Leaf colourgreen, red
Native range
- Bangladesh
- India
rosette background midground specimen Conservation status: LC
The main, most widespread variety of the spiral water trumpet: a narrow-leaved plant of mainland Asia, a weed of rice paddies in southern India and Bangladesh. Simple to keep and the most variable of the species' four varieties.
- Light
- medium
- Difficulty
- easy
- Height
- 20 – 35 cm
- Temperature
- 20 – 30 °C
Parameters
Plant typerosette
Growth ratemedium
CO₂ demandmedium
Tolerates lightlow – high
Carbonate hardness2 – 20 °dKH
Placementbackground, midground +1
Propagationdivision, daughter plants +2
Grows emersedyes
Appearance
A narrow-leaved crypt growing along riverbanks and in seasonally flooded places of southern India and Bangladesh. Its name comes from the spathe, twisted up to five times; it is historically the first crypt ever described (1779, under the name Arum spirale). Before it flowers, above water it is nearly indistinguishable from plants of the C. crispatula group, for instance C. albida. The most widespread crypt in India and the most variable of the species' four varieties.
Keeping
For this variety difficulty is easy; for the species as a whole it is medium. Old imports were hard to keep and only marginally suited to the aquarium. Today the form most often seen in aquariums is one imported from India in the 1990s: it grows very readily and multiplies easily by numerous offshoots. Growth medium, light from dim to strong, CO₂ 10–40 mg/l, temperature 23–28 °C.
Placement
Background and midground, specimen.
Trade names
Another form — with very long ribbon-like, brownish underwater leaves — arrived in the 1970s under the name 'Cryptocoryne retrospiralis' and closely resembles C. crispatula var. flaccidifolia; it is also undemanding.
Fish and this plant
Water conditions match
The water suits 1014 of 1249 species in the catalogue — these are the ones people look up most often.
Swordtail GuppiesCobra GuppyBlood Red MollyButterflyfishRed Zebra CichlidJulii CorydorasRed-finned ParotocinclusGastromyzon monticolaEgg-shaped GoldfishFlame TetraGardner's KillifishAfrican TetraKenyi CichlidCuckoo CatfishGolden SwordtailHypsolebias picturatusCommon ZaccoLabeo BicolorGambusiaFlying barbGastromyzon scitulusAlbino Zebra DanioGeophagus BrokopondoZebra Mbuna
Will eat this plant
These species damage plants, especially when their diet is short of vegetable food.
Bengal LoachZebra LoachBurmese Border LoachEmperor BotiaMarbled HeadstanderPellegrin's LeporinusLeporinus striatusFalse Black TetraCommon MetynnisMylossoma duriventreRed Whiptail CatfishMolly sphenopsBalloon MollyLyretail MollyMarble MollyHi-Fin PlatyHawaii PlatyBlue PlatyPintail PlatyBlack PlatyChocolate MollyMoonlight GouramiMelanotaenia parva
Will uproot it
These species dig through the substrate and pull rooted plants out.
Marble LoachPeacock EelForktail LoachGuntea LoachLong-nosed LoachHorseface LoachPearlscaleBlack Moor GoldfishShubunkinPainted PlecoFeatherfin SynodontisReddish Mystus CatfishBlue AcaraAulonocara maylandiAulonocara multicolorAulonocara OrchidGeophagus altifronsGeophagus winemilleriPearlscale CichlidPearl CichlidRedbelly CichlidRed-spotted CichlidChuco godmanniHaplochromis philanderRed ChromideJack Dempsey cichlid