Tell me how you cat-proof your fishtank!

Back when I had only one cat and a ten gallon tank my cat tried to get into the tank. at the time she wasn't really all that familiar with the physical properties of glass.

she took a running start across the back of the couch and dove face first into the fish tank. we made fun of her for days and she still gives us a dirty look whenever we tell this story to company. She wasn't hurt at all by the impact but she never made any further attempts to access the tank.
 
My oldest cat put his front paws on the glass once to see what I was doing when I filled my 75 for the first time. He was there for about a minute and never noticed the tank again. My younger cat fell into the 75 once accidentally. He only made it about 3/4 of the way in- one of his back legs had gotten caught on the glass lid. There were no fish in it at the time since I was cycling it after a move so it wasn't too much of an issue. When I tried to help him out, he gave me this look like it was none of my business what he was doing. (this cat is pure comedy gold. He gave me the same look when I found him hanging upside down on his stand swinging from a toy string wrapped around his tail) Even after that, he always slept on the light hood of that tank. I worried at first that he would try to go after the fish, but the openings weren't large enough and he never seemed interested. I don't think it ever occurred to him that there were any fish beneath his warm bed.
 
iamgroovy said:
Me too! How is it going with your kitten?
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The latest thing the kitten likes to do is sit underneath the tank when I'm vaccuming the gravel. The light shining through and the moving nozzle of the vaccuum are fascinating, evidently. This is fine, being UNDER. It's the IN that is not good!

He also sits on the floor in front of it, like a kid watching saturday morning cartoons.

I'm thinking that I'll balance a small piece of wood or plexiglass across the top of the light hood. If he jumps on it, everything, including the cat, will fall. That should discourage him -- he'll get the idea that it's not a stable landing spot. He hasn't jumped up there since the first time, so maybe he already decided that, but I don't trust him. He is quite a brat!

I love hearing everyone's stories.
 
FishBliss said:
Tell me how you cat-proof your fishtank!
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Grow out a young blue heeler!

Mine is very protective and is very intelligent (he is with me pretty much 24/7).

Putty cat gets to thinking about the aquarium, "sick em Colie" and putty cat does not think about the aquarium again but finds other means of entertainment.

TR
 
I have 2 cats and 3 fish tanks. They leave the 10g. alone (most of the time, there is the odd time when one sits on the top, dips her paws into the water, then pulls it out and licks the water off...thirsty i guess??) so that one isn't a major problem. The 20g. however sits right beside the old piano because I had to do some moving around to make room for the 50g and it sits right level with the piano. So, if you put 2 and 2 together, fish tank beside piano= easy oppurtunity to get on top of the fish tank...i can see it all right now: cat walks off of piano onto tank, gets freaked out by...whatever happens to freak her out, leaps off of the tank with terrific force, tank teeters only to eventually fall over, 20g. of water spills all over CARPET and fish are gasping for air. Oh, this all happens while i'm at work for 8 hours and then i come home to a indoor swimming pool! So, to fix this i put a piece of packing tape across the lid and sat and waited for one of them to jump on there. Sure enough, the one jumps up there and i know you're probably thinking cats + tape = disaster? Wrong, her paws touched the tape and became stuck, she freaked out and jumped down (this is why i sat and watched, to make sure the tank remained standing after she leaped off), ran around the house with the tape still stuck to her paws until i caught her and took it off. I also do the same with the 50g. and i've never had a problem with them jumping on it, and even if they did, it weighs considerably more then 14 pounds so its pretty sturdy. Too mak a long story short, packing tape across the hood works wonders! They do it once and when they see it there, they don't do it again. Also, its not like you can really see it or it looks bad on the tank like aluminum foil might. Its clear so its not gonna make the rest of the tank look bad!
 
My cat adores my fish especially my bettas when I do anything with the tanks he watches me like a hawk and since all my tanks are in my livingroom he sits on the couch and watches them for hours especially when I put the lights on. I think they are good company for him. He has no desire to try to go into the tanks at all but a spray bottle with water works everytime if he tries to go near the tank spray the water towards him he will get the hint that he shouldn't go near the tank. LOL cats supposedly hate water.
 
Hehe! These stories have me lmao! My kitty lves to watch my fishies, so I made it safe and comfy for her. I put a kitty perch right next to the 40g, so she can sit and watch from a happy space. She occasionaly paws at the glass to "play" with the fish. The only time she gets really excited is when the pleco is on the glass. Then, she feels that it is her God given duty to prtoect me from the beast, and will leap at the tank meowing and pawing until the devil is no longer in sight. :) I's really very cute.
 
I'm lucky that my cat absolutely hates water, so she doesn't try to catch any fish even if she could theoretically reach them. What she does, though, is jump on the tank and drink from the filter. This water seems to be much tastier than the one in the dish.

She is obsessed with some of the fish, though. She ignores the smaller ones. Guppies are not worthy of her attention. But if she sees the bristlenose or the big CAE, she sprints to the tank, runs around the tank, all the time trying to bite through the glass and patting against the pane. It's a big commotion, and she gets totally excited. This never stopped, even after months. I had to put the bigger fish out of reach from her, on the top shelf.

Btw, my cat is not deterred by tape. She loves tape, especially with lots of glue. It's one of her favorite dishes :rolleyes:.
 
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