# Indian almond leaves and shrimps



## ShrimpieLove

Hi everyone! 
Just curious what everones opinion is on using almond leaves with shrimps? 
What to look for when buying the leaves? How to prepare them/use them? 
I am thinking of trying to lower my ph of 7.6 slightly so i thought this might be something to try and might be good for new shrimplettes
Any tips/thoughts appreciated 
P.s. Id probably be getting them from Menagerie because theyre close by, anyone know the price roughly?


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## 4rdguy

I picked some up at franks this weekend and they were 5 leaves for 1.00. Not sure about menagerie. 

He recommended 1 leaf per 10 gallons. And once they go clear to replace them. 


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## jimmyjam

yup.. its great for my baby crs , I found them to be very beneficial especially with the little guys. It creates more surface area for little guys to nibble off, and my big ones go through it pretty quick. Not sure if it will effect ph on a small scale like 1 leef /10 gallon. You will probably have to use it similar to Peat moss to get your ph down. I would suggest a better substrate for that purpose (fluval shrimp substrate, ada 1 , or the new netlea soil Ai will be getting)


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## igor.kanshyn

They will not lower pH. I tried to put like 10 big leaves in 20 gallon tank and pH was the same.

*Indian almond leaves have antibacterial and antiparasite effects.* They keep some triterpenic acids that do all the useful stuff. 
Look at TERMINALIA CATAPPA LEAVES FOR THE AQUARIUM article, if you are interested in some proofs 

I can't tell that they are rescue my shrimps, but it looks like they help.

I wash them a little, keep in a bowl of water for several days (that water will be brown like used car oil  ) and then put them in a tank. Very simple, no boiling.

Several leaves for 10 gallon should be fine. Shrimps love to hide in there and eat them as the leaves become softer.


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## Guest

4rdguy said:


> . Not sure about menagerie.


8" x 18" bag full (a number of handfuls of leaves and big pieces of leaves) for $2.99.

there's 8 or 9 kg's of leaves left (a very large amount of leaves)


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## ShrimpieLove

Lots of good info, thanks everyone! Seems they are beneficial your shrimps so it cant hurt to try them, maybe might help more babies survive... 
h_s ill be in to pick some up


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## ShrimpieLove

igor.kanshyn said:


> They will not lower pH. I tried to put like 10 big leaves in 20 gallon tank and pH was the same.
> 
> *Indian almond leaves have antibacterial and antiparasite effects.* They keep some triterpenic acids that do all the useful stuff.
> Look at TERMINALIA CATAPPA LEAVES FOR THE AQUARIUM article, if you are interested in some proofs
> 
> I can't tell that they are rescue my shrimps, but it looks like they help.
> 
> I wash them a little, keep in a bowl of water for several days (that water will be brown like used car oil  ) and then put them in a tank. Very simple, no boiling.
> 
> Several leaves for 10 gallon should be fine. Shrimps love to hide in there and eat them as the leaves become softer.


Igor, I was curious why you keep the leaves in a bowl for several days? the lfs said to just put them right into the tank, so I wondered if I should be doing that or putting them into a bowl for a few days, which is better?


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## ShrimpieLove

Isnt the tannins/brown color a good thing?


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## igor.kanshyn

I don't know for sure why they should be sink in the water first. People do that.

In can for reducing amount of tannin they release. It's too much of it in the beginning. I might need to read more 

I know one reason that I need to do than. It's to make them sink in a tank right away i put them. Dry leaves will not sink without your help. But they will not float after being several days underwater.


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## Jackson

Soaking them first defeats the purpose of using them unless you dump that water in with the leaves. The tannins is what you are using them for. You can boil them and make a black water extract as well. 

Almond leaves do lower ph.


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## igor.kanshyn

Jackson said:


> Soaking them first defeats the purpose of using them unless you dump that water in with the leaves. The tannins is what you are using them for. You can boil them and make a black water extract as well.
> 
> Almond leaves do lower ph.


Initially they release to much tannin and also 'paint' water a lot. So, people soak them to reduce their affect. 
Boiling will kill all bacterias that lives there and might destroy acids. So, they should not be boiled.

Have you tried to use them to lower pH?


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## Chris S

They will lower your pH, yes. If you are using tap water, you will not likely see much change in your pH because of the high buffering capacity of Toronto's tap water (kH).

With RO, they seem to bring the pH down to anywhere between 6.8-6.5, at least in my experience. Not a dramatic change, but a change nonethless.


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## Jackson

igor.kanshyn said:


> Initially they release to much tannin and also 'paint' water a lot. So, people soak them to reduce their affect.
> Boiling will kill all bacterias that lives there and might destroy acids. So, they should not be boiled.
> 
> Have you tried to use them to lower pH?


Yes and it works even with tap water.

Boiling them seems to work well for others. I have read this is a method used by many people who don't want to put the leaves in the tank. They make a black water extract. You should read some of the betta sites they have lots of information on using them. Or they just soak them and dump that water in the tank.

Like I said the tannins is pretty much what you want from them. By soaking them first and dumping the water out is just a waste. I think that's why you don't see any real results.

Personally I love the black water look and so do my fish. They look better and even like eating the leaves. 
Im not sure about them and shrimp. Never really seen it mentioned to be used with them.

I just wanted to add that I have stopped buying the almond leaves since using oak leaves is said to be better and last longer. Plus there are so many oak trees around and it's free. They really make the water black. I also use black alder cones every week.


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## ShrimpieLove

I put one large leaf directly into one of my tanks, it tanned the water pretty quickly, so i checked my ph also, its still the same, im using tap water. Possibly the ph will only change if i use more than one leaf... 
I did have to put a small pebble onto the leaf to keep it from floating 
The shrimps are walking around on it but dont seem that interested in it, maybe once it starts to decay they might nom-nom on it


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## Jackson

As Chris mentioned it won't be a dramatic change especially with tap water. The oak leaves do a much better job IMO I see a much larger drop in ph with them. I was lucky enough to find some just before the snow hit. I am also going to try out some willow leaves I found as well.


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## Chris S

I've found oak leaves have less of an effect on pH, but they do last much longer.


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## Cornputer

Hey Shrimplove I think I bought a bag of this stuff just after you at Menagerie. Here's my two cents on the topic of almond leaves.

I soaked a couple leaves in a large 2L jar. Now the leaf can sink and doesn't release as much tannins. The shrimp like to hide under it. I tested this out in my eco-complete planted tank which has low grade CRS, some have recently dropped babies. I was trying this to see if it helped with the problems with this substrate which causes a slight raise in pH, which isn't ideal for CRS but my plants seem to be growing well and might be countering the bad high pH effect. pH is normally high in this tank at 7.6-8.0. I went so far as dumping half the jar of tannin water into the tank. pH still remained roughly the same. Shrimp are doing fine, 6 low grade CRS and a couple babies. I think the almond leaf does help the shrimp somehow with the naturalness of it. Whatever small benefit, hey at least they have a new hideout


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