Two Sugars And Semi Skimmed Milk

[OohFeeshy]

I've been wondering about this for a while, don't laugh But what actually is stopping you from using ordinary tea bags to create tanninated water (ie, for bettas). Its still tannic acid, right? Surely if its suitable to drink, it's fish safe? Or should I keep my teabags for me? Answers on a stamped addresses post below, s'il vous plait.

 

[kenneth_kpe]

What kind of tea ? jasmine ? green ? oolong tea ? hehehe but seriously ?? is this possible ?

 

[pseud]

I wouldn't.

 

[OohFeeshy]

LOL, normal tea, although depending on the chemicals organic decaf. Since no one answered yesterday, and the best answer I got on chat was something along the lines of 'dunno, just doesn't seem a good ide for some reason, no idea why though', I thought I might as well try it. Currently Tiberia is swimming around in cold tea, no ill effects thus far, no benefits observed although she doesn't seem to need a pick me up. I'll leave it another day then use a teabag in the water of one of the bettas recently posted to me, who's still sluggish, not bubblenesting, recovering from finrot etc.

 

[pseud]

LOL, normal tea, although depending on the chemicals organic decaf. Since no one answered yesterday, and the best answer I got on chat was something along the lines of 'dunno, just doesn't seem a good ide for some reason, no idea why though', I thought I might as well try it. Currently Tiberia is swimming around in cold tea, no ill effects thus far, no benefits observed although she doesn't seem to need a pick me up. I'll leave it another day then use a teabag in the water of one of the bettas recently posted to me, who's still sluggish, not bubblenesting, recovering from finrot etc.

lol you're crazy

 

[yvez9]

why not just use peat? or indian almond leaves...

although they do make tea with almond leaves

 

[simonbrown403]

why not just use peat? or indian almond leaves...

although they do make tea with almond leaves

Tea bags are always in the cupborad.

i could see it having some positive affects, as some of the things in tea has a mild antiseptic affect.

The only problems is where do you stop a pick me up cup of coffee in the morning

No seriously keep us posted.

 

[ncjharris]

I assume the effects of caffine on fish is minor!?!

The only problems I could see would be

1) - the bleach used in the manufacture of the tea bag leaching into the water
2) - any chemicals used in the 'sterilisation' of the tea leaves having a detremental effect on the water.

Interesting idea - you could try different types to see what the fish prefer - green tea, mint, camomile, cranberry, elderflower and raspberry?!

 

[Juno]

i had an article somewhere that details this. it is not only possible but quite safe. to my knowledge some of the fishkeepers here add it to their New world cichild setups with good results. so in short yes it can be done.

edit: found a bit more info it seems that ceylon tea is ok to use and some of the rooibos varities from SA. (rooibos = red bush) this works best for fish that live in "blackwater" in their natural habitat. also steer away from using tea in bags, buy the loose leaves and make your own bag from an old pair of pantyhose.

hope it helps. will try and locate the article and post it if I can find it again.

 

[simonbrown403]

Sounds intresting

 

[OohFeeshy]

i had an article somewhere that details this. it is not only possible but quite safe. to my knowledge some of the fishkeepers here add it to their New world cichild setups with good results. so in short yes it can be done.

edit: found a bit more info it seems that ceylon tea is ok to use and some of the rooibos varities from SA. (rooibos = red bush) this works best for fish that live in "blackwater" in their natural habitat. also steer away from using tea in bags, buy the loose leaves and make your own bag from an old pair of pantyhose.

hope it helps. will try and locate the article and post it if I can find it again.

Thanks for the information, I sense a trip to some sort of shop that sells different sorts of tea is in order As for the using peat, I'm not after something permanent as-per-say, I'm after something to use to encourage bettas to spawn and a general quick pick me up. I've got some peat granules,but they're not very good at all, tbh. I might also try CFC's advice, which was to buy some organic peat and get a handful of oak leaves and boil them up for a few hours, if I can get a pan. And peat. And oak leaves

 

[yvez9]

why not use indiam almond leaves?
they're known to do what you want top do with tea

they help for a quick picker-upper and encourage spwaning

anyway, it is a nice experiment to try out

good luck!

 

[OohFeeshy]

why not use indiam almond leaves?
they're known to do what you want top do with tea

they help for a quick picker-upper and encourage spwaning

anyway, it is a nice experiment to try out

good luck!

Because IAL is expensive and not readily available . I'd use oak leaves if we had any oak trees, and all the leaves are swept up very quickly anyway. I remember what I was going to post though. The only problem is 'tea scum', I have hard, alkaline water so the tannic acid reacts with it, causing a nasty scum on the water. I was planning on experimenting with ion exchange resin anyway (proably buy some cheap water filters), that should clear it up. And also help, since the majority of fish are from softwater area anyway.

 

[Bloo]

If you pm your address to me again, I have 4 IAL leaves I can send to you.
Failing that, I suggest you try rooibos tea - no caffeine but lovely tannins. Though I actually don't have a clue what the effects are in fish so suggest you do some further research.

 

[OohFeeshy]

I was going to try some of the rooibos. For now I'm experimenting with a concentrated 'peat extract' thing I made, boiling up peat in a bit of water and decanting off the liquid (storing it in a sealed glass jar with some peat at the bottom). It's quite strong, 5ml gave a very light yellow colour to a 1.5g but I'd like something a bit more concentrated. It probably would have been better with more water to start off with and boiling for longer.