Balansa Water Trumpet

Cryptocoryne crispatula

Long ribbon leaves with a hammered, bubbled surface that sway in the current like reeds. It comes from limestone rivers, so hard water — the sort most plants dislike — is exactly what it wants.

Light: low
Difficulty: easy
Height: 20 – 30 cm (7.9 – 12 in)
Temperature: 8 – 30 °C (46 – 86 °F)

Leaf colour: green, bronze or brown
Plant type: rosette
Growth rate: medium
CO₂ demand: low
Tolerates light: low – high
pH: 6 – 9
Carbonate hardness: 5 – 21 °dKH
General hardness: 0 – 30 °dGH
Placement: background, midground +2 background, midground, specimen, nano tank
Propagation: runners, rhizome division +2 runners, rhizome division, division, daughter plants
Grows emersed: yes

Appearance

Narrow ribbon leaves with a dimpled surface and wavy edges grow from a rosette; in a shallow tank they reach the surface and lie along it. Colour runs from green to bronze depending on light.

Keeping

Easy, with the usual crypt manners: after planting it may drop its leaves and stand still for a few weeks before starting to grow — leave the roots alone and it comes back. It feeds through the roots, so a nutritious substrate matters more than bright light. Hard, alkaline water suits it.

Placement

The back of the tank or a single plant as a centrepiece; the leaves move in the flow and make a good screen for fish. Plant it once and do not shift it about.

Propagation

By runners: young rosettes appear beside the parent. Separate them once they have several leaves of their own.

Water conditions match

The water suits 990 of 1249 species in the catalogue — these are the ones people look up most often.

Swordtail Guppies Cobra Guppy Blood Red Molly Butterflyfish Red Zebra Cichlid Julii Corydoras Red-finned Parotocinclus Gastromyzon monticola Egg-shaped Goldfish Flame Tetra Gardner's Killifish African Tetra Kenyi Cichlid Cuckoo Catfish Golden Swordtail Hypsolebias picturatus Common Zacco Labeo Bicolor Gambusia Flying barb Gastromyzon scitulus Albino Zebra Danio Geophagus Brokopondo Zebra Mbuna

Will eat this plant

These species damage plants, especially when their diet is short of vegetable food.

Bengal Loach Zebra Loach Burmese Border Loach Emperor Botia Spined Loach Marbled Headstander Pellegrin's Leporinus Leporinus striatus False Black Tetra Common Metynnis Mylossoma duriventre Red Whiptail Catfish Molly sphenops Balloon Molly Lyretail Molly Marble Molly Hi-Fin Platy Hawaii Platy Blue Platy Pintail Platy Black Platy Chocolate Molly Moonlight Gourami Melanotaenia parva

Will uproot it

These species dig through the substrate and pull rooted plants out.

Marble Loach Peacock Eel Forktail Loach Guntea Loach Long-nosed Loach Horseface Loach Pearlscale Black Moor Goldfish Shubunkin Painted Pleco Featherfin Synodontis Reddish Mystus Catfish Blue Acara Aulonocara maylandi Aulonocara multicolor Aulonocara Orchid Geophagus altifrons Geophagus winemilleri Pearlscale Cichlid Pearl Cichlid Redbelly Cichlid Red-spotted Cichlid Chuco godmanni Haplochromis philander Red Chromide Jack Dempsey cichlid

Matching water does not mean the fish will leave the plant alone.

The same plant with a different look: light, water and care are shared with the species.

Cryptocoryne crispatula var. balansae

Cryptocoryne crispatula var. flaccidifolia

Cryptocoryne crispatula var. kubotae

Other varieties: Cryptocoryne balansae, Cryptocoryne crispatula var. tonkinensis, Cryptocoryne tonkinensis, Cryptocoryne Balansae 'Pink'

Scientific and other names, conservation status

Other scientific names: Cryptocoryne balansae Gagnep., Cryptocoryne kwangsiensis H.Li, Cryptocoryne longispatha Merr., Cryptocoryne tonkinensis Gagnep., Cryptocoryne retrospiralis var. tonkinensis (Gagnep.) de Wit, Cryptocoryne retrospiralis crispathula, Cryptocoryne retrospiralis crispatula
Family: Araceae
Conservation status: LC

Balansa Water Trumpet

Tank conditions

Care and keeping