Tropical Fish Forum
Tropical Fish Keeping Help and Advice => New Fishkeepers => Topic started by: pandaman on September 17, 2016, 11:37:09 PM
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Hi everyone,
Another newbie with a stupid question!
I'm new to using forums, so please forgive me if i make a mistake and get things wrong!
I have a 125 ltr tropical freshwater tank.
I have it heavily planted and at the moment all I have in it is 10 Cherry shrimps and 5 Panda corys.
Everything is fine and the water is well balanced, I am using pressurised Co2.
I read articles on the web that leaves can be beneficial to the fish and the aquarium environment in general.
I have read about using Banana leaves, I have two banana plants growing, one is an outdoor hardy plant the other is a indoor red banana plant.
Could I use some of the leaves from them if I dried them well, they have not been sprayed with anything and I would wash them well.
Or are the banana leave that you can buy on line from a particular banana plant?
Thanks in advance :)
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Welcome to the forum, @pandaman :wave: and always good to hear about people's tanks and see pics, so thanks for that.
Personally, I've never used banana leaves, but a quick look around the web looks as though they are fine to use eg https://www.drak.de/en/freshwater/natural-products/banana-leaves.html in much the same way as catappa / Indian almond leaves are used, and it's also possible to buy banana plants for an aquarium.
Using your own plants' leaves, after thorough washing and as they haven't been sprayed with anything, sounds a possibility [however, I'd wait for others to reply in case they have further advice on this] but I'd err on the side of caution, at least at first, and buy them from a reputable retailer. If the tank inhabitants are fine with them, then you might consider using your own in due course.
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The only times I would be wary of using your own leaves are:
Outdoor plant - if you live in an area affected by industrial pollution or a farming area where insecticide is regularly sprayed on fields
Indoor plant - if anyone in the household uses a lot of sprays eg perfume, deodorant, insect spray, air fresheners (even the plug in kind)
The reason for this is that I don't know how much of these things would be taken up by the plants and stored in the leaves. You say you haven't sprayed them directly but anything in the air could potentially be absorbed especially if it is washed down into the ground/compost.
If none of the above apply, your leaves should be fine.
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Hi guys,
Thanks for the welcome, and your helpful advice.
I live in a semi-rural setting with no heavy traffic in the area so I think the banana leaves should be ok.
I will dry some out and try just a small piece to start with and keep a close eye on things.
If anyone is interested I will post the results in case other people have banana plants they would like to use. ;)
Cheers
Dave
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Wow, great photo :fishy1:
Let us know how you get on.
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Thanks Matt,
Just a quicky, I know its not a fishy question but as I mentioned I am new to this forum game, can you tell me what is meant by the like icon?
And am I doing posting and replying correctly?
Dave
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Wow indeed - lovely pic.
The "like" icon is to show your appreciation if you like the advice given (although it could actually be used for other reasons eg liking a pic or a good situation such as someone's fish having recovered). I'm not sure that it's being used that often, though - thanks for the reminder.
You're doing everything well, Dave - in fact, you get bonus points for posting pics in your first few posts, especially such good ones. Well done. We're a friendly lot here, so you've joined the right place. :)
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And am I doing posting and replying correctly?
Only thing I would add to fcmf's post is the option, should you need/want it, to quote a previous post or part of it rather than simply reply. This option is in the top right of each post. You can also use the @ symbol in front of someone's name to 'mention' them in a post, giving them a notification encouraging them to read it @pandaman
Your doing great, I'm excited to see more pictures 8)
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Hi Pandaman.
I like your tank and am very impressed with your planting.
Also like your panda cory. I have a group of them in my Betta tank and love the markings. :)
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Hi All,
Thank you all very much for your kind comments.
I like to try and create a natural looking environment in my tank.
No bubbling divers or pearl oysters for me :))
Aren't Pandas cute they remind me of a lot of mischievous Jack Russells when they go grubbing about in the sand.
I also like to keep my budget down by a DIY approach.
I dont know if you can see in the main tank photo there is a large piece of slate.
I could have bought a piece of slate specifically for aquarium tanks, a small piece was about £7.99
But the piece I got was about 3 kilos from a garden center and cost £3.99
It is inert and splits very easily.
Here is a photo of a shrimp cave I made simply by splitting the slate into small bits and super gluing them together to form a nice little hideaway for my cherries, ahh.