can i put oyster shells in my African cichlid tank?

Well I went out too sea beck for a week and collected about 30 cool clustered oyster shells off the beach and I think they would look so good in my African cichlid tank. But would if kill the fish since they were in salt water? I did boil Them twice and scraped every single barnacle Off of them but I'm not sure if it will still produce to much salt in my tank or make my pH out of whack. Any thoughts would be great (:
Thanks guys!
Fishyladdy

ya dont do it. not only are oyster shells extremely sharp (Ive been cut many times while collecting them myself) but also giving that they breed thru a process where the smaller ones can only attach to another oyster (sorry i don't know the scientific term for this) so you really wont know if you have any "hitchhikers" on/within the shells themselves.

Hmm OK sad panda thanks for the input Anthraxx I'll just rose them in the garden I guess

I would say yes as long as you boil them first to be sure there are no pests.

Oyster shells are a natural buffer and will naturally raise the ph of your water slightly. Some of the ph buffers for africans you buy are actually made from oyster shells. I used to live in seabeck on the beach and got those shells all the time. My recomendation is if the shells are all bright white in color just rinse and your good to go but if they are gray at all be sure to clean and boil them good. good luck.

Thanks a lot all of the ones I picked up are nice and white as is my sand and I wanna have a all white and green tank so that's why I was wondering about the shells thanks a lot for all the info everyone