Indian Almond leaves / Catappa leaves Grade A+ Leaves
Dried Indian almond or some call it ketapang / Catappa leaves for bettas now Available from FranksBettas! I’ve been growing my IAL tree for over 2 years now and it has gotten to the point in where the leaves are readily available, the leaves are size between 8″ up tp “12 inch which are considered grade A’s.
Indian almond leaves are from Indian almond trees, these trees are found naturally in South east Asia grows, their leaves are highly valuable in the aquarium hobby as a natural source of tannin that is safe for your fish, they can be used for all types of fish which likes soft acidic water and great thing to have for biotopes as these leaves slowly leech tannin and you can remove after a water change or let it naturally decay, I also use these leaves for conditioning when raising young fish into adulthood to help improve colour, scales and fins as it has healing and antifungal properties that helps my bettas grow. It is also great for breeding as it protects fry from common fungal infections that could potentially wipe out your batch I’ve also found that it promotes spawning in bettas and is very helpful in keeping bubble nests intact due to its tannin.
Shipping takes 10-14 days but please be aware that delays may be possible due to Covid restrictions.
These are naturally grown leaves meaning I do not spray the trees with pesticides which many places do which is important to ensure the safety for your fish, this is proven and shown in the small holes on these leaves which is from bite marks of the leaf cutter ants which cut and eat the leaves before they naturally fall and dry out.
The leaves are cleaned very well by me and my wife and I myself use dried Indian almond leaves in all my tanks for wild bettas and fancy bettas, we carefully grade them one by one and flat iron them to look more presentable and easier to pack for shipping.
These are naturally grown leaves meaning I do not spray the trees with pesticides which many places do which is important to ensure the safety for your fish, this is proven and shown in the small holes on these leaves which is from bite marks of the leaf cutter ants which cut and eat the leaves before they naturally fall and dry out.
The leaves are cleaned very well by me and my wife and I myself use dried Indian almond leaves in all my tanks for wild bettas and fancy bettas, we carefully grade them one by one and flat iron them to look more presentable and easier to pack for shipping.
Benefits of Indian almond leaves
PH: Indian almond leaves helps reduce the PH and soften the water of your aquarium which is ideal for soft water aquatic fish such as shrimp, bettas, angelfish, tetras and hundreds more species of fish! They are also used as a way to condition water that may be too hard for direct use so these leaves are used to age water which means they are added to a tub of water that is to be used for an upcoming waterchange to help lower the hardness of the water, dechlorinator is still recommended if you’re aging water with indian almond leaves.
Healing Properties: With its natural healing properties Indian almond leaves helps heal damage scales, fins and any injuries that your fish has experienced, I have healed numerous diseases, injuries and missing scales with Indian almond leaves and it is a wonderful natural medicine to have at hand, split fins will heal overnight and damaged will slowly heal in a few days.
Anti bacterial : if your fish experiences any injuries it is prone to get infections or fungus in their cut or wound, these leaves have natural anti fungal properties to prevent these issues which could save your fish in well needed cases.
Improve coloration: Coloration improvements from tannin has been well known and some fish do much better with some tannin added to their tanks as in nature most biotopes and rivers will contain natural tannin from fallen tree branches and leaves so these leaves replicate their natural environment.
Improve Fins: Fin growth from tannin conditioning in bettas both wilds and fancies have been acknowledged and could be the same for other fish, bettas age 2-4 months are conditioned highly with tannin to promote healthy growth of fins so it is a must in all betta farms so it is very recommended that some tannin should be added in your betta tanks every now and again to help them thrive!
Direction of use
Even though my leaves have been washed, soaked and clean very well it is always recommended that you give it a good soak and rinse before adding to your aquarium, leaves will collect dust and debris when stored so briefly rinsing is a good measure, it is recommended that you remove the middle stem if you do not like an oily film on the surface of your tank, the middle stem is full of oil which could somewhat cloud up your water and create some slime which is unwanted but perfectly natural. If you use almonds leaves it could sometime form a biofilm around the leaf which is common but most leaves do not do this.
Amount to use per L is dependent on your preference if you don’t mind the dark staining of tannin one full 8 inch leaf per 1 gallon is fine but if you want a mild soft yellow look half a leaf would do just fine.
Make an almond leaf brew!
To get the most out of your leaves you could rinse, wash and clean them and boil them at slow heat to extract all the goodness from the leaves and store in a bottle or jar in your fridge but make sure the middle stem is removed to avoid cloudiness. Once you are happy with the extract remove the leaves throw away or feed to shrimps! they’ll slowly eat the soft leaves as they decay, you can even re-dry the leaves in the sun and re use for milder potency of tannin.
Breeding use: When using these leaves for breeding bettas 1 whole leaf or half a leaf is usually recommended simply place in your breeding tank and let the magic work itself, your bettas will usually create a bubblenests under or beside the leaf as it forms a floating cover for your male.