Local Leaf Litter Use/Experience

[Nkoepke99]

This is the only place I would ask this,  What leaf litter have you used and what was your experience? We live in northern michigan and have a "burning bush", ive dried some  of the red leaves and dropped them in today.  

[ADMWNDSR83]

I would never have thought to put local leaves in the tank.  I'd be too afraid of adverse reactions!

[Ben_RF]

I have had tried oak, maple, birch, and dogwood over the years.  The downside to maple is that the leaves seems to break down much quicker than indian almond leaves.  Oak leaves are  very buoyant and I wouldn't want to use them again.  A positive note about maple, is that it breaks down so much that very rarely have I ever found a leaf skeleton afterwards.  Dried birch leaves seem to work pretty good for tannin release and the breakdown on them isn't that fast. Dogwood functions much like maple. 

Edited October 4, 2020 by Ben_RF

[Daniel]

I frequently put leaves from the woods in my tanks. I prefer oak, beech, hickory, but some even have a bit of pine straw, stay away from black walnut, but everything else is probably either good or harmless. The fish and shrimp both seem to love it. The shrimp eat it and the fish hide in it. Snails like it too.

With fish

With shrimp

With snails

 

[Struggle]

I’ll add magnolia leaves to the mix of what others have said, they seem to last quite a long time.

[ADMWNDSR83]

This is a rookie question, but what effects do the leaves have on the tank?  I saw someone mention the tannins, but I am finally getting less tannins from my driftwood now that I got Purigen and don't know if that's a plus or minus for me.

[Struggle]

My scuds, shrimp, plecos and fry appear to graze on them all of the time. I know the scuds consume the leaves and I think the shrimp do as well.

[ADMWNDSR83]

I've been thinking about adding a few shrimp to my tank, but am afraid the angelfish with think, "shrimp are food, not friends."

[3vi1p3nguin]

I never though of using local leaves. I might have to try some grape leaves before the frost takes them.

[Andy's Fish Den]

I have used oak and mulberry leaves form my yard and woods. The only thing is you want to make sure you get the leaves from someplace that is free of pesticides. I will take a couple handfuls and boil them for a couple minutes, it helps them sink a lot faster.

[Nataku]

I've used local magnolia leaves and cones before. The shrimp really seem to enjoy all the crazy crevices of the cones, but the leaves are used too. The kuhlis love to dog pile under the leaves and seem to become much more active in general with leaf litter in the tank.

[H.K.Luterman]

I've used oak leaves in a shrimp tank but I had to really stuff them down in there since they still floated even after boiling. Interested in trying magnolia some time since we have two trees on our property.

[ADMWNDSR83]

I planted a variant of an Eastern Redbud in my front yard yesterday.  I may have to try a few of those leaves when they fall and see what happens, although at this point I still don't have any shrimp.  I think there's a pleco in there, but he's always in hiding!

[matt_r]

On 10/4/2020 at 4:01 PM, Nick K said:

This is the only place I would ask this,  What leaf litter have you used and what was your experience? We live in northern michigan and have a "burning bush", ive dried some  of the red leaves and dropped them in today.  

We’re from Northern Michigan too.  Beech is a good easy to find option.

Besides Beech, so far we’ve collected and used Magnolia (my favorite), Walnut and Mulberry.  Our shrimp devoured the Mulberry once if softened up a bit.  
 

I usually boil for ~10 min.  They can take a day or so to sink.
 

The leaves get a nice biofilm that is grazed on by our snails, shrimp, guppies and ricefish.  We also use them to make a leaf litter bed for a pair of wild type Betta hendra.

[yannachka]

i am a big fan of banana leaves and guava leaves. i bought both from an asian market for a few bucks for a large pack. the shrimp and snails enjoy both of those in my tanks. i found the guava leaves break down slower than catappa leaves. 

[Streetwise]

Weeks ago, I moved my tub fish, shrimp, and wood indoors. I have been planning to move the tubs inside to the basement, with just substrate, snails, floating plants, and rocks. I'm so busy that I haven't gotten to it yet, so more and more maple leaves have dropped in. I want to pull them out, but half of them have snails on them, so I can't do it.

I will have to report back on this topic. The tubs will go on some back basement racks, with some spare Fluval Plant Nanos I have, and who knows what I will throw in for the winter, but something boring, maybe even just more plants.

[fatblonde]

2 hours ago, matt_r said:

We’re from Northern Michigan too.  Beech is a good easy to find option.

Besides Beech, so far we’ve collected and used Magnolia (my favorite), Walnut and Mulberry.  Our shrimp devoured the Mulberry once if softened up a bit.  
 

I usually boil for ~10 min.  They can take a day or so to sink.
 

The leaves get a nice biofilm that is grazed on by our snails, shrimp, guppies and ricefish.  We also use them to make a leaf litter bed for a pair of wild type Betta hendra.

That is a local collection? It looks really pretty 

[matt_r]

9 hours ago, fatblonde said:

That is a local collection? It looks really pretty 

Thanks, yeah all local collection.  The Magnolia tree is an ornamental that I was able to get access to, the rest are all common to our area.