Page 1 of 1

oak leaves

Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 2:07 am
by buuoo
Hello

Can anyone give me the botanic name of the oak, witch the leaves are suitbul bor srimps.
Whith the botanic name of the tree it is esier for me to make no mistakes




thanks

Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 4:05 am
by YuccaPatrol
There are several hundred species of oak trees in the family Quercus. I do not know of any reason that one could not use leaves from any member of this family.

There are over 15 species in my state of Alabama. I have Quercus rubra (red oak) on my property, although I have not tried adding oak leaves to my shrimp tanks.

Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 7:53 am
by Neonshrimp
In the articles section of this site you can read "How to keep dwarf shrimp -- An Introduction" were Mustafa discusses how to prepair oak leaves. I do not know the botanic name of the oak.

Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 7:53 am
by Mustafa
As YuccaPatrol already indicated, any oak leaves are fine in my experience. Just make sure that you only pick dry, brown oak leaves from the ground and not fresh, green ones.

Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 9:43 am
by Gregor Samsa Mendel
The portuguese word for oak is "carvalho." Pick up dry, brown carvalho leaves off the ground, soak them in water for two or three days, and put them in your shrimp tank. The shrimp seem to like it.

Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 11:51 am
by YuccaPatrol
They should be common just about anywhere in the US, as the vast majority of oak trees are natives to North America. There are a few European species as well as some Asian species.

If you are having a hard time finding them, I would be happy to send an envelope stuffed with them to you. There are plenty of aged leaves on my property from last fall and I use no pesticides or herbicides that could contaminate them.

thanks

Posted: Tue Jul 11, 2006 3:27 am
by buuoo
Thanks for all your awsers, we have to native espicies of quercus,
Quercus ilex
quercus suber

I will try them in a smoll aquarium whith 1 or 2 sherimps to see what apends

I have a Bonsai quercus rubra but he only produce few leavs a year

thanks to you all

Posted: Tue Jul 11, 2006 8:14 am
by Neonshrimp
Hope the two species of leaves work out for you. Please keep us updated as this has been a helpful topic for us :D

Thanks!

tannins

Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 6:47 am
by buuoo
hello

Can anyone tell me if theres a way to identify the tannins in wather?



thanks

Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 6:54 am
by Shrimp&Snails
Tannins make the water appear brown....they can also reduce PH.

Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 7:43 am
by YuccaPatrol
Just soak the leaves in water for a few days to remove the tannins from the leaves. It won't remove them completely, but a LOT of them will come out in just a few days.

Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 1:18 pm
by badflash
I collect the leaves after they have been through the winter. No need to soak.