Cryptocoryne balansae

Cryptocoryne crispatula var. balansae

Also known as Cryptocoryne crispatula "Balansae", Balansae crypt, Cryptocoryne longispatha, Crypt Balansae

FreshwaterRosetteRunnersSide shoots

Cryptocoryne balansae (Cryptocoryne crispatula var. balansae) — Aquarium Plants Factory · Used with permission

Care at a glance

Light: Medium light
CO2: CO₂ beneficial
Temperature: 72–82°F; 22–28°C
Max height: 19.7 in; 50 cm

Growth rate: Medium
Placement: Background
Type: Rosette
pH: 6.0–8.5
Hardness: 5–21 dGH
Spread: 7.9 in (20 cm)
Nutrient uptake: Root + water column
Growth region: Submersed or emersed
Difficulty: Easy
Family: Araceae
Origin: Thailand

Overview

A tall background crypt with rippled, hammered, strap-like leaves that fill the rear of a tank with a flowing curtain of green. It does best in harder water, and calcium matters: low calcium causes the new leaves to come in twisted and deformed, so a moderately hard tank or a calcium supplement helps. Light and CO2 are not required but it grows faster and fuller with them. Like all crypts it is a strong root feeder, so use rich substrate or root tabs, give it 18 inches or more of depth, and leave it planted since it melts and sulks when moved. It spreads outward by runners.

In the wild

Found in rivers and rivulets of southern Thailand, part of the wider Cryptocoryne crispatula complex that ranges across mainland Southeast Asia, where it forms dense, mostly submersed stands with long band-like leaves streaming in the current. The streams are often fast-flowing and high in calcium from surrounding limestone, so the wild water is hard and alkaline. When water levels drop, exposed plants grow emersed and flower.

Good to know

This is the band-leaved variety of the widespread, variable Cryptocoryne crispatula complex, formally Cryptocoryne crispatula var. balansae, and was once described as its own species (C. balansae). It is a member of the Araceae and is one of the larger crypts, with strap leaves that can exceed 50 cm.

Did you know

In its limestone-stream home the leaves can grow close to a meter long, trailing in the current like ribbons, far longer than the half-meter or so it usually reaches in an aquarium.