Cohabitation between Cats and Fish

[PapitoDelSol]

Hi,

I will buy soon an open saltwater tank and I’m wondering how you’re managing it with cats!

I have two cats who love to jump everywhere and really interested by my TV screensaver with bubbles

So I’m really worried to have my tank in my living room especially when I’m out of home for the week (break the tank, go in it and die…).

I don’t know if they are some system cat proof?
Or if it is better to put it in the room I used for work.

Thank for your advice

 

[UncommonSense]

Your milage will vary greatly with cats… it’s difficult to say, honestly!

My last cat would occasionally wander in to paw at the glass of my FW sump where I had an algae eater whom loved to taunt him…

But, my current cat absolutely hates my aquariums, and avoids them like the plague! — my best guess is that it’s the hum of equipment, or the sound of water…

 

[BonnieB]

Today, my 14 year old is like “yeah, whatever” but 12 years ago she would sit on top of our fresh water tank and bend down trying to paw at the fish through the glass!!

 

[TheNative192]

Hi,

I will buy soon an open saltwater tank and I’m wondering how you’re managing it with cats!

I have two cats who love to jump everywhere and really interested by my TV screensaver with bubbles

So I’m really worried to have my tank in my living room especially when I’m out of home for the week (break the tank, go in it and die…).

I don’t know if they are some system cat proof?
Or if it is better to put it in the room I used for work.

Thank for your advice

I will be honest. I would really never recommend having an open top aquarium. With Saltwater it just leads to much more maintenance with evaporation and the fish seem to jump a lot more when compared to saltwater. Even with just a couple inches of space. You can get custom lids that have mesh on top for some oxygenation. I really enjoyed the lid I got from Kraken lids but they can be pricey.

 

[exnisstech]

Cats can be trained not to jump on things. Just saying

 

[PapitoDelSol]

@exnisstech
My cats know where they are forbidden to jump… but they are cats and they go anyway with pride
But if you have tips for stubborn ones, I take !

@TheNative192
Except for evaporation
I was thinking about lid but it will need to support the weights of my cats.
The lid do not increase the temperature? What about putting some fan to cool down during summer?
I need to see what I can found here.

 

[Hunna’s Stunnas]

This little bugger has been nothing but a pure terror to my tanks. Chewed a hole in one of my ATO tubes, found a puddle of water from who knows how long it had been going on.

The past 8 days, he has taken the filter floss out of my little Eshopps Deskmate multiple times daily. I find wet clumps of it all over my home.

His much older sister, couldn’t care less about my tanks. She doesn’t even care about the fish one bit. He’s just over 1 year old, so I’m hoping he grows out of it in the next year or so.

 

[smacrophylia]

My cat has eaten two entire waste lines from my Neptune trident. She will paw it out of the waste container then just chew the end until there is nothing left over the span of a couple weeks. Only in the middle of the night. Waking up to small puddles and a shorter line has become the norm. I assume the waste must be addicting.

Never had her make an attempt at swimming but jumping at the glass while the fish taunt her is pretty funny

If you think “my cat won’t to do that” prepare for your cat to do just that

 

[JumboShrimp]

Go with your 'inner voice' that says to put the tank in your work-office. Otherwise I predict an almost certain CAT-TASTROPHE.

 

[Red_Beard]

I closed mine in, little fetchers. And yes, they(3 of them) have had to test it.


They do love to chase the fish though, and the fish know they can't get to them. Kind of fun to watch the hawkfish tease the cat.

 

[Fish Fan]

I can say with some certainty that your training technique would absolutely work on me and *most* of our cats, but not our Simon. This is the craziest, boldest, most fearless cat I've ever known; pure alpha cat. We call him the third dog because he's more dog than cat. He literally barks, he plays fetch, and he pees in the toilet When you tick him off, like by not feeding him every hour on the hour, he will pee on something he knows you value, and stare you directly in the eyes while doing it

Dogs?? He swats them in the face. Vacuum cleaners? Not a care in the world. Strangers in the house? He barks at them without care. Mouse traps? Please!! He'd reset them and chuck them back at you

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I've got two cats. One of them never showed any interest in my tank, while the other would sit and watch the tank all day.

 

[Dr. D]

I was worried that my 16-lb, completely unempathetic Smaug of a cat would see my 100g as a 24-hour McDonalds drive-thru serving free Filet-O-Fish. I bought a polycarbonate lid and kept a close eye on her.

Turns out she couldn't care less. She sits with me whenever I watch the tank, but shows no interest even though she wouldn't even have to jump to go swimming. Birds drive her absolutely bonkers. But apparently she doesn't like seafood.

 

[EuphyllinOHk]

Mine have been nosy and curious. I haven't had any issues where they wanted to be more than nosy and curious and I've had tanks up for a little more than a year an a half: freshwater, saltwater, quarantine tanks in various rooms of the house. They're always happy to investigate what I'm up to when I open the door to the sump, but, once they get a good look, they're satisfied.

I'd agree with everyone suggesting a tight fitting lid, regardless. It will help keep critters in, as well as out.

 

[FrugalReeferJon]

I must be lucky or something because we have three cats and none of them have ever shown the slightest interest in my tank whatsoever.

 

[X-37B]

Have 2 cats. Walked into my TV room and the black queen was sleeping on top of my rs170's net cover, what? Guess it likes the heat, lol.
I was surprised the net did not collapse. I use a squirt gun to train them. Like the mouse trap all I need to do now

is pic it up and they run, lol.
The black queen, mags, was a feral kitten when we got her. This cat sounds like something from a horror movies when it let's go.
My other cat, squid, is scared of the tanks.

 

[PapitoDelSol]

All yours pets are adorable!
So it depend really of the cat! Mines play with my vacuum robot!
My only fear is just to find them on the net, and I saw one today, not really strong.
I can put the tank in my office room and close the door but taking a saltwater tank to not having it in the living room…

My two monsters! 4 years! Never became foster family for kittens…. Because you keep them!

 

[JumboShrimp]

If you go with a strong glass top (that they could literally lay on, if that's what ends up happening), then the only other danger I would be concerned about it a scratched-tank from them clawing at the glass to nap fish.

 

[DarthRaiderBob]

Hi,

I will buy soon an open saltwater tank and I’m wondering how you’re managing it with cats!

I have two cats who love to jump everywhere and really interested by my TV screensaver with bubbles

So I’m really worried to have my tank in my living room especially when I’m out of home for the week (break the tank, go in it and die…).

I don’t know if they are some system cat proof?
Or if it is better to put it in the room I used for work.

Thank for your advice

I find they can't live in the tank very long so, it's not much of a problem for more than a few minutes.

 

[PapitoDelSol]

If you go with a strong glass top (that they could literally lay on, if that's what ends up happening), then the only other danger I would be concerned about it a scratched-tank from them clawing at the glass to nap fish.

The glass doesn’t impact the lighting?
The tank will be like 40 cm from my kitchen table so I’m not worried about scratched-tank.