Shark teeth in aquarium

[Mremmert23]

I collect shark teeth whenever I am at the beaches in Florida and have found many over the years. I was wonder if I could add some to my aquarium sand bed or would this be a bad idea?

 

[Peach02]

water chemistry shouldn't be effected by them as long as they are clean, however bottom dwelling fish and invertebrates may scratch themselves on them, so depending on your stocking maybe.

 

[Mr Fishface]

I feel like unless you cover the whole bottom with teeth you should be fine. I would be cautious adding them with a sand sifter (like a goby) unless you are ok with them getting buried and never seen again lol.

 

[Mremmert23]

Ok great thanks for the information! Ill have to do some thinking on that as you both bring up really good points.

 

[BamboozleBean]

It shouldn’t be a problem, they’ve been sitting in the ocean for who knows how long, I wound not see a problem with it giving something off

 

[Turtlesteve]

Shark teeth and other fossil bones are typically made of calcium phosphate, a.k.a. hydroxyapatite. During the process of fossilization they can (and do) absorb all kinds of metals from the environment, up to and including uranium. This is a feature of phosphates in that they bond strongly with high charge metal ions. I believe this is why fossils are often black in color (and sometimes, very mildly radioactive).

I doubt that much of the metals (or phosphate) in shark teeth will leach out in seawater, since they are locked up by the phosphate, but lack of certainty makes me hesitate to put them in the aquarium.

Steve