Cohabitation between Cats and Fish

[DarthRaiderBob]

I’m worry for the tank… but mostly for my cats!
I don’t think they can break the tank but I’m not sure they will be able to get out if the go in

We have 5 cats and the closest they come to in the tank is hiding behind it when people come over. Fwiw

 

[PapitoDelSol]

We have 5 cats and the closest they come to in the tank is hiding behind it when people come over. Fwiw

Mine love everyone! Never scare with new people.
They are lucky I love them

Maybe something like that will be stronger than the Redsea net?

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

Spray bottles with water, cans of compressed air, crumpled tin foil all can work as training aids. Two days of crumpled up tin foil in front of the doggie door trained my two cats to never go near it (they’re indoor only but as the dog hasn’t figured out how to use the toilet or litter robot, he needs to get out). A spritz of water, or hiss from the compressed air can when they go near the tank resolved that in short order.

The screen top I have supports the weight of a cat no problem. It s in three sections of about 2’x2’. One single piece may not be as strong. Plus it keeps any fish from jumping and rogue snails from going on a walkabout.

For me, the more pressing problems were powerhead cords, and anything dangling. I had the powerheads fall a couple times from a friendly tug on the cable. As others mentioned, they seem to love trident tubing! Keep everything neat and tidy with nothing dangling from cabinet doors, or within arms reach behind the tank and you should be good.

 

[PapitoDelSol]

Spray bottles with water, cans of compressed air, crumpled tin foil all can work as training aids. Two days of crumpled up tin foil in front of the doggie door trained my two cats to never go near it (they’re indoor only but as the dog hasn’t figured out how to use the toilet or litter robot, he needs to get out). A spritz of water, or hiss from the compressed air can when they go near the tank resolved that in short order.

The screen top I have supports the weight of a cat no problem. It s in three sections of about 2’x2’. One single piece may not be as strong. Plus it keeps any fish from jumping and rogue snails from going on a walkabout.

For me, the more pressing problems were powerhead cords, and anything dangling. I had the powerheads fall a couple times from a friendly tug on the cable. As others mentioned, they seem to love trident tubing! Keep everything neat and tidy with nothing dangling from cabinet doors, or within arms reach behind the tank and you should be good.

Mine are nice with power cords in general!
I have too many free cable around my Tv and they don’t care!

Do you have a picture of your set up?

 

[exnisstech]

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

Yep. We had four kittens only about a week old orphaned on our property and my daughter decided to foster two of them. They are now permanent additions to her home

This yellow is a poly. We had another that was a torty and a polydactal.

Fortunately after bottle feeding and growing them out we were able to adopt them all out to good homes. I'd love to have a mouser but these two say no cats allowed

 

[CatsandClowns]

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

Get your fish used to an empty tank( whilst cycling) then by the time you eventually get fish in there they couldn’t care less. That’s what worked for me, that being said I don’t have a ginger cat.

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

Mine are nice with power cords in general!
I have too many free cable around my Tv and they don’t care!

Do you have a picture of your set up?

Perfect timing, one of the cats in one of her favorite spots just watching fish. I’m horrible at pics for many reasons…

Edit…actually, with all the posts as of late….. maybe she’s waiting patiently for the seam to split!

 

[56longroof]

This little **** 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.

I have a cat that did that. I started rubbing hot sauce on all the cords and air lines. It doesn't do it anymore.

 

[EuphyllinOHk]

I have a cat that did that. I started rubbing hot sauce on all the cords and air lines. It doesn't do it anymore.

Lime, or any citrus, juice also works. Cats also seem to hate aluminum foil.

 

[JumboShrimp]

There's always 'spike strips' that can be cut to border the floor around the tank. Desperate times call for desperate measures!

 

[Dr. D]

I always let my cat smell things, whether I’m messing with the fish, cooking, or whatever. It’s how she understands the world. Usually she gets a sniff and shrugs. I don’t know if this has been any aid in keeping her uninterested in the fish, but maybe.

I tried a similar strategy by letting my kids, when they were young, sip my beer if they were curious. That did NOT work.

 

[quesomuchacho]

Our 6 y/o cat could care less. Our 1 y/o has been know to knock off magnets chasing fish…

 

[Peace River]

I’m worry for the tank… but mostly for my cats!
I don’t think they can break the tank but I’m not sure they will be able to get out if the go in

I have kept cats and fish for several decades. I have had more than one cat try to get to the fish through the side of the tank with less than graceful results. I have also had more than one cat end up in the tank and no matter what people may say, I have seen cats walk on water!

 

[Michael Adam]

I built the stand bigger than the tank to set stuff on when working on it. Well, now that's where she sleeps. There are no problems with her and the tank. Sometimes, she sits and watches. Mostly just sleeps.

 

[Peace River]

There's always 'spike strips' that can be cut to border the floor around the tank. Desperate times call for desperate measures!

I used to try stuff like this. What I found was that the cats were sneaky enough to find a way around it and bright enough not to step on it. Me, not so much.

 

[JumboShrimp]

(@Michael Adam , I bet she dreamt of mice, before the fish came along.)

 

[iAmARomeoSF]

@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.

Here is what I did to cool my tank even with a full cover lid minus the section I cut out so the fan air could hit the top of the aquarium water I used an old computer case fan and spliced the wires so that I could power it via usb plug

 

[Shnetts]

luckily he hasn't tried to get on top of any of my salt tanks but when I first got into fish keeping he would sit on top my little fresh water tank all day long

 

[Sushinko]

@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.

I understand the worry about the cats going swimming and also heat. I am in Texas and it gets hot. I only have a 40G and 20 G tanks. I have 4 cats who insist on getting on top. I have a mesh lid (for a goby that will jump out). I found cats sitting on it and worried. Ended up using glass on top of the mesh lid supported by sticky 1/4 inch high silicone feet. I had automotive shop cut glass to correct dimensions. It has been a year and no problems with heat or cats knocking glass off or falling into tank. Other tank I used 2 glass pieces with about 2 inch gaps in back and middle supported by brackets on edge of tank that the glass sits on so can't be knocked off. Seems to work.

 

[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.