Cones from a pine tree???

[Saman <wmaster26 at yahoo_com>]

walking around in the yard today, I noticed a nice
large pine cone on the ground and a thought came to my
head: "hey! that would look kind of nice in the tank"
(your definitions of "nice" may vary)

Now my main problem would be...well a few things:

first off, pine trees (don't know which species in
particular) are infamous for having allelochemicals in
their leaves [and roots???]  In fact, if you look
carefully under some of these trees, you'll see that
grass doesn't grow well under them.  This is partly
because these chemicals leech into the soil and
prevent competition from other plants (including
conspecifics).  However, a cursory search in the
archives revealed that most allelochemicals act via
the root system.  Also, I don't know if such chemicals
would be present in the cone; and if they are, any
ideas about how long it would take to lure them out in
a bucket of water?

Other problems would include nasty critters, fungi,
tannis, etc...which could be removed by a combination
of water changes/bleach treatment/boiling/more water
changes (all done in a bucket before the specimen is
put into the tank).  Also, choosing the cone is pretty
important.  I believe I would choose one that is
pretty old (all of its scales are open) and one where
most/all of the seeds have been removed by birds or
other creatures) for fear of adding extra organic
material to the tank.  Also, the cone would have to be
robust enough to withstand all the boiling/bleach
treatments and not come apart.

Does anyone have any experience with pine cones in the
tank? [or anything similar]  Any
advice/concerns/recommendations etc.???

Although this might be a short-lived "fad" for me, I
want to give it a try nonetheless...I will report back
to the list with my results in a few weeks.

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