London Plane: is it aquarium safe?

[bekateen]

Hi All,

In this thread by @dw1305, there is discussion that Platanus orientalis leaves are aquarium safe. What about other Platanus, and what about its wood?

My university campus is heavily planted with London Plane trees (a Platanus hybrid, referred to either as Platanus × acerifolia or Platanus × hispanica (Wikipedia). Are their branches and leaves aquarium safe? ... most importantly, is the wood and bark safe? I'm considering drilling the branches for caves.

Thanks,
Eric

[dw1305]

Hi all,
@bekateen the wood is fine to use. You may find that some of it already has a central cavity, I have bits in some of my tanks. Do you have Black Locust Trees (Robinia pseudoacacia) on campus as well? That is another good one.

I haven't tried Plane leaves again recently, I have easy access to Loquat (Eriobotrya japonica) and Evergreen Magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora) so I tend to use those as "structural leaf litter".

My university campus is heavily planted with London Plane trees (a Platanus hybrid, referred to either as Platanus × acerifolia or Platanus × hispanica (Wikipedia)........

One of our campuses is the same, it has a number of really big "London Plane" trees, which I assume were planted about 1760 (It is a "Capability Brown" landscape). Another one of our campuses is at Corsham Court (also a "Brown" landscape) and this has one of the largest and oldest Oriental Planes (P. orientalis) in the UK.

The naming of exact parentage of London Plane (Platanus x acerifolia) is actually open to question, mainly because the American P. occidentalis ("Sycamore", Buttonwood) doesn't get on very well with European cool, wet summers, so it is possible that London Plane is actually a selected form of P. orientalis, rather than the hybrid between the European and American trees.

cheers Darrel

[bekateen]

Thanks Darrel. Excellent info.

Cheers, Eric

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Thanks Darrel. Excellent info. Cheers, Eric

I'm really good with plants, it's fish I struggle with.

cheers Darrel

[MChambers]

Good to know! We just had a London Plane tree planted in front of our house last fall. I’ve been meaning to experiment with the bark.

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Good to know! We just had a London Plane tree planted in front of our house last fall. I’ve been meaning to experiment with the bark.

I've never been to the United States but from the little bit of research I did yesterday it seems that even with you London Plane is planted much more widely than your native species.

In my experience neither the bark nor the leaves of London Plane produced much in the way of tannins. The leaves are really persistent in the tank, possibly because they aren't particularly attractive to invertebrate leaf shredders (I don't have Cherry shrimps any more, but I have Asellus and Crangonyx in the tanks).

cheers Darrel

[gossei]

I've been using Sycamore leaves in my tanks for several years now, simply to provide more variation to the leaf litter look. Agree with Darrel that the leaves do not add much by way of tannins. They do, as Darrel noted, last much longer than similar-looking maple leaves (I get the occasional in with the oak leaves from my yard). Can't speak to shrimp friendliness.

Blaise

[MChambers]

Hi all,

Good to know! We just had a London Plane tree planted in front of our house last fall. I’ve been meaning to experiment with the bark.

I've never been to the United States but from the little bit of research I did yesterday it seems that even with you London Plane is planted much more widely than your native species.

My understanding is that the London Plane is quite sturdy and able to thrive as a city tree. In our case, the city planted it in the strip between the street and the sidewalk, where other trees will struggle.

[MChambers]

I've been using Sycamore leaves in my tanks for several years now, simply to provide more variation to the leaf litter look. Agree with Darrel that the leaves do not add much by way of tannins. They do, as Darrel noted, last much longer than similar-looking maple leaves (I get the occasional in with the oak leaves from my yard). Can't speak to shrimp friendliness.

Blaise

Thanks, Blaise. This doesn’t surprise me. I was hoping the bark might be attractive in a tank, but the leaves seem pretty insubstantial.

[gossei]

They're not insubstantial size-wise, but they don't last as long as oak leaves. Leaves I've been tempted to try are Bradford Pear. Those things take forever to break down in the yard.

Blaise