Can I use leaves from garden plants in my tank?

[JackGulley]

Title says it. I know people use botanicals in their tank to lower PH. My tank isn't an acidic-water tank (keeping platys and shrimp so water is moderately hard) but the PH is a little higher than I would like it to be and I know the shrimp and snails will munch on the leaves. I have tea-olive trees and some kind of fern in our garden; could I just pick, wash, and throw those in the tank?

 

[WhistlingBadger]

I would just make sure the plant itself isn't toxic, and give it a try. Pull it out if the roots start to rot, obviously. Otherwise, it should be fine.

 

[Back in the fold]

Got any stray cats in your neighborhood ? If so then your ammonia levels might go crazy .

 

[JackGulley]

To clarify, I mean putting some dead leaves in there, not the plant itself

 

[Colin_T]

If you have platies in a high pH, leave it alone.

most plant leaves can be used to add tannins if they are dry and from non-toxic plants, and no conifers.

you need a lot of leaves to alter the pH and you are better off leaving the pH alone.

 

[JackGulley]

If you have platies in a high pH, leave it alone.

most plant leaves can be used to add tannins if they are dry and from non-toxic plants, and no conifers.

you need a lot of leaves to alter the pH and you are better off leaving the pH alone.

I do intend to keep the pH high for the plates, but at the moment it's sitting at about 8.0 and I worry that that will be too hard for the other species. Point taken about the leaves though, I don't want any tannins. Do you think the shrimp would munch on it if I added still-green leaves or do people only use dried ones?

 

[WhistlingBadger]

To clarify, I mean putting some dead leaves in there, not the plant itself

Oops. I guess my advice about toxicity still applies; roots rotting not so much. I think 8.0 pH should be fine for platies and shrimp, so if it were me I wouldn't worry about it.

Most hardwood leaves are OK; don't know about ferns. I've used oak, ash, and cottonwood leaves. Cottonwood (or other poplar) are especially nice as they're light colored and don't leach a ton of tanins into the water like oak can. Only use leaves that are dead and dry. They'll collect colonies of microbes as they decompose, which the shrimp will munch on. You can also feed them veggies. Mine like a bit of cucumber or blanched carrot. I stick it on a stainless fork so it's easy to retrieve when they're done. But mostly I just let them find their own grub, and they do fine.

 

[GaryE]

I use a lot of dried leaves, and have even planted trees to grow them. I would never use them with platys. Hard water fish and botanicals don't mix.

Platys are likely to feed on algae fed by leaves, but I have never had them feed on leaves themselves. My X milleri platys have jasmine vines over their tank, and when the leaves fall, I have to remove them. The fish show no interest.

When I got to sit on the banks of the Belize River and watch platys, they were eating biofilm and picking through algae on driftwood. There were many types of leaves around, but the platys seemed uninterested.