Several months ago I set up a 29 gallon aquarium with about 10 C. wenditii plants, among others. They were planted together in one front corner of the aquarium.

Since then, three additional C. wenditii plants have appeared in three different places, one to two or more feet away from the group and in the middle of groupings of other species.

When I removed the three plants, I couldn't find anything that resembled a runner or a rhizome. The plants looked like they had grown from a seed which, of course, they hadn't.

The tank has a soil substrate under 2mm - 2 mm gravel. The gravel was taken from another tank that had contained crypts. The gravel was stirred and rinsed vigorously until the rinse water was clear.

Is it likely that the three crypts resulted from crypt fragments that were left over from the prior setup, or is there another explanation?

Thanks.

Bill

I have found that crypt wendtii runners break off very easily. Assuming you were very careful in pulling them out and saw no broken areas, this is indeed a mystery. I've had runners go 3" underground to the floor of the aquarium and move quite a ways from the main plant before surfacing, but there was always a runner.