Loaches Online Forum

Most accounts of using leaf litter in tanks mentions Indian almond leaves, or alternatively oak leaves. Has anyone ever used maple leaves or apple leaves? Seeing as we live in Vermont, tropical trees don't grow 'round here, and mostly what we have is sugar maples, with some old apple trees. Is there any reason not to use those leaves?

Kathy, first off, I know nothing about Indian almond leaves except what I have read. I have order some from a woman off eBay. With that said, I would think, why use any kind of leaf? I'm am going to try them with my loaches to 'harden their scales, heal wounds and ward off illnesses'. At least that this what I hope happens.

The following is from http://aqualandpetsplus.com/Betta,%20In ... Leaves.htm

"Indian Almond Leaves. Now that we have the leaves, our Southeast Asian betta customers still rave about the benefits of these magic leaves. (They rave even more when we run out.) We tried them ourselves and were impressed. In fact, we tested them on 60 of our bettas. We liked the results also.

Recipes. Use one square-inch of leaf per half-gallon of water for individual fish. Use one leaf per 10-gallon rearing tank for the fry. Use one-leaf per half-filled 10-gallon breeding tank.

Results. First you see your water turn yellow, then brown. The changed water seems to harden their scales. It helps them heal wounds and ward off illnesses. Be careful, because it also makes the male more aggressive at breeding time. On the other hand, it also helps the female recover from any wounds she receives during the breeding process. "

Wish me luck...

I have used maple leaves with red cherry shrimp. They like eating them. I haven't used them with loaches. I think oak leaves are used to acidify the water & add tannins but from gardening I remember that maple tends to raise the pH of compost, depending on where there grown as I recall.

IAL harden scales huh? I hadn't heard that before, mildly antibiotic & helps with healing is what I remember. Mad Duff, Emma & others were using them a couple years ago, I wonder if they still do?

I don't know about maple or apple leaves but magnolia are also supposed to be safe.

I use oak leaves in my 30 gallon to give my Apistogrammas some cover. I only added about three, so because they do indeed lower the pH. If you want to add more, I think you are supposed to boil the leaves first, which should remove the acidity of the leaves. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong .

For some fish it seems leaf litter is the equivalent of John Coltrane on the stereo, good red wine, candle light dinner...

Had not heard anything about tougher scales. Maybe I should try soaking in it!

John Coltrane ,now there's an artist
certainly leaves me feeling chilled in a warm way

We've got a dozen Indian Almond trees at and around our place.
I've used the leaves a few times- first times everything was fine (great, in fact) but most recent time things just seemed "wrong" and a good loach died. No idea if there was a connection, but I've not used them since. Possibility of insecticide though i was/am always careful to wash the leaves with soap then blanch them before putting them in.
Loaches, pleco, synodontis eat them with vigor, and they look lovely once the veins are showing/left over. Turns water dark and drops pH a bit.

I'd avoid apple, peach, apricot, plum etc... leaves as these have some toxicity to the seeds that may also be present in the leaves. Look up leaves that are good for herbivorous tortoises (G. sulcata, for example) to see what is and is not potentially problematic/toxic.... though i think they warn against almond.....

I don't know about apple leaves, but maple leaves decay much more raapidly than oak leaves in a wet environment. Don't add too mny at once until you see how your nitrogen cycle is affected.

I used to put Indian Almond leaves in with my kuhlis, but the loaches literally loved them to pieces, making a real mess. I feel bad, because they played hide-and-seek and keep-away among the leaf litter, but it plugged up the filters.

I still put one in my african dwarf frogs fishbowl, since they have no substrate. I do a 100% WC three times a week, and replace the leaf when it starts to decay.

I think the amber-colored water adds visual drama, but never noticed any health benefits. On the other hand, I haven't had any sick fish to experiment with. As for scale hardness, how do you check that?