How To preserve Dead Fish

**armaggedonx** · 02-28-2008, 5:32 PM

Does anyone know how to preserve dead fish's bones? Ive herd of boiling and tweezers but that never works for me. I seen on TV a magazine that came with preserved incest in like a very clear plastic.....does anyone know any plastic like that that comes in way it would be possible to enclose your fish in it to keep its skin and so on?

Keith

**muckieman** · 02-28-2008, 5:57 PM

would be very cool to do that i would have like to do that with a 4ft silver aro!

**id10t** · 02-28-2008, 6:07 PM

Hit a local owned hardware place (support local instead of Home Depot or Lowes) and tell them you want some clear acrylic to cast a mold with... they should have something. Once you've got that, you just need to build a mold big enough for the specimen and wait for it to die... hopefully in good shape. Once Nemo is pining for the proverbial fjords, you can mix a little let it thicken just a tad and pour it in the mold, then add Nemo, maybe support with something until you pour enough to cover and support 'im.

**pdbrady** · 02-28-2008, 6:09 PM

Originally Posted by armaggedonx;1560090;

Does anyone know how to preserve dead fish's bones? Ive herd of boiling and tweezers but that never works for me. I seen on TV a magazine that came with preserved incest in like a very clear plastic.....does anyone know any plastic like that that comes in way it would be possible to enclose your fish in it to keep its skin and so on?

Keith

Preserved incest sounds pretty gross.......but what you're wanting to do sounds pretty cool!

**Burtess** · 02-28-2008, 6:18 PM

Originally Posted by id10t;1560212;

Hit a local owned hardware place (support local instead of Home Depot or Lowes) and tell them you want some clear acrylic to cast a mold with... they should have something. Once you've got that, you just need to build a mold big enough for the specimen and wait for it to die... hopefully in good shape. Once Nemo is pining for the proverbial fjords, you can mix a little let it thicken just a tad and pour it in the mold, then add Nemo, maybe support with something until you pour enough to cover and support 'im.

That is still going to rot in there.... You would have to completely remove the flesh first. Why don't you consider taxidermy?

Burt

**haloman02** · 02-28-2008, 6:41 PM

Originally Posted by Burtess;1560257;

That is still going to rot in there.... You would have to completely remove the flesh first. Why don't you consider taxidermy?

Burt

I agree + 5

**amctaxidermy** · 02-28-2008, 6:53 PM

Being a taxidermist myself, I am going to be upfront with you. Your idea is not going to work. You can't just embed a dead animal within resin and expect it not to rot. You have two options here: A.) Pickle the fish in a jar of alcohol or formeldahyde. Make sure you use a sharp needle and poke a few holes through the flesh to allow penetration of the preservative through through the skin. Also note that this is going to turn whatever brightly colored fish you once had into a sickly yellow brown bottle of dill cichlid. B.) If you want just the bones, I would look for a taxidermist in the area who works with dermistid beetles to clean skeletons and go from there. Also maybe contact a place I believe is called skull works that does dermistid beetle cleaning.

You could also take your specimen to a local taxidermist, and depending on the size of your fish it will be either conventionally mounted or freeze dried. You can also have a reproduction made of it. There are several world champion fish taxidermists who use replicas almost exclusively. I thought I would just chime in with my two cents

**akskirmish** · 02-28-2008, 7:08 PM

Pretty good topic here...
http://www.piranha-fury.com/pfury/in...pic=168951&hl=

**pdbrady** · 02-28-2008, 7:28 PM

Originally Posted by amctaxidermy;1560373;

Being a taxidermist myself, I am going to be upfront with you. Your idea is not going to work. You can't just embed a dead animal within resin and expect it not to rot. You have two options here: A.) Pickle the fish in a jar of alcohol or formeldahyde. Make sure you use a sharp needle and poke a few holes through the flesh to allow penetration of the preservative through through the skin. Also note that this is going to turn whatever brightly colored fish you once had into a sickly yellow brown bottle of dill cichlid. B.) If you want just the bones, I would look for a taxidermist in the area who works with dermistid beetles to clean skeletons and go from there. Also maybe contact a place I believe is called skull works that does dermistid beetle cleaning.

You could also take your specimen to a local taxidermist, and depending on the size of your fish it will be either conventionally mounted or freeze dried. You can also have a reproduction made of it. There are several world champion fish taxidermists who use replicas almost exclusively. I thought I would just chime in with my two cents

Very good info.