Cryptocoryne spiralis var. caudigera

Cryptocoryne spiralis

A variety of the spiral water trumpet described in 2013: narrow-leaved and not large, forming a dense group of rosettes thanks to short underground offshoots. The name 'tail-bearing' was given for the thread-like appendage on the spathe.

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

Compared to var. spiralis it is fairly small and narrow-leaved: about 15 cm above water, about 30 cm below water. The underwater leaves are limp, light green, linear to narrowly lanceolate, with a smooth to slightly wavy edge, 0.5–0.7 cm wide, up to about 1 cm at most. The name means 'tail-bearing': the tip of the spathe is drawn out into a long thread-like appendage — this is what sets the variety apart from the other three varieties of the species. Height 20–35 cm, width 15–20 cm.

Keeping

Difficulty medium, growth medium, light medium to strong. It produces many underground offshoots, but very short ones — it does not creep across the tank, instead forming a dense group of closely spaced rosettes.

Placement

Background and midground, specimen.

Trade names

Found in a mountain 'shola' forest stream in the Western Ghats at about 1300 m elevation (India, Kerala, Wayanad district); brought to Europe in 1986. It long resisted identification, since the plant did not flower, and it grew in botanical collections and with hobbyists under the provisional name C. spiralis 'Shola forest' — it only flowered in 2012, after which it was described as var. caudigera in 2013. In cultivation for more than 20 years and has proven a fine aquarium plant, but it is almost unknown in the hobby.

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.

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