Is it safe to put lawn ornaments such as a lawn gnome in a Fish Aquarium?
I have a 40 gallon freshwater tropical aquarium and its just looking boring, so i was wondering if it is safe to put things like a lawn gnome or a ceramic turtle in there. I wasnt sure if there is something special about the decorations you can buy at the petstore that makes then safe to go in , or if the other things would be safe. Obviously i would clean them first like anything else that would go in the tank!
First, if you use a lawn ornament made of plaster, it will come apart in water, and if you use one made of concrete, it may poison the water. Plastic ones will likely float in water.
The other big issue is that the lawn ornaments may contain toxic paints or dyes with ingredients like lead or cadmium. If you decide to try them, I would do it very cautiously, soaking the ornament in water for a long time before putting it in the tank, and then only adding one fish at a time.
Ceramic Diving Sea Turtle Aquarium Decoration