Leaf litter in aquatic vivaria

[justin]

I'm curious if anyone uses leaf litter in the aquatic portions of their terrariums. Obviously ones would need to be selected that don't have toxic secretions and would not break down easily in the water, but things like Oak or Magnolia should do fine. Also, on a related question, would the tannins affect them (the tinting of the water--again not toxic compounds). It's just something that I had done in the past with Dendrobatid tadpoles with high success. They were great visual barriers and I like the idea of having a bit of tannins with the tadpoles.
j

 

[jeff]

I am not sure about magnolia, but apple trees, cherry, and other hardwoods would seem to be fine to me, but I am not a fan of putting stuff from the outdoors, It causes me stress and I worry about things like nitrate/nitrite levels.

 

[mark]

Justin - I have frequently used leafs in my pond setups and after a couple years of doing so have yet to experience any sort of adverse effect. Besides being aesthetically appealing I feel they might also be beneficial to the animals in the tannins they leech. As far as leaves go, you are right, I have found oaks (particularly live oaks) and magnolias resist decomposing the best in this setting.

 

[justin]

Thank you very much Mark. I was thinking of some places I have seen N. viridescens and there if often leaf litter there. I think it would be nice for pond species for sure. As for the tannins, I agree for sure that I think they are good-- especially with regular water changes I would not see problems. If anything less fungal issues with eggs.
j

 

[justin]

Sorry, to reply to Jeff, I would either bake them at a lower temperature for some time to kill off things like Chytrid or have them completely dry out for a few weeks. These would be sufficient for most things I would be worried about.
j

 

[edward]

I have used them as a visual barrier when rearing A. opacum.

Ed

 

[joseph]

No personal experience but oak leaves are often used by people who raise blackwater fish like apistos, tetras, killies etc.

I just wish I had an oak tree/knew someone who has one round here.

 

[alan]

I use oak leaves with my Typhlonectes. Mmm, brown...

 

[andrew]

Here is a link to a nice aquarium project that used dead leaves. Hope you like it, I thought it was pretty.

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/showthread.php?t=10594&goto=nextoldest

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/showthread.php?t=9611&page=4

 

[alan]

I'm all in favour of the use of (clean) leaves in both aquatic and terrestrial setups

BUT:

There was a program shown on UK TV this year about an expensive expedition to film Amazonian fish. Result? They could hardly film anything because of the high turbidity almost everywhere they went. No matter how much the asinine presenter jumped about screeching, it wasn't that exciting (assuming you were interested in seeing fish rather than mud).

The point? Just because we can recreate a biotope accurately doesn't mean we have to!

 

[justin]

I agree. Those tanks were beautiful, but in every river/stream I've swam or waded through was a great deal of mud. The only notable exceptions are streams with Atelopus, but those are very few. I do think that I will add some leaves in the near future, but first I will dry them for a few weeks.
j

 

[erik]

I also use leaves with Necturus, etc... since they hide in them in the wild. The only problem comes when doing water changes- the siphon will clog frequently with leaves and small decomposing leaf parts that are sucked up. It can be pretty frustrating.