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How to Freeze Dry Fish Mounts

Freeze-drying is a specialized form of taxidermy that involves placing a specimen into a freeze-dry machine until all of the moisture in it is removed. While it is not a method that is frequently used, especially for larger specimens, it is a method that is proven beneficial for very small specimens such as small fish. For these small fish, freeze-drying can be the most successful way to preserve your mount.

Things You'll Need

Water
Baking soda
Bowl or container
Commercial freezer
Freeze-dry machine
Mounted fish

Instructions

- 1
  Soak your mount in a mixture that is 1 cup baking soda to 1 gallon of water. Leave the mount for 20 minutes before removing. This helps to neutralize the fats and oils that can slow down the freeze-drying process.
- 2
  Manipulate the fish into the pose you want your mount to hold.
- 3
  Dry the mount and place it in a commercial freezer until it is completely frozen through. It is more efficient to freeze the mount before dry-freezing it, as well as being more economical. The amount of time required will vary depending on the size of your mount.
- 4
  Remove the mount from the commercial freezer and place the mount in a dry-freezer set to at least 0 degrees Fahrenheit.
- 5
  Freeze-dry the mount until no moisture remains and the specimen is dry without being distorted. This will take several days to several weeks. The amount of time required will vary depending on several factors: the size of the specimen, the size of the freeze-dry machine, the temperature of the freeze-dry machine and the amount of oil in the specimen. The oilier the specimen, the longer it will take to freeze-dry. Also, lower temperatures take longer to freeze-dry but yield the least distorted results, so you will have to experiment to find the best temperature. Smaller machines freeze-dry faster, as do smaller specimens.
- 6
  Raise the temperature of the freeze dry machine each day, making sure the specimen does not distort.

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