Hello!
Sorry, I ramble. You've been warned.
I have been meaning to add leaf litter to my catfish / shrimp tank for a while. A "catfish / shrimp" tank may sound a bit contradictory, but seeing as they are banjo catfish and bamboo shrimp, the live in different parts of the tank and the shrimp are too big to eat.
The reason for adding leaves would be primarily for the banjos, who come from a leaf litter habitat (although the shrimp may benefit from the too). This is the time of year for gathering leaves for my tank. I'm not too worried about what type of leaves, as I have found oak and maple, and there are plenty leaves to go around.
What concerns me is that I don't have a pesticide free location to gather from. I plan on mostly collecting from around my school, and I know they use pesticides on the grass. I have a few people who my have pesticide free yards to gather from, but even then I wonder if I should test my leaves (as mentioned below) before using them in my main tank.
My thought is that I will simply not gather leaves from ground level. I can (for smaller trees, anyway) reach into the branches and gather leaves that are ready to fall, or have fallen and been caught in the lower branches.
Think these leaves will be safe to use? Should I test them in my QT tank with ghost shrimp to make sure they are safe and won't have too large an effect on my pH first? I'm a bit paranoid, so I want to be careful.
Any thoughts or suggestions?
Sorry, I ramble. You've been warned.
I have been meaning to add leaf litter to my catfish / shrimp tank for a while. A "catfish / shrimp" tank may sound a bit contradictory, but seeing as they are banjo catfish and bamboo shrimp, the live in different parts of the tank and the shrimp are too big to eat.
The reason for adding leaves would be primarily for the banjos, who come from a leaf litter habitat (although the shrimp may benefit from the too). This is the time of year for gathering leaves for my tank. I'm not too worried about what type of leaves, as I have found oak and maple, and there are plenty leaves to go around.
What concerns me is that I don't have a pesticide free location to gather from. I plan on mostly collecting from around my school, and I know they use pesticides on the grass. I have a few people who my have pesticide free yards to gather from, but even then I wonder if I should test my leaves (as mentioned below) before using them in my main tank.
My thought is that I will simply not gather leaves from ground level. I can (for smaller trees, anyway) reach into the branches and gather leaves that are ready to fall, or have fallen and been caught in the lower branches.
Think these leaves will be safe to use? Should I test them in my QT tank with ghost shrimp to make sure they are safe and won't have too large an effect on my pH first? I'm a bit paranoid, so I want to be careful.
Any thoughts or suggestions?
I don't have problems using mine.
