brown leaves for shrimp

[janbee]

Hi All - I'm new here, and just acclimated 20 cherry red shrimp to a tank. They are happily swimming around,ad begining to turn red. In reading the suggested articles, I realize I will have some dificulty getting brown leaves. Although it is winter time and leaves can still be found in the snow, I question whether any live organisms will be alive at temps that are at freezing and below. Would I be able to use some browning plants from some of my fresh water tanks? Jan

[Cactus Bastard]

Back to those leaves in the snow for a second. A lot of organisms can survive sub-zero temps, they just go into stasis or something. Also, some of the more complex little creatures lay eggs that will lay dormant until conditions are more favourable.
Can somebody let us know what forms of life might still be available on those frozen leaves? They can't be completely barren; is there enough there to feed our shrimp?

[janbee]

Good thought CB... would be interesting to know. Back, to my fw tank plants, why wouldn'd there be enough goodies to feed these shrimp? Jan

[badflash]

The leaves should go in a bucket with used tank water for about a week. If the water turns dark you may want to do several changes until it doesn't add much color. In that time all sorts of stuff will start grooowing on the leaves.

[sstimac]

You do not want to put rotting leaves from another tank into this one, the reasoning should be straight forward. If you wanted to add some of the plants from your other tank that would be a good idea. Especially good would be some mosses (java, christmas, willow, etc.). My shrimps also love Marimo Balls, they feed off of them and use them as a community meeting site, maybe I am anthropomorphising them, but that is what it looks like.

[badflash]

You do not want to put rotting leaves from another tank into this one, the reasoning should be straight forward.

sstimac, I don't get what you are saying. I've been doing this for some time and the shrimp love it. Large handfulls of leaves go into a bucket and are covered with water from my tanks. I keep changing the water every few days until there is little color in the water. Once that happens I put a few leaves in the shrimp tank. As they go away I add more.

This reduces nitrates to a very low level and seems to slow the plant growth almost to a stop.

[sstimac]

Rotting leaves? Rotting leaves, like excessive waste can and most likely will produce ammonia and nitrite spikes. I understand that many people use other leaves that have been dried or have fallen off of certain trees, but I am not sure I have read that people actually put rotting leaves into a tank. If it works for you, fine, but I would not do it.

[HellRaizer]

I started saving the leaves that i trim off my big amazon sword leaves and then dry them out till they are nice and crispy.
Then i rehydrate them in a bucket full of tank water that i use to heat up my yeast co2 generator bottles for a week or so, and by then they have all fallen to the bottom of the bucket.
And once i throw them in the shrimp go nuts and jump it like wild animals! lol
And its not like they are going hungry inbetween, feed them regularly on omego one shrimp pellets, hikari algae wafers, hikary fd tubifex worms and they especially like their aqua-plus bottom feeder pellets fed daily in small amounts.
But then the leaves last at least a week or two before they are all gone, and they never rot or fowl the water, not even a hint of a bad smell.
What also works is that i have the tank in front of a window, so when i open the curtains and it gets direct sunlight a film of green algae forms on the glass, and once this happens it becomes the gathering place of all the small shrimps, they love browzing over it, and within a day or two its all gone again.
But these days there are so many shrimps that i have to give the tank daily sunlight to keep the algae going to feed the babies

[janbee]

It appears from the various reponses that there is debate on whether or not to use brown leaves from outside. Regardless ,what I am picking up as a newbie is that the shrimp do fine with or without ther leaves! Jan

[Newjohn]

Castus Bastard wrote:

Back to those leaves in the snow for a second. A lot of organisms can survive sub-zero temps, they just go into stasis or something. Also, some of the more complex little creatures lay eggs that will lay dormant until conditions are more favourable.
Can somebody let us know what forms of life might still be available on those frozen leaves? They can't be completely barren; is there enough there to feed our shrimp?

Can somebody let us know what forms of life might still be available on those frozen leaves? They can't be completely barren; is there enough there to feed our shrimp?

It is not the organisms that are on the leaves when you bring them inside that the shrimp feed on.
It is the organisms that " Feed & Reproduce " on the leaves while in your tank.

These organisms are the same as what grow on your sponge filters.
So, it is important that you only add 1 or 2 leaves to your tank at a time.

These leaves not only supply food for your shrimp, they are also another " Bio-Filter " for your water.
This will help with the water quality if you miss a water change. " I know this one from personal exspeience "

John

[badflash]

There is no debate. There are those of us the do use dried leaves, and those that have not tried it because they think it isn''t a good idea. Experience trumps opinion every time.

Leached hardwood leaves are safe, reduce nitrates and phosphates, and provide a medium for biofilm to grow on. The shrimp love the biofilm

[janbee]

Okay, but could you add a piece of drift wood or lava rock to create a medium for biofilm to grow. Jan

[Neonshrimp]

Okay, but could you add a piece of drift wood or lava rock to create a medium for biofilm to grow. Jan

Sure, almost any surface will grow biofilm but some much more quickly than others. Some of the best/fastest I have found are leaves and sponges.

[badflash]

Rocks are not as good as organic material. The carbon seems to drive the production of the growies the shrimp like. Driftwood can make the water acidic, so be careful with that if your shrimp like a basic pH.

[janbee]

I have the red cherry shrimp. Don't they like the water slightly acidic? Thanks for all the input everyone I am going to try the leaves. Jan