Anyone know the best way to keep a fish's skeleton after it dies? Someone posted it before but now I can't find it. Anybody know?
keeping a dead fish skeleton?
- Thread starter Derf
- Start date
you boil it until most of the skin and meat fall of, then keep boiling it while you take it out and pick all the leftover "meat" off of it with a tweezers. it takes some time and patience but eventually you are left with just the skeleton. i suppose you could perserve the whole fish, idk what kind of fluids you'd need for that, probably some very high proof alchohol would work.
good thread,im curious of this also.
when my payaras go
i plan to do this 
i would guess put the fish in an ant pile and it will be clean in no time.
i did it once to a snake and had skin and bones left.
when my payaras go
i plan to do this i would guess put the fish in an ant pile and it will be clean in no time.
i did it once to a snake and had skin and bones left.
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18577&page=23&highlight=dead+fish
scroll down and theres a bunch of them
scroll down and theres a bunch of them
crazy lookin and crazy collection.
i need a dead fish now
necrocanis vbmenu_register("postmenu_915664", true);
Redtailed Catfish
Usergroup: MFK Members
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: montana
Last Activity: Today 08:11 AM
Posts: 1,566
Glad to see the interest in the skeletons. I will make another thread to show how it's done when i do another one. Right now I am just in the assembly stage of several of them. There's a few different ways to do it though if anyone would like to do some research. You can boil large specimens, prepare any sized individuals for dermestid beetle colonies, or maceration(ugh very smelly) lol. Dermestids are probably the safest bet. never use bleach on a skull or skeleton as it will break down the molecular bonds of the calcium, and you will end up with chalky skulls that disentigrate over time. Use peroxide to whiten, to remove grease from the bones, use turpintine, laquer thinner, ammonia, ect. Whiten after degreasing. If anyone has a pet they would like to keep the skeleton I would do it for a small fee plus shipping handling, and costs of materials. Good advertisement lol. Just send pm.
"""did he ever make a thread?hmm""""
what about my ant idea tho?
you can try this. lay a half inch or more of salt. put the fish. then put another inch of salt. the put in a warm dry place.
fish should dry up and the salt should asorbe the moisture and fluids.
you may also want to gut the fish and pack the cavity with salt also.
fish should dry up and the salt should asorbe the moisture and fluids.
you may also want to gut the fish and pack the cavity with salt also.