Too Much Dry Leaves

[AquaticShrimpNoob]

Hi Everyone,

 

I have my OEBT for almost two weeks now, and they are doing great. No deaths or any sign of disease. I am really thankful for that. They still pick on and prefer biofilms and plant matters in my aquarium. Anyways, I added yesterday a piece of dried branch with bunch of dried leaves from one of the apple trees that we have in our backyard. I learned that apple leaves can be alternative to almond leaves and alder cones. The leaves are crunchy and the branch is very brittle, which are signs that the leaves and the branch are dried. Anyways, I got home today in the afternoon and found most of them relaxing on the branch - some were hiding on the curled leaves. It seems like they really like that piece of branch. I am planning to add a second branch in the tank. Here is my question: is there such thing as too much dry leaves in a shrimp tank? I do not want to foul my water due to too much bioload. I have a 20 gallon tank. Attached are pictures of my tank. You can see the relative size of the branch compare to my aquarium. I am planning to add same size of a branch and attach it on the other side. Is this a good idea? I am currently preparing the branch right now.

[wyzazz]

That's plenty, in such a small tank I wouldn't add more leaves.  I've never tried apple leaves, you'll have to let me know how they like them!  

[DevinB]

I usually have one fresh medium Almond leaf and one old medium Almond leaf in each of my ten gallon tanks. I usually take out the "skeleton" of the old leaf on each monthly water change and put in a new leaf. I tried to keep 3 or 4  in each and noticed an increase in detritus worms and other undesirables, although I kept my leaf litter on the tank floor and not suspended like your branch is. I'd probably just keep the other branch somewhere it won't get any contaminates on it for later use if I was you. 

 

And thank you for this idea, I've never really thought about drying out an entire branch of new growth leaves like that, but I like the looks of it. Now to see if my Amish buddy saved me any of his apple tree trimming this year (I give dried out apple twigs to my chinchillas for them to rasp their teeth on and used to just throw away the leaves before I started shrimping so this should save me from having to order more almond leaves hopefully)

 

Edit: also what kind of tank is that if you know off hand, or what the dimensions are so I could Google it? It looks like it would make a killer breeding tank for my Koi angelfish pair as I've always found it hard to find a tall enough tank for their finage to truly be shown off without going into the 36 gallon bowfront or 40 breeder territory which seems like a waste of space for a single breeding pair.. especially since they never stray far from the top back 2 corners or down near their breeding stone.. 

[AquaticShrimpNoob]

Thank for the response. I would not add the other branch as advised. I also notice that my water has become slightly brown due to the release of tannin. I do agree that adding more will not be ideal.

 

@wyzazz I will definitely give updates on this. Today is the second day I have the branch in my tank. Again, I found most of them chilling on one of the leaves attached on the branch. I do not know what is in or on it, but they are very attach to the apple leaves. Notice that I also have Almond leaf in the tank. Not once I have seen any of them stay on that.

 

@DevinB Attracting pest is my most concern due to my history with them. I would keep an eye on this just in case it do happen. As for this idea, I have been actually doing research about this. Many people have reported that they do put dried apple leaves in their tank. There is one person who reported that the apple leaves are very well received by his shrimp - 

As for my tank, it is just your regular 20 gallon high aquarium 12"x12"x16". It was just oriented sideways to accommodate space.

[AquaticShrimpNoob]

It has been almost a month now and the dried Apple leave in my tank is almost gone . The tank has lots of debris and seems to need light water change. Also, you can see a large Almond leaves just beneath the Apple leaves. It has never been touch. The Apple leaves have been munched by my shrimps and rabbit snails.

 

.