hi everyone,

i notice that a few lfs that sells shrimp put dry leaf together in the tank. anyone knows why?

thanks!

two or three reasons i can think of.
shelter-place to hide,
dried-because these do not leach toxic gum,
food-shrimp like decaying matter,
conditions water a little-leaches tannic and fluvic acids aka 'blackwater'... takes out carbonates making water softer...
erm that's 5...

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you joker lah ...
anyway, the condition part quite interesting. someone told me (was it you ah) shrimps prefer soft and slight acidic water. maybe that's the reason. can anyone confirm this?????

but, will any dry leaf do the job?

haha, i dun even know how to count but try cattapa leaves aka daun ketapang. from indian almond tree...

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so ... confirm it works lah? does the leaves must be 100% dried?

Yes. lfs using Ketapang leaves to make the water slightly acidic and soft to the shrimp. It is not only work for shrimp. But working for lot of fishes. You can find the Herbal leaf selling in nice packing in lfs for $$. It is actually ketapang leaf. But processed.

Nano, you must use the 100% dry leaf. Wash it carefully with pipe water before you introduce it inside yr tank.

Normally i'll put mosses or some hair algae inside the shrimp if it is short distance travel. At least there are some food or place for them to eat/hide.

hmm unfortunately there's not much carbonates in our tap water to soften so it's more as a water conditioner to acidify a little.
heard of peat? cattapa leaves can be made into peat and easy to collect. all over kl pj got this tree. don't know if it's native to malaysia or introduced here.

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if our pipe water is acidic. then all our pipes and containers hv to use the stainless steel or titanium. Else the copper will melt slowly when acidic water running thru and killing us/fishes.

When you guys said PEAT! there are different type of peats. There are coconut peat, ketapang peat, spagnum moss peat,,,etc. you try on the coconut peat n see... hahaha...

ya lor, i collect ketapang to make peat bomb! haha for my discus water...got two big bags...

peat just means decomposing vege matter... so got diff kind for dif usage...

pardon me, coconut peat for planting orchid?

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So many aquascapes, so little time...http://www.my-mac.net/forum/

got ppl using coconut fiber for orchid lar. but nvr see ppl use coconut peat for orchid. ask yr mom lar...she is expert what!

coconut peat normally use to mix with other soil for bonsai....