SunGrow 50 pcs Catappa Indian Almond Leaves – 2” Water Conditioner for Betta Fish Tank, Aquarium Leaf for Fish Breeding, Shrimp, Goldfish, Guppy & Frogs

Smaller than I anticipated, but I'm used to the large catappa leaves. I usually boil the leaves to make a dark tea that I cool before adding to the tank, but these leaves seem a little water resistant and slowly release their tannins. I'm leaving 5 stars because it came as described and it probably makes good substrate litter for shrimp.

Well-packaged. Arrived dry and crispy, as expected. Effective at releasing tannins. Small size, perfect for tadpole cups - only need one leaf per cup for a deep amber color. Will definitely order again.

I have a 10 gallon tank. It is well filtered and heated. I condition the water and add beneficial bacteria. I do water changes every two weeks and nearly a full change each month. I also have four different species of plants. I have a female betta and one female danio ( I had 3 danios, but the female betta killed them. She has lived peacefully with the third danio for weeks in account of the danio swims super fast, so the betta gave up. Also they are both happy and healthy.) Good, now that we have a little backstory, let me tell you my experience with these almond leaves. When I first received the package, the leaves were lovely in shape and were not too fragile. They held their form well. I put seven leaves in the tank. The package said 10 leaves for 12 gallons but I have a 10 gallon. Immediately my curious betta examined the leaves. She continues to attempt to eat the stem, possibly because it resembles her feeding tongs. My betta was glass surfing because a plant was dying in my tank and had gone unnoticed. I purchased these leaves to hopefully reduce the stress of the ammonia spike that had happened previously. Immediately after adding the leafs I see a change in attitude and she is playful and relaxed. My danio doesn't really care, but I know this meant a lot for my betta. At first, the leaves do not match the color of the leaves advertised. I wasn't very worried about what the color would be when they arrived, I was more worried about the fragility of them considering they're dried leaves coming in the mail. Like I said they arrived safely and have wonderful form. After 8 hours of them still floating at the top, I decided to flip them over. To which most of them sank within 30 seconds. The package label stated that I could use 20 to 30 leaves in a 12 gallon tank if a stronger color was desired. I was using these leaves for medicinal reasons. I had initially thought that adding too many leaves could be toxic. I will keep this in mind for the future. I took a final picture after 3 days of leaves in a ten gallon. I can see a light coloration in the water and the leaves now have a vibrant red-brown color. Great value for my money, and well worth the buy. I will be purchasing again in the future. It's unfortunate that so many people were not patient enough with the product. Many reviews that I saw on here were about how the leaves didn't match the color in the picture. Their loss!

10/10/2023: I bought this product "100pc Catappa IAL Leaves" on September 18, 2023. Safe to say I've used this product (multiple leaves) over the course of a month for both my tanks. It does work as hides for my ghost shrimp and they love to graze on it, BUT- it does NOT have the desired effects! No tannins! I tried making a tannin extract with multiple leaves in a small glass container with BOILING water, as I've done before with larger leaves that came from Vietnam (home country). Wanna know the results? No tannins! The Vietnamese leaves were also catappa leaves, and they leaked tannins, tons of them! I boiled both types of leaves to rid of pests, but I am absolutely FLOORED with the SunGrow product! I love the tannin effect, this product has not been the greatest. Next time anyone I know goes to Vietnam, I'll be sure to ask them to take more catappa leaves instead of buying from here again. 4/26/2024: hello again. I've had these ins forage for a while and decided to bring them out again, to try it again to see if time had affected the product(s). The first time I used these was the review above. It never leaked significant amounts of tannins, or any at all. My previous time was boiling (again), but I had incorporated boiling with a pot for several minutes with a large amount of water. It took a long time for the leaves to boil down and change color, but when it did, it looked like the color of the leaves from Vietnam. I added more water (not necessary) and waited more, the water had become tannic after a long time of waiting! After a while, I was able to pour it into my tank (carefully and after it cooled!!!!) and the tank had changed very nicely! This time, today, I'm just putting it into a small pot of water with some leaves. I can already smell the tea lol, and the leaves' color has changed drastically, though the water isn't stained yet. The method I'm using now is a DIY Blackwater extract, aka tannin extract. My goal is to achieve the same effects as the first successful time. lol I can already see the tannins coming out. Uh, what I wanted to say was, if it doesn't seem fresh enough or "work" for you, please consider making a backwater/tannin extract with these leaves. They will break down in the boiling water eventually, causing tannins to leak. You might have to wait a long time though. I'm already about 5-15minutes into boiling these "stale" ones I got the first time around.

Theres a lot in here they're very small though! They're mini size. So when online somewhere it says to add 1-2 to your tank, they usually mean the giant hand sized leaves, and you can & should do a few more of these mini ones. They make a great leaf litter look. Betta fish love them!

Oh my gosh I love this stuff including my betta fish, And it really helps with the water making it perfect for the betta fish and his health, And it's truly easy to use I just put it straight into my tank and allow it to do what it needs to do, And it lasts a long time, This stuff is so safe and so beneficial for your fish tank and your plants.

Our betta was stressed and its back fin was completely destroyed. I added one of these leaves a week and a half ago and his color has completely changed and his fin is growing back. He also hasn’t been hiding as much and is swimming a lot easier than he was before I added the leaf!

I love this product, and my betta does too! It does change the color of the water, but it perfectly balanced the levels in my tank and it doesn’t look dirty it looks natural. All I had to do was toss a couple in the top of my tank and within a couple minutes my tank was where it needed to be. So all in all they were easy to use, they are great quality, safe for my fish, and make the tank healthy. I will definitely be using this again and again.

Avertissement préalable : je ne suis pas botaniste et je ne suis pas en mesure de garantir que c'est bien de la catappa. Ceci dit, je n'a aucune raison de douter du contraire. Pour ma part j'apprécie ce produit car il permet d'obtenir tous les avantages de la catappa dans un format pratique et à un bon rapport qualité prix. Les feuilles sont correctes et bien emballées (voir photo). Dans l'eau, les feuilles sont "dures" et se dégradent très lentement. Dans 60l j'ai créé un petite "litière" de feuille, dans un coin (8 feuilles). La coloration est légère. Les occupants ont l'air détendus (impression ?) et ça fait un terrain de jeu pour les crevettes. Je le conseillerais pour "recharger" un petit bac, ou créer une petite litière de feuille dans un bac plus grand, le tout à petit prix. Avantage de la catappa : - a un certain effet "médical" sur les poissons : antistress, antifongique - donne une couleur ambrée et naturelle à l'eau - aide à acidifier l'eau grâce au tanin - offre un environnement adapté aux crustacés et à la micro faune - libère des nutriments utiles aux plantes Avertissement sur la catappa : c'est une plante qui contient naturellement des substances actives et doit être considérée comme un médicament. Il faut donc rester dans une consommation raisonnable et ne pas bourrer un bac avec. Dans le cas d'une litière, vous pouvez mélanger avec d'autres feuilles adaptées. Il faut également respecter les usages d'entretien normaux avec des changements d'eau réguliers (20%/semaine). Rappelons que la plupart des poissons vendus dans le commerce sont des poissons de rivière où l'eau se renouvelle constamment. Ils ne sont donc pas faits pour subir une sur concentration x ou y. Vérifiez les espèces que vous maintenez pour leur apporter un environnement adapté. Si vous avez des questions, n'hésitez pas à vous rapprocher d'un forum spécialisé Et si mon commentaire vous a aidé, merci de cliquer sur "utile", ça fait toujours plaisir :)

I bought this as I wanted to add leaf litter to my aquarium, I added 5 or 6 leaves once a month with no issues, these are quite small maybe no bigger then 2 50pence coins put together, but they did exactly what I wanted them to, I believe they are good value for money and they didn't change the colour of my water.

brillant for my black water tank!

Buena calidad

Ich habe die Catappa Leaves bestellt, um meinem Aquarium ein tropisches Regenwald-Feeling zu geben, und bin total zufrieden. Die Blätter sehen sehr natürlich aus und färben das Wasser leicht bräunlich, was den Fischen und Garnelen sehr zugutekommt. Meine Fische scheinen die Versteckmöglichkeiten zu lieben und wirken entspannter, seit die Blätter im Becken sind. Besonders praktisch finde ich, dass die Blätter antibakterielle Eigenschaften haben und das Wasser auf natürliche Weise leicht säuern – ideal für tropische Fischarten. Sie halten lange, lassen sich einfach ins Aquarium legen und sorgen für eine schöne, natürliche Optik. Fazit: Für mich ein absolutes Must-Have, wenn man ein tropisches Aquarium gestalten möchte – natürlich, praktisch und effektiv. Würde ich jederzeit wieder kaufen!