There are many alternatives when it comes to decorating your aquarium instead of buying them in a store. You can search your home for unique items that you no longer need, or you can raid your child’s toy box. Yes, you heard right. Children’s toys can be used as decorations for fish tanks.
What makes children’s toys perfect as tank ornaments is how detailed most of them are. These toys generally represent characters from famous cartoon shows and action movies and would be the perfect theme in your fish tank.
Since they are made for children, this should mean that they are safe and do not contain any toxic materials. This is especially true for more established brands, but I’d be a bit wary of toys made by smaller, lesser-known toy companies. It is common knowledge that there have been toys originating from third world countries that were made from materials that are considered toxic. But being a good parent, I am sure you would have checked the safety of toys for your children before buying them. Safe for children would generally mean safe for fish. Even so, we will have to consider some precautions before placing them in the tank water.
Children’s toy safety check
The first thing we want to make sure is that there are no metal parts anywhere on the toy. Metal rusts in water and can seriously contaminate it. These metal parts can be in the form of screws, springs, or other components. Remove them if there are any. Do not leave a small piece of metal in the toy, even if it is deep inside. Water seeps into the deepest recesses of any object and will enter the metal part.
Do not leave batteries in the toy. You may think it’s cool to allow it some automation, but it’s dangerous for your fish. A battery is a cylinder that contains some of the most toxic chemicals and seeps into the water. This applies to toys that are said to be waterproof. Being waterproof and immersing yourself in water for indefinite periods of time are two totally different things.
Check the paint job on the toy. Established brand toys have their paint molded into the plastic. This makes them less likely to contaminate the water. However, toys that have been painted in colors are something to avoid. Over time, the paints will leach into the water and poison it. To find out if the paint is molded or painted, you can scrape the surface with a utility knife. If the paint comes off as a powder, it is most likely painted.
Lastly, make sure there are no sharp parts that could harm the fish. If there are, trim them with a file. These sharp points and edges can cause injury that can result in death.
Preparing the toys
Once you have found the perfect toys for your aquarium, you must first prepare them before throwing them in the water.
You must first wash them well. First let them soak for a couple of minutes in diluted bleach. Make sure the bleach is well diluted or it could discolor the paint. Soaking them in bleach kills any microorganisms that will definitely be on the toys.
Then wash the bleach thoroughly under running water. Never use any type of detergent to clean anything that you can put in the aquarium water. Detergent will leave a residue that will contaminate the water, no matter how hard you try to wash it.
After rinsing, air dry toys in sunlight. The sun’s ultraviolet rays remove microorganisms from the balance of the toy. Your toys are now ready to use in the aquarium.