Oak leafs vs almond leafs

[apistograndma]

So I'm making a soft water apisto tank and I wanted to get some of yalls opinions on oak leaves vs idian almond leaves. And also to check and see if there are any local sources for apistos

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[Prince]

I have used almond leave from MsJinkzd or Sera peat pellets. But Oak leaves can be harvested locally during the right season But I worry about acid rain. House of Tropicals usually has the best selection minus whats keep by club members that occasionally goes on sale.

 

[chriscoli]

I've used both. I don't notice much of a measurable difference other than the oak leaves tend to disintegrate faster. This leaves more debris on the bottom of the tank, but this also provides some really nice cover and forage for fry....which might be a good thing if that's what you want in your tank.

If you're the type of person who needs to have a debris-free tank, the oak leaves will make you nuts.

I personally wouldn't collect nasty matted oak leaves out of the street gutter, but I have no qualms picking them up off the ground in the fall.

 

[mchambers]

I also recommend magnolia leaves, which don't make as much of a mess as oak leaves. This time of year, however, fallen magnolia leaves are hard to find. Try in June or July.

 

[Avatar]

Oak leaves are great

Oaks are one of the few deciduous trees that hold many of their leaves until the new buds push them loose (imminent). Look outside and chances are you will see (at least for a couple more weeks) any number of trees still holding onto a large number of leaves - they're almost certainly all oaks which can easily be verified by the classic multi-lobed shape with or without points depending on species. Even without climbing trees one can still harvest scads just by picking them off at ground level. They're all good, all free and I have them in all my Apisto tanks.

As Christine indicated, the litter is excellent shelter/forage for fry and as long as dogs/cats haven't been frequenting them, any on the ground that are not compacted, moldy and half-rotten would also serve in my estimation. Recalling where fish come from in the wild one realizes that it's hardly an antiseptic environment - little if anything other than animal excrement on "wild-caught" leaves that is going to upset/harm fish.

With all due respect, I think that any negative contribution to water chemistry from acid rain deposition would be negligible if not in fact undetectable. In any case, increased/higher acidity is consistent with the use of leaves anyway. This time of year the leaves will have lost some of their tannin content due to rainfall but are still otherwise good.

I have sexable panduro, baenschi/inka and borelli sub-adults, maybe an extra pair of white maulbruders (reseved for someone accomplished and/or that I really happen to like), everything else is still too small to sex.

 

[apistograndma]

Thanks for all the input y'all!
my apisto leaf litter tank has only been up for three days, so i'm in no rush....hell stupid root/log i have in there hasn't even fully sank yet. so i still have time to get leaves. good to know that they still might be on trees. i was worried that it would be too late in the season. Its a 55gal, so i was going to try to have two diffrent types of apistos living in it. I have a Melgnar I just got from Prince (thanks agian by the way) that i was going to start off once that tank is established and try to find some ladys for. That being said baenschi have been on my wishlist for a long time now, and panduro are what made me fall in love with apistos. has anyone ever had a multi pisto tank?
now i'm thinking about how cool it would be to have all the different types of leaves in there to make it look more natural....but once they brake down its all leaf mush anywho right?

 

[Avatar]

Upstairs/downstairs

Not that much floor space for two species of Apistos, don't know that they'll spawn up off the substrate but the parents would all end up competing for bottom space if not immediately then almost for sure if they both spawn at the same time but could maybe work with some creative aqua/hardscaping That tank was made for angelfish on the other hand and they'd likely get along well with your melgar.

 

[JasonC]

With a wishlist like that, almost sounds like you should do a tank that I have been dying to give a try... an all male apisto "frat house" tank.

 

[apistograndma]

its hard to see from the pick but the wood is an old root ball that takes up the whole base of the tank. loots of nooks and crannys and twisted up root "caves". that being said i was concerend about "floor space". never really enjoyed angles. We'll i guess I'll scape it out first, then make stocking choices.
input has been very helpfull thanks!
:angry: want my cake and eat it too.