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Good to know, I have broken down leaf litter in most of my tanks in the form of maple leaves, they break down the fastest, I like the loquat and larger oak leaves more for structure and some seem to like breeding under a leaf than the hut's for the most part, but I do have some breeding pairs...
I use the oak and in my case loquat leaves for cover more than anything, I use them because there stiffer than tank plant leaves, I dont need them for the water as mine [tap] is low PH and almost dead soft. Not sure if this is what your looking for but my thought on it.
The only time I have had any luck with one male and more than one female is with Borellii, I have m/fff in a 40 gl. long with a school of black neon's to help with fry control.
First welcome to the sight.
Myself, I would remove the female you dont want to breed and leave the other pair in the 70L., keep the odd female in another tank in case it does not work out with the other pair.
No matter how many hrs. a week you work you still have to do at least two water changes water changes a week, if you cant, you might want to think about having a tank at a later date when you can devote more time to your tank. Good luck
Apisto's need finer substraight than the pebbles you have, you can get a 40# bag of sand [about 5.00] from Lowes or home depot, just take your time and wash it good. What size tank and can you get a pict. of the whole tank?