Does anyone know what in the world these animals get from eating leaves......I soaked some Mulberry leaves for about three weeks in water. And seriously my shrimp swarm a leaf and have the ENTIRE thing eaten within four hours. What are they getting from this leaf?
Does anyone know?
Shrimp do not intend to eat the leaves. They are actually eating the microbes that live by eating decaying plants. It so happens that they do eat parts of the leaves as they go after their intended supper. If you were to sterilize the leaves, before putting them in the tank, the shrimp would not be as interested in them.
Could I drop these leaves in and allow them to munch on them when I go on vacation or will they dirty up my water?
They will be fine, as long as you follow these steps.
1.
Use dead leaves. It's best to use leaves that have died in the fall. Those are disease free (usually), and most of the chemicals that would harm your tank have been pulled back into the trunk.
2.
Soak the leaves. Use chemical free water. Soak the leaves for approximately one week, then dump the water, and replace it with clean. Do this for approximately four weeks. The remaining harmful chemicals are leached out in this process.
Leaves should provide them some nutrition. Mulberry leaves are eaten by some insects (silk worms, maybe?). They live off the leaves just fine
.
Those insects are mostly interested in eating living plant matter. Microbes, fungus, and such, are the cleanup crew of the world. Most of the dead leaf litter in forrested areas are eaten by them.
}I'm not too sure about leaving uneaten leaves in your tank though. Uneaten food does tend to "crap up" water.
Dead leaves, that have been soaked, will not harm a healthy tank. I've done some experiments, based on information from Mustafa @ petshrimp.com. I put in a solid inch of presoaked oak leaves in a tank of RCS. I provided 8 hours of light, and no supplemental feedings for two months. The colony grew, at a slower rate than normal feeding would, but they acted healthy and the adults did not shrink in size (which happens when insufficient food is available).
