Crypt vs Mopani - the winner is... LOL

[Dawn T]

I just set up one of my 10g tanks to get it cycling so it will be ready as a QT for fish I plan to start ordering in April. In the process of setting that up, I decided to grab a hunk of mopani driftwood out of the 29g I'm slowly rescaping (awaiting my new rocks and some plants - woohoo!). Got a surprise. I expected any plants that had grown around it (and the crypts had gone WILD all around it) to have spread UNDER it. Like THIS:

(Of course, that's how it looked AFTER I removed all the detritus that had gathered under the driftwood.)

When I pulled out the mopani, though, I found this ATTACHED:

The spot it punched through is about 3/4" thick. I guess it found a weak place in that knothole, eh? Eesh. I had no idea a plant could punch through a chunk of wood like that. I left the crypt I've dubbed "Hercules" in the wood when I moved it. I figured he's claimed that chunk of mopani, so he can have it. LOL

[Lemon]

crypts can't be trusted lol