treatment of bones,for aquariums

[desash]

hi to who ever reads my question...can any body please tell how to treat a skull for my fish tank?.if anyone could help me that would be

 

[desash]

need this problem solved plz.

 

[Fruitbat]

desash...

Putting a real skull in your aquarium will be problemmatical for a couple of reasons. First of all...it is very difficult to get a skull completely cleaned of all extraneous remnants of such unpleasant things as cartilage, ligaments, brains, etc. If you put a skull in your tank that isn't totally clean then you risk having the stuff decompose and cause real problems with your water parameters.

Secondly...being natural bone...the skull is eventually going to be broken down by bacteria in your aquarium. I wouldn't expect it to last more than a year or so.

You might be better off trying to find a reproduction skull made of aquarium-safe material.

Oh...and welcome to Aquarium Advice!!

 

[TankGirl]

You could try to completely seal the skull with aquarium safe clear epoxy, like is done for real shells so they do not affect the pH. The acidic tendency that many tanks have will decompose the bone and create problems otherwise.

 

[RogerMcAllen]

Just get a fake, that is what shawmutt did.

 

[TankGirl]

Shawmutt!

 

[shawmutt]

Yeah, my avatar is a fake jaguar skull, after a month or so in the aquarium, it looks like the real thing. Check it out in my gallery. I got it at petsmart for under $10. For an idea of the size, that little fish you see in my avatar is a cardinal tetra...about 2" long. The tank in my gallery is a 30 gallon.

 

[FishyDan]

it is very difficult to get a skull completely cleaned of all extraneous remnants of such unpleasant things as cartilage, ligaments, brains, etc

Put it on an ant hill for a week or so. They will completely strip it of anything. then boil it, dump the water, rinse it, and repeat for 3 times or until the water comes out clear. Be aware that even after it is completely cleaned out, it will slowly degrade and mess up your water parameters. But as long as you are doing weekly water changes, you will not have any problems with it.

 

[TankGirl]

My husband did the ant hill treatment on a javelina skull when he was a kid, and we still have the thing - it is not dissimilar to the jaguar skull, actually, with the tusks. He grew up on Phoenix, though, where ant hills are not too hard to find! I think I might have trouble finding one around here, LOL...