Spiral Water Trumpet

Cryptocoryne spiralis

A crypt with long, narrow, slightly twisted leaves that sway like ribbons in the current. It grows tall enough for a background, which is unusual in this genus.

Light: medium
Difficulty: medium
Height: 20 – 35 cm (7.9 – 14 in)
Temperature: 20 – 30 °C (68 – 86 °F)

Leaf colour: green, red
Plant type: rosette
Growth rate: medium
CO₂ demand: medium
Tolerates light: low – high
Carbonate hardness: 2 – 20 °dKH
Placement: background, midground +1 background, midground, specimen
Propagation: division, daughter plants +2 division, daughter plants, runners, rhizome division
Grows emersed: yes

Appearance

Upright leaves 1–1.5 cm wide and 20–35 cm long with softly waved edges; some forms are green, others reddish. A mature clump looks like a stand of narrow reeds.

Keeping

Moderate demands: decent light and a nutritious substrate bring out the colour and size, though the plant survives with less. Like other crypts it dislikes being moved and may shed its leaves after planting — leave the roots and it grows back.

Placement

The back of the tank or a single clump as a centrepiece. The narrow leaves cast little shade, so plants in front of it keep their light.

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 1014 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 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 spiralis var. caudigera

Cryptocoryne spiralis var. spiralis

Other varieties: Cryptocoryne spiralis 'Red', Cryptocoryne spiralis Cooksche Form, Cryptocoryne Spiralis 'Nari', Cryptocoryne Spiralis 'Jwala', Cryptocoryne spiralis ''Shola Forest'', Cryptocoryne spiralis ''Shola'', Cryptocoryne sp. ''Shola''

Scientific and other names, conservation status

Other scientific names: Arum spirale Retzius, Ambrosina spiralis (Retz.) Roxb., Ambrosina spirialis, Arum spirale, Cryptocoryne spiralis
Cryptocoryne spiralis: (Retz.) Fisch. ex Wydler var. caudigera Bogner
Family: Araceae
Conservation status: LC

Spiral Water Trumpet

Tank conditions

Care and keeping