Aquarium for Cat

svtcontour

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Aug 6, 2004
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Ok I know this sounds utterly retarded but I'm going to set up a tank for my cat. See my cat tends to be alone often and I know its lonely and bored. I mean sure I will play with her after work and all but during the day she seems so out of it. Almost looks like a depressed person would.

A month ago I put a chair in front of my 100 gallon tank and would sit her there and try to make her understand that something is behind the glass but I dont think she understood. She paid as much attention to it as to the TV which is nil. One day I came home and found her glued to the tank. She was so focused and interested. I watched her and realized that she's very attracted to my Chinese alge eaters (I have two). They are about 5" long right now and I believe because they have long tails, she thinks its a mouse. Anyway now she sits by the thing for a few hours a day watching them.

I am planning on moving the algae eaters to a 40 gallon tank because they are kind of aggressive. My question is this. What other fish do you think might be good in a 38 gallon that the cat may enjoy or interact with. I'm thinking of something really bold. I am confident that a pair of Convicts would be good but I dont know if the 5" algae eaters would be ok or not. I know they can be pretty scrappy but maybe no match for a pair of cons in a smallish tank. How about something like a Paradise fish? Would that be a bold in your face fish?
 
Aww.. :) I don't really have any fish to recommend, just some comments to add.

When I set up my ten gal a little bit ago (I had just taken down a five because my betta died) my cat was so excited and sat there and watched it, even though there wasn't anything in it but rock. Then I got my live plants, and she sat there and watched me put them in, then she watched the empty tank again. In fact, whenever I work on it she comes and watches.

Now that I have fish in it, she was so excited, and she jumps up near it and watches them. So, one of my cat absolutely loves watching the tank, glad you're doing this for yours. :)

Good luck.
 
Possibly a pair of firemouth cichlids, or convicts. Depends on your preference. Any cichlid pair (except angelfish and discus) would be suitable. (Angels can be skittish and easily frightened, and so can discus.) The firemouths would be less aggressive than convicts.
 
be sure you put covers on the tank. I had a kitty once that would sit on a ledge behind my tank and dip his paws in...
 
how about a couple dojo (weather) loaches... or a ropefish? or something along the lines of a dragon fish if you're not planning on keeping anything smaller with it. Not only are they fun for the cat to watch... they're great entertainment for people too!
 
My cats like the weather loaches.. one of them will just lay there batting at the tank as it goes around in circles...lol.. a couple of them will drive your cat nuts :rolleyes:

Marn
 
How about a betta? I know I have a betta in one of my tanks and he's not scared of anything. He'll charge the glass and flare up at me and everything :)

PS.

I'll try and get a video of the cat in front of the tank. Its pretty cute
 
my cat always sits by the fishtank and would relax and fall asleep...sometime she chases after the Catfish?!?! But i have a all glass top, and now shes big enough to jump up there and would just sleep on there.

I think anything big, shiney and active would attract your cat and amuse it.
 
Well I managed to grab a low quality video using my digital camera. I saved it in Divx format so that it would be smaller. Hopefully most of you have divx installed. Dont mind the mess. Also the video is shot from far away so that way I'm not interfering. Tank lighting was pretty much the only real light in the room....

http://powerthings.com/video/gonefishing.avi

Its about 4.5 meg in size. I think its pretty cute.
 
the cat tank

make sure you have a good cover,hood, or canopy for that tank. my cat loves to drink fish water(must have better flavor). my brother in laws cat drank all of the water from a betta bowl once. about the paradise fish-believe it or not i have one in a 20 gal with a convict and they flar their gills at each other when they enter each others teritotory. the paradise is a very curious fish looking all around the tank and outside the tank. the convict is not bigger than 3" right now so dont know if they will be neighbors for too long.
 
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