Cryptocoryne Tropica (Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Tropica') - Potted

Cryptocoryne Tropica (Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Tropica') is the most heavily textured of the wendtii forms. Its leaves are long and strongly crinkled, running from olive bronze to deep reddish brown depending on how much light they get, and the puckered surface catches light in a way the smoother crypts do not. Like the rest of the family it is genuinely undemanding: low light, no CO2, a root tab, and patience. Browse the rest of our live freshwater plants to fill in around it.

Care Guide

About Crypt Melt

Every crypt does this, and knowing about it in advance is the difference between a happy plant and a thrown-out one. A week or two after planting, the leaves may turn soft and translucent and fall apart. Leave the plant in the substrate. The roots and rhizome are alive and are already building a new set of leaves suited to your water instead of the nursery's. Trim away the mush, hold your parameters steady, and expect new growth within two to four weeks.

Which Wendtii Should You Get?

We carry four forms of the same species, and they differ only in leaf color and texture while sharing identical care. Tropica is the most crinkled, in bronze to reddish brown. Red is the darkest and most strongly red toned. Bronze sits between red and green. Green is plain green and the tallest in dim light. Because care is the same across all four, planting a mixed group is an easy way to get color variation in the midground with no extra work.

How to Plant

Slide the plant out of the pot and rinse every bit of rock wool off the roots, since buried wool rots and fouls the substrate. Split the mass into individual crowns if you want to spread them, then plant each with the roots buried and the crown, where leaves meet roots, sitting level with the substrate surface. Burying the crown is the most common way people kill a crypt. Add a root tab underneath, then resist moving it, because crypts dislike being disturbed more than almost any other plant.

Recommended Pairings

• Cryptocoryne Lucens for a shorter, narrower crypt in front of it.
• Seachem Flourish Tabs, the root tabs this heavy root feeder actually uses.
• Anubias Coffeefolia on hardscape above, another heavily textured leaf.
• Java Moss to soften the substrate line around the crowns.
• CaribSea PyroFlora Substrate as a nutrient-rich base to root into.

FAQ

What color will it actually be?
Somewhere between olive bronze and reddish brown, set mostly by light. Moderate light gives a compact plant with warmer, darker leaves; low light gives taller, greener, more stretched ones.

The leaves melted after planting. Is it dead?
Almost certainly not. Crypt melt is a transplant response. Leave the roots undisturbed, remove decayed leaves, keep conditions stable, and new growth follows in two to four weeks.

Does it need CO2 or strong light?
Neither. This is a low-tech plant that does well on a basic LED and a root tab, which is exactly why crypts are so widely recommended.

Will it spread?
Yes, slowly. It sends runners and puts up daughter plants around the parent, so one pot becomes a small stand over a season. Thin them out if it gets crowded.

Is it safe with shrimp and snails?
Yes, completely. Nothing eats the tough leaves, and shrimp graze biofilm off the crinkled surface.