Cohabitation between Cats and Fish

[Sebreef93]

My 10 months old ragdoll likes to sit and watch it all day; however, she was never interested in any mischief around the tank.

 

[steveschuerger]

My cat Xena with tanks I’ve had

 

[elessar333]

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…

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

If you have a rimless tank with a sump: do all the protein skimming, filtering in the sump, which can be enclosed in a cabinet. This leaves the active tank with no interference in using the following:
Get 1” thick colorless acrylic sheets to match your rimless tank top (in sections, so you can move them independently).
This is heavy enough to hold all but larger panthera spp (lions, tigers, etc.), allows light through, and can be moved around. The acrylic ain’t cheap, is available at Amazon, but is worth it. Useful also (in my case) for discouraging octopus escapes, as well as evaporation and even heat loss/gain, as in a chilled system.
Of course, this means you need to have an overflow drainage and return system that doesn’t protrude above the tank rim, to get to your sump.
Oh….then provide convenient level “cat stadium” seating, so you now also have Cat TV (not to be confused with CATV).

 

[kevgib67]

My one cat Duke loves watching his little piece of the ocean, the other doesn’t acknowledge it.

 

[UncommonSense]

If you have a rimless tank with a sump: do all the protein skimming, filtering in the sump, which can be enclosed in a cabinet. This leaves the active tank with no interference in using the following:
Get 1” thick colorless acrylic sheets to match your rimless tank top (in sections, so you can move them independently).
This is heavy enough to hold all but larger panthera spp (lions, tigers, etc.), allows light through, and can be moved around. The acrylic ain’t cheap, is available at Amazon, but is worth it. Useful also (in my case) for discouraging octopus escapes, as well as evaporation and even heat loss/gain, as in a chilled system.
Of course, this means you need to have an overflow drainage and return system that doesn’t protrude above the tank rim, to get to your sump.
Oh….then provide convenient level “cat stadium” seating, so you now also have Cat TV (not to be confused with CATV).

I hate to burst your bubble; but that hilariously expensive 1” acrylic is going to warp into a concave shape over time in a aquarium lid application… — use polycarbonate to avoid bowing, or in your case; glass for the sheer weight!

Also, unless you’re housing a mountain lion; 3/8” acrylic would happily support the weight… it supports my weight!

 

[foamboy]

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

Can be trained, until they think you aren’t looking or you are out of town and you see them running across counter tops and tables through the security camera. They are as bad as kids when they think you aren’t looking.

 

[exnisstech]

Can be trained, until they think you aren’t looking or you are out of town and you see them running across counter tops and tables through the security camera. They are as bad as kids when they think you aren’t looking.

My experience is limited but when I had our cat it behaved just as well as the dogs which is very well. It's probably because I'm not really a cat lover and I trained it like a dog so it behaved like one maybe?
I think the big difference is cats tend train their people and dog people train their dog. At least that's how I see it. My daughter had 19 cats at one point some with disabilities and my sister was a huge fan of rescuing sphinx so I'm basing my observations on them only.

 

[foamboy]

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 have one out of 3 that absolutely adores anything and everything that happens around the aquariums. She’ll lay and watch them all day. And she makes sure to help with all maintenance. I have a 9 m/o kitten that’s really naughty and has been banished from aquariums without adult supervision as he has chewed through hoses a few times under them. Once when I was on vacation for 11 days. Luckily my parents stopped over to check on pets and found 5-10 gallons of water on the concrete basement floor from my 90 before it got out of hand and I was able to walk them through troubleshooting and remedy a temporary fix via FaceTime.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

My cat Xena with tanks I’ve had

Watching your cat climb on your stand is awesome

 

[Dragen Fiend]

3 cats and no issues as long as there is nothing near the tank they can stand on or casually jump on.

 

[PapitoDelSol]

So I will begin with a small tank (42g) in my office room to see their behaviors with a tank and then fish.
I don’t trust them, too curious and vicious

I will tell you! I I will receive it mid September!


The two peaceful monsters!

Don’t hesitate to continue posting pictures of your pets with your tank!

 

[BonnieB]

Once upon a time Peanut would sit on top of our freshwater tank and try to get the fish! Now at 14 she has no interest in doing or being anything but the alpha over 3 huskies!