How to treat leafs

[nevesj98]

So i have a peach tree, and i want to feed my shrimps some peach leafs but i dont know how to make them "shrimp safe"

Can anyone help?

Have a wonderfull day

[DETAquarium]

First you must be sure that no fertilizer, pesticides, etc have been used on or close to this tree. Second you need to be sure to dry out the leaves to ensure the chlorophyll is not present. After that I usually just toss them in, otherwise if your still hesitant you can do a quick bake.

[svetilda]

DETA, could you, please, explain why no chlorophyll should be present? I feed my shrimp fresh (blanch) salad or cabbage leaves. Is it bad?

[Soothing Shrimp]

I've had no probs with chlorophyll feeding fresh leaves to neos.

[DETAquarium]

Read the section under: Why Dried Leaves?

 

Discobee- http://www.discobee.com/blogs/news/15655129-benefits-of-leaf-litter-in-shrimp-tanks

[Soothing Shrimp]

From the article the reasoning for dried leaves is:

 

"these leaves will be depleted of chlorophyll, sugars, sap and etc through a natural process and as such will not decompose in the tank and foul the water, as fresh or wind fallen leaves might.  Aslo the beneficial properties of the leaf litter comes from the tannins and humic acids that are naturally present in ‘dead’ leaves."

 

I've fed fresh leaves for several years, and I can state pretty confidently that food leaves are eaten pretty quickly, and I've seen no fouling of water happen.  Perhaps it does with hardwood leaves, or IAL?

 

I also don't understand how how the article can state dried leaves will not decompose.  That's exactly what they do.  Our shrimp are clean up "bugs."

[35ppt]

I suspect that some types of leaves might contain higher levels of sugars that could be problematic. Haven't had a chance to research it yet.

I do like to give a hot water bath to any leaves just for safety. I do not have a microwave, so I just boil water, pour about 1/2c. over a leaf. When the water is cool, place leaf only into tank.

People were saying they picked green mulberry leaves and use those, so I tried it. Can confirm that it doesn't foul the water. Right now my shrimps are enjoying green Melissa officinalis leaves.

[DETAquarium]

I would assume it depends on the reasoning to add leaves to your tank. Mulberry, Amaranth, etc are generally added to a shrimp tank for a natural type food, meant to be eaten within 48 hours or so. IAL, Guava, Oak, etc are primarily water conditioners used mainly for the beneficial tannins that leech into our water columns, they also produce biofilm that the shrimp can graze on. If the "green" leaves are eaten quickly and not left in the aquarium as they are intended, I see no problem, but the statement holds substance if you leave these leaves in for extended amounts of time. Its one thing in nature if you have "green" leaves fall into massive amount of water, very little would happen to water chemistry, but if you were to let them sit in your small aquarium for several days to weeks, I could potentially see where parameters could shift and nitrates increase.

 

I do think they could of left out the not decompose part, and leave it at not fouling the water. I would assume they meant that the "green" leaves could impact your water parameters as the sugar, chlrophyll, sap, etc, rots, whereas the dead brown leaves will not since they don't have these components actively.