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i got a dead blue eye thats about 12 inch, i dont want to throw her away so i was wondering how to clean her with no damage.
thanks!

Mallemalle

Do you have a natural history museum nearby? They may be able to help preserve it or de-flesh the fish using beetles. You may also be able to do it yourself by repeatedly boiling it and then picking the meat off. Get some other opinions before you try that though

Rusty

Actually, the easiest way to preserve a dead loricariid (without recourse to a museum or boiling) is to slit open the abdomen, remove the viscera, and then place the carcass in a very dry place for about a week or two (of course, you have to make sure no bugs or rats will get at the carcass).

The good thing about loricariids is that once you remove the viscera, they dry with very little trouble.

Add a coat of lacquer once the fish is completely dry for protection and voila!

thanks, ill hope i can get it done before christmas so the forum can get a nice pic under the tree

Mallemalle

Simmer for about 5 - 10 minutes, and few goo pinches of fresh dill, a few teaspoons of lemon juice. Leav to steam for a furth 5 mins, and place under the grill untill brown.

Now there's a christmas present....

Serve with new potatoes and a sprig of holly.

Put it in a woodshavings-filled bucket with a handfull of Buffalo worms or Maggots; they'll clean out the meat and leave the armour intact.

I've dried my share of Loricariids and other critters, by using a container filled with that white sand you can buy for your Parkeet, whatever it's called.
Mummyfied them.

but none were bulky. I have a Giant Millipede and a fine 10" Sturisoma barbatum completely preserved this way.
But those have much armour and little innards, so to speak. A Panaque is much bulkier; much more innards and muscles to stink up the house....

A dead 12" Blue Eye Suttoni? What a pity! Never came across a live specimen of the Blue Eye Suttoni in Singapore....It is extremely rare here...

ps: Sorry....out of topic!

Last week I joined the Stockholm cichlidgroup to a visit to the naturalhistoric museum. We were guided by scientist Sven Kullander through the museums huge collection of alcohol-preserved fishes! "Mortoichtys spirituosus"

They also had lots of fish skeletons there! They for sure have a method! I found their e-mail adresses on the web page, and I am sure they would help you:
[email protected]
[email protected]

The web page is http://www.nrm.se

Lykke til! / Good luck!

Uhh, it's a bit chancy to skeletonize the fish using the standard museum method of a dermestid colony (unless you have the experience). If you don't do it right, the skeleton will completely disarticulate (fall apart) and some of the smaller bones might be eaten.

i was just on the phone with a person at a museum here in Oslo, he is going to make a "copy" (dont know the english word) of the fish first then he is going to skeletonize the fish, so i more or less end up with two fishes. ill send some pictures when the fish is done.

Mallemalle

Make a copy how? Like a fiberglass model or he is going to take the skin and fill it out with something like a taxedermist would?

he makes a form in gips and make the copy in a rubberlike mixture. my english is not that good that i know all the terms.

mallemalle