Ive heard good things from adding oak leaves into your pleco tank for a bit of food and they produce the tannins in the water, has anyone used this method and did it produce any different behaviour in the fish? Also can you use any leaves?
Adding Leaves To Your Tank
- Thread starter RobHarrison
- Start date
Some plecs will graze on the leaves as there will be organisms on them. They will leach tannins and slighty lower the ph, a lot of apisto keepers use dried dead leaves as it recreates blackwaters and they use them as spawing sites. Certain leaves are also said to have anti fungal properties and help with healing processes, including the indian almond leaf. You can use dried beech and oak leaves if you want to collect your own but boil them for a short while to kill any nasties, it also helps them to sink quicker.
Hi all,
I add leaves to all the tanks now, they are great for shrimps to graze on.
The leaves I've used, and are definitely safe, are Oak, Beech, Camellia, deciduous Magnolia and Loquat. I collect them after they've been shed, and then store them in the freezer. I add new ones when the old ones have begun to fragment. Oak and Camelllia lower pH and they all add some degree of tannins, and you rapidly get fantastic skeletonised leaves with Magnolia. Loquat and Beech had no effect on pH, and Beech also doesn't add much colour to the water (but they are attractively coloured leaves).
I'm now mainly using Loquat leaves and Alder cones. Alder cones have the same effects as Oak bark or leaves, but you only need to add one cone for every 10 litres of water. A lot of Apisto/Cory breeders use Alder cones. I'm using Loquat leaves because they are free, the shrimps seem to like them, and they are very long lasting. Another advantage is that the shrub is evergreen and new "dead" leaves appear all the time.
I've also tried London Plane (Platanus x hispanica), these are very long lasting and I haven't had any problem with them, but an Australian user on another forum thought that they were implicated in some unexplained fish deaths.
cheers Darrel
I add leaves to all the tanks now, they are great for shrimps to graze on.
The leaves I've used, and are definitely safe, are Oak, Beech, Camellia, deciduous Magnolia and Loquat. I collect them after they've been shed, and then store them in the freezer. I add new ones when the old ones have begun to fragment. Oak and Camelllia lower pH and they all add some degree of tannins, and you rapidly get fantastic skeletonised leaves with Magnolia. Loquat and Beech had no effect on pH, and Beech also doesn't add much colour to the water (but they are attractively coloured leaves).
I'm now mainly using Loquat leaves and Alder cones. Alder cones have the same effects as Oak bark or leaves, but you only need to add one cone for every 10 litres of water. A lot of Apisto/Cory breeders use Alder cones. I'm using Loquat leaves because they are free, the shrimps seem to like them, and they are very long lasting. Another advantage is that the shrub is evergreen and new "dead" leaves appear all the time.
I've also tried London Plane (Platanus x hispanica), these are very long lasting and I haven't had any problem with them, but an Australian user on another forum thought that they were implicated in some unexplained fish deaths.
cheers Darrel
Ok so its low pressure im doing a large water change on my 134s ive boild a bunch of oak leaves for 5-6min and have added those and i have done a big water change using water thats been in a water butt for a week with bogwood, lots of nice tannins in the water now, question is how long do you leave the leaves in there for? days/weeks?
only use brown dead leaves that have no sap in them.
I wash well and then put in microwave for a minute while damp, but boiling is just as good.
I wash well and then put in microwave for a minute while damp, but boiling is just as good.
Hi all,
<http://www.ta-aquaculture.co.uk/Leaves.htm> bottom of the page.
cheers Darrel
I just leave them in until they disintegrate, I syphon out the bits (you don't get many bits with shrimps in the tank) and remove the leaf skeletons. In soft water the Loquat, Oak and Camellia leaves last several months and the other leaves a shorter time. I tried Birch (Betula) but they disappeared really quickly. The alder cones also last several months. If you haven't got somewhere you can pick them from TA Aquaculture sell them.
<http://www.ta-aquaculture.co.uk/Leaves.htm> bottom of the page.
cheers Darrel