My Tank Finally With Fish In It

Glad they're entertaining you.

Even if/when the almond leaves do sink, you'll probably find that the fish like to rest just above or explore the leaves.

Other options for providing some shade for the fish might be traditional floating plants such as Amazonian frogbit, salvinia and riccia fluitans; I rarely see these in my LFS but they can be bought online. Alternatively, others on here drape hornwort and water sprite over decor to create a floating plant type effect. I’m currently doing this with elodea and it’s creating quite a dramatic, 3D-like effect as it’s sending down root-like runners rather like the lovely Amazonian frogbit does and the fish seem to like settling alongside these.  I use fish feeding squares at the top of my tank to contain floating plants ie prevent them getting buffeted around in the water flow.  If this is a problem for you, then I’d advise getting a few of these. While I find that the “traditional” floating plants don’t last very long at all in these, most likely at least in part due to being contained in these squares, draping the other plants I mention over them tend to fare better.  Hope that’s useful.