Skeleton in Aquarium?

[KittyKatFish100]

Hey this is just an idea, but I've thought that it would be really neat to have a whole animal skeleton of some kind in a fish tank. I can't find any artificial decorations like that so I'm wondering if I could use a real skeleton and how I could treat it or what I would have to do to it to make it tank safe??

 

[Matt724]

probably just bleach and epoxy it.

 

[spwd]

I dont know about an animal skeleton but an lfs we go too has got a human one in the pirahna display,its about 3ft tall but they have him sitting in the water like the fish have eaten him lol
ps,its not a real one lol


steve

 

[The1and only]

I would e mail necrocanis he has the 18x9 catfish tank thread here. I remember reading he does skeleton prep.

 

[koop171]

Long term I'm not sureit would work. I have thought of doing this to myself way back. but Unless you can figure out a way to seal it that is fish safe I don't think it can be done Bone will obsorb water and degrade over time. So finding a way to safely seal it is the big deal.

 

[NatashaAliza]

Yeah I tried this with some skulls and it was okay for a while but then I started to put larger bones in it... Cow femur, vertebraes... And then the water got really foggy, so I took them out, don't recommend it. But if you can figure out a safe cloudy free way I'd really love to know because I have a lot of cool bones.

 

[boldtogether]

This is a morbid thread! Cool. I think if you could encase is some sort of epoxy resin you would be okay. Maybe make a casting with plaster.Ive done that but its kinda involved...fun though.

 

[Oddball]

Bleached white bones do better in tanks that are already at a high pH since the calcium in bones will try to buffer any acidic tank. Of course, bleaching then epoxy coating the bones will render them inert to the water's parameters. But, no matter what the tank's pH is, calcium will continually leech from bones until the skeletal structure destabilized and the bone falls apart. Coating is the best route to follow if you wish to keep the bones for a long time.

 

[Conner]

I would think bleaching and then coating with a clear epoxy resin would make them safe and long-lasting.

 

[wednesday13]

i'd go with the resin. I had an idea to fiberglass a skeleton into the walls or floor of a tank. I've seen it before in the dashes of cars, arm rests,etc. This would be an awesome project. Coffin tank and human skeleton lol