Not too long ago I bought a bunch of dried leaves and seed pods /botanicals to keep my shrimp and inverts as well as nano (mostly soft water pH) fish in a more natural condition.
Pretty much always have felt that the fish and shrimp / all water box creatures, would appreciate having an environment that would be more similar to their natural habitat.
Over cleaning tanks for shrimp which rely on aufwuchs /biofilm and microscopic things we can't see with our own eyes is really crucial for their healthy development.
The growth and increase of these things with the addition of natural type leaves I think can help create better, more healthy livestock.
Even things like raising shrimp in tanks outside with real daylight and natural things finding their way into the tanks creates so much more vibrant and healthy looking inhabitants.
Seeing mostly Rachel O'Leary's posts year after year of her patio water gardens, or as she calls them summer tubbing, the fish and inverts look great. Very brightly colored and strong.
When I did my pond, my Ramshorn snails gained nearly double the size with lots of wood and leaves from the trees as they did inside.
Leaves I have tried initially were Indian Almond Leaves. In the quality of the leaves, I felt made a difference to the tank. The more healthy looking the leaves, the better I fell they were in the tank.
The first ones I got looked worn out and like they had already begun degrading before they were collected.
Then there were Alder Cones.
Oak Leaf litter, from other vendor and my own collections for years.
Bad time with some green leaves dried. I felt that these had more sugars and maybe a better food source for baby shrimp. The leaves harvested in the mid summer and dried did not do that well in the tank. The soured, like sun Tea left out for a few days.
Bought Guava leaves, Red, Black and Green.
More Alder Cones and now Banana Leaves.
Chance to share here
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f23/raok-5-packs-of-banana-leaves-ends-4-40-19-a-369217.html
So share what you like and don't, what you have tried and what you want to try.
Share pics if you have them!
Pretty much always have felt that the fish and shrimp / all water box creatures, would appreciate having an environment that would be more similar to their natural habitat.
Over cleaning tanks for shrimp which rely on aufwuchs /biofilm and microscopic things we can't see with our own eyes is really crucial for their healthy development.
The growth and increase of these things with the addition of natural type leaves I think can help create better, more healthy livestock.
Even things like raising shrimp in tanks outside with real daylight and natural things finding their way into the tanks creates so much more vibrant and healthy looking inhabitants.
Seeing mostly Rachel O'Leary's posts year after year of her patio water gardens, or as she calls them summer tubbing, the fish and inverts look great. Very brightly colored and strong.
When I did my pond, my Ramshorn snails gained nearly double the size with lots of wood and leaves from the trees as they did inside.
Leaves I have tried initially were Indian Almond Leaves. In the quality of the leaves, I felt made a difference to the tank. The more healthy looking the leaves, the better I fell they were in the tank.
The first ones I got looked worn out and like they had already begun degrading before they were collected.
Then there were Alder Cones.
Oak Leaf litter, from other vendor and my own collections for years.
Bad time with some green leaves dried. I felt that these had more sugars and maybe a better food source for baby shrimp. The leaves harvested in the mid summer and dried did not do that well in the tank. The soured, like sun Tea left out for a few days.
Bought Guava leaves, Red, Black and Green.
More Alder Cones and now Banana Leaves.
Chance to share here
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f23/raok-5-packs-of-banana-leaves-ends-4-40-19-a-369217.html
So share what you like and don't, what you have tried and what you want to try.
Share pics if you have them!
