hue. This species is most popular among aquarists with its decorative features and unusual appearance, as well as easy care and good survival in different conditions. Cryptocorina Wendt brown - a fairly large plant, which can reach 30 centimeters in height, forming a loose thickets. The size can also depend on the volume of the aquarium - the smaller the capacity, the less the plant itself will be.

Cryptocorina Wendt is red, it is also tropical, has oblong green leaves, red on the back, about 2 centimeters in width. The plant is distinguished by its usual standard sizes, as well as simple maintenance and maintenance. In addition, it can tolerate sufficiently low temperatures. Such a regime has no effect on the rate of growth and development.

Cryptocorina Wendt green is a species that has the most brightly colored light green leaves. With good quality of lighting, this aggressive coloring looks profitable in the aquarium.

Cryptocorina Wendt. Home Aquarium

Wendt is well established in various conditions, although it prefers the composition of water of medium or moderate hardness. Too soft environment can contribute to the loss of decorativeness and decay of leaves. Ideal for the content is a temperature of about 24 degrees, at lower rates, plant growth may slow down.

Cryptocorins well tolerate both long stagnation of water, and frequent her change. On the development and growth of plants such conditions have no special effect. Also, well, bushes take root in weakly alkaline or slightly acidic water.

Cryptocorina Wendt well tolerates both artificial and natural light, but in case of direct sunlight, the plant must be covered. To create comfortable conditions, bushes need fluorescent or ordinary incandescent lamps. It is also possible to combine these two types of lighting, providing the plant with a full spectrum of radiation. It should be noted that each liter of water requires a power of 0.3 watts.

Cryptocorina Wendt Brown likes moderate lighting with slight shading from larger specimens of aquarium plants, which does not affect the color of her leaves. In such conditions, she will feel herself as well as with bright lamps. The light day for this plant should be at least 12 hours.

Bloom

In order to force Wendt to blossom, it is necessary to transplant the plant into a separate pot at least 7 centimeters in diameter, into which soil with an admixture of peat and quartz sand is added , after which a thick layer of gravel is covered from above. Such a container is exposed to the bottom of the aquarium, the thickness of the water layer in which is about 4 centimeters. At the same time, ground heating is required and good lighting is provided, the duration of which will be at least 12 hours a day. Under these conditions of maintenance, crypticorin will bloom after 6 months.

Priming

As a primer for comfortable maintenance is best suited for large river sand and small pebbles. In the coarse-grained substrate, lateral radical shoots proliferate heavily, which can lead to a problem such as the growth of young shoots too close to the mother's bush. This is fraught with the fact that new plants will take away all vital forces of the main one, which will lead either to its death or to the weakening and loss of the decorative appearance. For a strong bush with a well-developed root system, a soil of at least 6 centimeters in thickness may be required, which will help to avoid the depletion of nutrient reserves and starvation of plants.

Top dressing

Over time, the soil is well silted, so the plant does not need additional mineral dressings for good development. If the soil is very fresh, cryptocoryn will periodically need to be fed a little with mineral fertilizers, for example clay mixed with peat. To do this, you need to roll a small ball of these substrates, put it in the place of branching of the roots and fill it with basic soil. This recharge will provide the plant with all the necessary mineral substances for successful development and growth for a long time. When transplanting and a good level of siltation of the soil, such means will no longer be required. If the cryptocoryn is to be transplanted into fresh soil, repeat this procedure again.

As a fertilizer every two weeks, it is necessary to add small doses of such microelements to the water of the aquarium: copper, boron, molybdenum, manganese, iron, bivalent. These substances are taken in a dosage of 0.1 mg per 1 liter of water.

Features

Wendt's cryptocoryns do not like frequent transplantations, so changing their habitat is not recommended more than once a year. Each time after a transplant, the plant may need several weeks to settle down in a new place and form young leaves.

Bushes are quite unpretentious to the content of carbon dioxide in the water, so additional carbon dioxide supply to the aquarium is not required.

It is not necessary to grow cryptocoryn in a special soil. It perfectly feels, growing on wood snags and stones, especially if they are covered with muddy formations that do not have putrid nature.

Breeding

Cryptocoryn Vendt is well suited to such ways of reproduction as vegetative, the removal of the root processes and the division of the rhizome.

When reproducing with the help of young plants, you have to wait until at least three of your own leaves appear on the process. Then it can already be cut off from the mother and transplanted separately.

Also it is easy to multiply by dividing a bush, thus it is enough accurately to divide it into 2 or 3 parts, leaving on each several sheets and a part of a rhizome.

Successfully can be multiplied and grown cryptocorins in wet hothouses. With this content, they grow and bloom a little faster, but it is impossible to receive seeds under artificial conditions. For this method of cultivation, a mixture of soil consisting of turf, peat, humus and sand is required. Such soil should be bogged and very well moistened. Light will need diffuse, but bright. Cryptocoryn, grown in such conditions, can easily be transplanted into an aquarium.

Advantages of growing

Cryptocorina Wendt is good for growing in aquariums in that it is not damaged by various pests and fishes. This is due to its bitter taste, which, apparently, does not attract other inhabitants to its eating.

In addition, the plant adapts well to various conditions of containment and chemical properties of water. It is great for decorating any aquarium or terrarium, where it will feel great, even towering over the water.

All about the aquarium: cryptocoryn Wendt and her disease

The diseased plant is easily determined by the state of the leaves. If there are any problems, the leaf blades very quickly darken, become soft, transparent and begin to decompose. The development of the disease can be triggered by a sharp change of water, a change in its parameters, intensity or spectrum of illumination. Sometimes this condition of the plant can be caused by other causes. Often the disease is transferred with a transplant of plants from other, infected aquariums. The only way to fight is to remove leaves, replace water and clean the soil of dirt. In this case, the rhizome, freed from the leaves, is allowed to freely float on the surface of the water. As a rule, after such a procedure, it releases the daughter processes on which young leaves form. This way you can save and multiply the mother plant.

Cryptocoryn Vendt is often called a universal aquarium decoration, suitable for use even by inexperienced aquarists, first encountering the breeding of live underwater plants. Nevertheless, being such unpretentious representative of flora, this remarkable bush pleases with its unusual kind and numerous grades which can please the most exacting lover or professional. The main thing - care and patience, then your plant will for a long time serve as an excellent decoration of the aquarium and create a cozy atmosphere for numerous underwater inhabitants.