# Tea?



## Pogthefish (Mar 24, 2012)

I hear you can give your bettas tea.. can I do it for pog just as a treat, i dunno its cool  

Can you use reg. caffinated green tea?


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## Micho (Aug 22, 2011)

No.

For green tea, try to find organic/pure tea with no extra additives, it also has to be de-caffeinated. When you look at the ingredients list, make sure it just says "green tea", nothing else.


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## Sivan (Aug 30, 2010)

I have heard of tea being used but I'd rather use Indian Oak Leafs to give them a treat. Its basically tea for bettas that has tons of benefits! In any case, do stay away from anything with additives such as caffeine.


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## Cattitude (Apr 19, 2012)

I use pure rooibos (red) tea. It is naturally caffeine-free. You can get it at most major grocery chains. It's excellent for healing fin damage and the fish seem more "perky". 

Soak a tea bag in the tank until the water is a medium-yellow-red colour. Here's a pic of one of my tanks as a guide.


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## Pogthefish (Mar 24, 2012)

ok, pure red tea, got it


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

It's Indian almond leaves.


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## MrVampire181 (May 12, 2009)

I would never put tea with my bettas. Indian almond leaves are much cheaper and lot more natural than tea.


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## BeckyFish97 (Apr 9, 2012)

I know this is crazy but could you create your own teabag using IAL?Sorry to jump on the thread I'm just really curious!Sorry!


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## Cattitude (Apr 19, 2012)

BeckyFish97 said:


> I know this is crazy but could you create your own teabag using IAL?Sorry to jump on the thread I'm just really curious!Sorry!


You could break up a leaf and put it in a tea ball* if you wanted to. I'd think it would be just as easy to put a single leaf or piece of a leaf in the tank. 

*perforated metal ball used to steep loose-leaf tea


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## Cattitude (Apr 19, 2012)

MrVampire181 said:


> I would never put tea with my bettas. Indian almond leaves are much cheaper and lot more natural than tea.


I haven't noticed any harm from using rooibos tea, however I have since read that IAL or even oak leaves are more potent because they contain tannins. Apparently rooibos doesn't have tannin. I'm now waiting for my order of IAL to come in from Amy Lim on ebay.


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## nel3 (May 29, 2011)

Cattitude said:


> I use pure rooibos (red) tea. It is naturally caffeine-free. You can get it at most major grocery chains. It's excellent for healing fin damage and the fish seem more "perky".
> 
> Soak a tea bag in the tank until the water is a medium-yellow-red colour. Here's a pic of one of my tanks as a guide.


if you're going to put a teabag in the tank make sure you put in in roughly the same amount of water and the same soaking time. it will drop the PH the longer its in there. i went through this with my green DT. i put the IAL in a 1g milk jug and every WC i put in the concertrated IAL water in varying amounts. some times i used 1/4 to 3/4 of the gallon jug. the result was a PH ranging from 7.4 to 6.4 after a WC. his fins couldnt get used to the wild fluctuations. 

i settled for 800ml of IAL water for the 3.4 and 2,5g tanks each water change and the PH fluctuations have been controlled. now the most i seem to get is around .4 difference before and after a wc. the ph before i put the fish in the new water is pretty close to 7.2 on a consitent basis. you can use a empty milk jug to make the tea bags last longer and control the amount you put in each wc.


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## Cattitude (Apr 19, 2012)

The IAL in a jug is a good idea! Right now I'm not using anything because I'm waiting for my shipment of IAL, but when I get it I will make up jugs of IAL "tea" to add to the next water change for my tanks, instead of putting the leaves in directly.


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## nel3 (May 29, 2011)

Cattitude said:


> The IAL in a jug is a good idea! Right now I'm not using anything because I'm waiting for my shipment of IAL, but when I get it I will make up jugs of IAL "tea" to add to the next water change for my tanks, instead of putting the leaves in directly.


i always have 2 jugs going. i have 2 3.4g KK and a 2.5g tank and evey week and a half i go over a gal of IAL water. at my pace im getting more mileage with IAL jugs than tossing the bags in the water. the jugs are a better idea imo because you dont need to wait for X minutes for the PH to drop.limiting stress due to PH. i dont brew any "tea" i just toss in t=into warm water filled jug and let it sit until i start on the 2nd one. reusing the bag a 2nd time is iffy. i wont drop the ph to 6.0-6.2, it'll probably go to 7.0-7.2 ??? im still waiting to see what it drops to in a 2L bottle.

i chose the teabags out of quantity than top quality. 35c per bag or $15 for fifty compared to 50c tp $1 per leaf of higher quality.


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## laoshun (Apr 3, 2012)

Well if I really have to use it, I use mulberry leaf extract from the natural tea that I drink. It's not too bad, comes from laos.


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## Sheldon31 (Mar 21, 2012)

IAL is magical stuff. I love it, cannot sing enough about the benefits of it. I always have it in my tank 3 leaves for 20g. I am out at the moment! You can make your own liquid form by boiling indian almond leaves and I've seen IAL teabags on ebay.


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