# Planted Tanks > Plant Talk > Cryptocoryne Club >  How dense does a single Crypt. wendtii grow?

## illumnae

I'm in the midst of setting up a 1ft cube nano office tank, and part of my scape is for crypt. wendtii 'tropica' to sit in the foreground in the midst of the foreground lawn (lilaeopsis brasiliensis or chendol plant). I read from the tropica website that crypt wendtii 'tropica' grows very small and almost lies flat in a large open space.

If i want a striking contrast (a bunch of dark bronze bullaete leaves in the midst of the light green lawn), would a single plant grow densely enough to be a feature foreground highlight or should i plant 3 separate plants close to each other?

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## illumbomb

In case you use C. wendtii (those commonly available in LFS),

I have C. wendtii (the variant that is commonly available in LFS unless I ID wrongly) in my jar tank. If you use the same variant of C. wendtii in your nano tank (which is about the same scale as my jar tank), you can expect not to get the effect of "almost lies flat in a large open space" kind of , even if your lights are strong (my gut feel, could be wrong). This is especially possible because of the scale of the tank compared to that of the plant.



Of course, C. Wendtii *'tropica'* might behave differently from the other variants.  :Razz:  I have not sufficient experience to comment on that.

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## illumnae

i've read thet C. wendtii 'tropica' grows low and is considered the "dwarf" variant of wendtii

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## Ah_ZhaN

C.wendtii 'Tropica' is not small at all. The leaf will be be large IMO.

C. pygmea are much smaller.... but larger than C. parva.

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## illumnae

"This beautiful variety with the dark, hammered leaves is named after 'Tropica'. When grown in an open space the leaves will virtually lie on the bottom. It is suitable for small aquariums. Like most other Sri Lanka Cryptocorynes, it also grows well in hard water. See other Cryptocorynes for further information." - Tropica (Height is 6-10cm width 8-12cm)

the site that stated that it was a dwarf wendtii isn't loading tonight. i got conned? =(

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## illumnae

so should i remove the wendtii 'tropica' from my tank?

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## Ah_ZhaN

It is okay, you can still give it a try. My wendtii 'tropica' leaves are narrow and long in submersed form (under high tech conditions). I just snip off any large leaf blocking the "view".  :Grin:  It somehow encourage growth via runners and I get new plantlets.  :Grin:

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