Oak leaves?

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FINWIN

FINWIN

Alligator Gar
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Dec 21, 2018
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Just wondering, anyone who has the 'natural' biotope type tanks...If you have Oak leaves how does maintenance work with the poop and detrius? Thanks to a couple of really big oaks on my lot I've got plenty. Would love to try this but not sure how to keep things 'clean.'
 
I use leaves in some of my tanks and they do get in the way some you just have to move them around.
The benefits out way the hassle IMO.
Stanzzzz7 Stanzzzz7
 
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I agree with BIG-G BIG-G . I love the look of leaves in a tank and also believe them to be benificial to lots of species of fish.
I do believe there are many approaches to maintain a fish tank depending on a number of factors.
I have experimented with this and whilst I was a regular sand sifter with a syphon I tried another approach.
This was due to finding it a little bit of a pain keep moving leaves and syphon the area where they lay. It was time consuming and made maintaining my tanks a bit of a chor.
I decided to try the dirty substrate approach. I thought what would happen if I never change the leaves and just let them rot and decompose into the substrate.
I did this and just kept adding more leaves I never cleaned the substrate at all. I added all kinds of leaves and twigs and other botanicals. I found the results very satisfactory. I ended up with a very natural organic looking substrate. The fish seemed to really like it too. This mass of twigs, leaves and other natural debris provided a food source, a place to hide and spawning sites for my fish.
I did have plants in this set up and wonder if water quality would have remained as good as it did without them. I also did large water changes each week.
I also have lots of snails constantly moving
through it keeping it moving.
If your the sort of fish keeper that likes a sterile clean looking tank, then leaf litter may not be for you. If you like the idea of a more organic, natural looking tank then this approach goes a long way to achieve this.

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I went easily over a year without cleaning the substrate in the tank above.
I had no visible rise in nitrates, no sick fish and an easier life regarding maintenance.
I was also happy with the way the substrate looked.

_20190430_213145.JPG
 
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When you have a more natural substrate you get more natural type microorganisms that help to break that stuff down too. You can also add things like skuds and (forgive me its early I forget their appropriate name) water fleas they will break down the detritus and missed foods and they also make a great food source for many fish and their fry.
 
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I have also used leaf litter to a positive effect in my tanks.

Above are magnolia leaves.
Certain cichlids tend to be detrivorous, and will chew at them, thus helping leaves to break them down to smithereens faster, but for me this is not a problem. Although as Stanzzzz7 said, if you are looking for that sterile, non-natural aquarium look, they may not be your thing.
I tend to take water changes from the surface, as opposed to vacuuming, because I believe the mostly invisible substances that accumulate at the air water interface to be much more deleterious than a few turds on the bottom.
I also had large populations of Malay snails living among the detritus, and algae helping to process the leaf frass and fish turds quickly.


On a side note, I believe detrivorous cichlids (many central americans, (everything from JDs, and Herichthys to earth eating Cribroheros, and Thorichthys, to Amphilphies, and Cincelichthys) use the substances in leaf litter to aid in digestion, providing probiotic intestinal bacteria, in a similar way Plecostmus use rotting wood.
 
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Stanzzzz7 said:
Yes. Like I said I had plants that would probably help and no really messy fish like oscar for example.
I believe if you keep up with water changes you shouldn't have any issues.
Click to expand...

Yikes...that answers a question I wondered about...my O would love rooting in leaves but I don't know if his logs under the leaves would be a good thing! Sounds like it works better with smaller fish?
 
FINWIN said:
Yikes...that answers a question I wondered about...my O would love rooting in leaves but I don't know if his logs under the leaves would be a good thing! Sounds like it works better with smaller fish?
Click to expand...
Yes I think it is more suited to smaller fish.
Maybe just add a few leaves and a few botanicals. You should be able to clean the substrate easily with just a small scattering.
 
This is what I do.
I put a couple hand full of oak and mulberry leaves in a five gallon bucket of tank water for a day or two just to water log them so they sink and add them to the tanks a few leaves at a time.
The fish always come to inspect/play in the new ones.
Oak last a good while, the mulberry are gone in a week.
I probably have to add a few every other month or so to keep the amount I like.
I water change every week but only vacuum the substrate every two weeks.
 
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