# Planted Tanks > Plant Talk > Cryptocoryne Club >  Crypt Parva

## gid

Hi bros, 

Anybody here has experience with Crypt Parva?

I'm thinking of using it to carpet my 1 footer low tech tank. Let me know what you think.

Cheers  :Smile:

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## gid

Please also let me know where I can get some. I saw some at GC but it's quite a old batch and didn't seem healthy. Or you can PM me if you have some to let go.

Thanks bros.

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## thebaldingaquarist

y618 has some. last, last week..
seaview also have, but not healthy.

crypt parva can be used for carpet. but not a lush carpet in my opinion. and its...... SLOW growth... SLLLLLOOOOOOOW

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## Urban Aquaria

Yeah, unless you setup your tank with 50-60 of pots of Crypt Parva from the start, its going to take a very long time to carpet... its a rosette plant and grows side shoots around the main plant (they don't spread with runners), so you'll need to periodically split them and manually replant the new shoots to fill in gaps to create a dense carpet.

You can see the effect (and number of pots required to create a carpet) in this thread by benny:

http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...rva-lawn-again

If you are shopping for crypt parva, do check the pots (especially those that come in plastic containers) to confirm they are indeed crypt parva, the leaves should be small and compact in size. Sometimes sellers confuse it with crypt x willisii (they are hybrids of parva and look similar), so you end up having some plantlets that grow into much larger plants instead.  :Smile:

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## gid

Thanks bros Erc and UA, I've learnt an incredible lot from u!

Good to hear that it's a rosette plant. Now I have an idea to localize them in one area of the tank. No need to worry about runners going all over! I won't be able to do it this way if there are runners. 

Hmm slow growing. Is it susceptible to alage then? I'm growing it in a tank that has been notorious for alage attacks.

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## Urban Aquaria

> Hmm slow growing. Is it susceptible to alage then? I'm growing it in a tank that has been notorious for alage attacks.


From my experience so far, usually green spot algae (GSA) tends to appear on the parva leaves if there is too much light or the photo period is too long, so have to find the optimal balance.

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## thebaldingaquarist

It is prone to algae attacks because of its slow growth.
like what bro UA mentioned, try to place the plants in a suitable location. 
good circulation, low to medium light and good base ferts

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## gid

Bros, I just bought and planted some C Parva. I got them from a LFS and they came in clear plastic tubs with the plant name written with marker. Now that I look carefully, I suspect it is abit too tall to be Parva. I was expecting a much shorter plant. Could you please help confirm if these are C Parva?

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## gid

oh yea it's hard to tell from the pics: the tallest leaves are about 8cm.

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## erwinx

I have the the same plant and I thought it was Parva, but I've seen C. Parva at C328 and it's tiny compared to this. 

I guess its C. lucens x willisii as Urban suggested. It grows faster than all the other crypts in my tank.

Behind the C. lucens x willisii in the pic above, I think theres a C. Lucens as well. The rest of the Crypts are all C. Wendtii variants....

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## gid

Oh man, if this is really the larger non-Parva species, then I gotta move them backwards as mid ground plants. If they are indeed willisii, how tall do willisi get?

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## gid

Btw bro erwinx, where did u see the Parva in c328? In the plastic tubs on top of the empty tank near the entrance? I've never seen any before...

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## erwinx

Hi gid,

C328 brought in a few tubs in September but sold out within a week. They were among the plastic tubs on top of the empty tank. I think the price was $3 but the amount of Parva was not that much, probably 3 or 4 'plantlets' (don't know the exact term...). So if you want foreground carpet it is going to cost a lot of money.

I stay near C328 so I visit every week just to look see. If I see Parva again I'll take picture and post an alert in this thread. 

Alternatively, anyone know if Teo's aquatic farm sell C.Parva? Teo's is probably cheaper if you want enough for foreground carpet. When I went to Teo's he gave we way too much Tennellus...  :Smile:

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## erwinx

Saw this at C328 today and labelled C.Parva.
Can others confrim that this is C.Parva and not mislabelled?

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## gid

This was exactly what I bought... When u remove the wool, u will realise that there is another 1 to 2cm of stem there.

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## stressed

when your c-parva continues to grow and evolve in your tank, the leaves will take on a different shape  :Smile:

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