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Cats and open tanks

Jaap

Member
Joined
30 Sep 2011
Messages
1,068
Location
Nicosia
Hello!

I have a 5 month kitten and I am about to setup a open planted tank.

Is there a chance the kitten/cat will fall inside? Will he bother the fish?

Any suggestions?

On a funny note, when I filled the tank with JBL Manado for my hardscape tests.....he pooped in it :(

Cheers
 
I have got 2 three-year old cats. I think your kitten definitely could fall in if it can get close enough to the tank, it probably will get out pronto and learn a valuable lesson!

About the fish, the kitten will probably eventually lose interest. My cabinet is 80cm high and the cats don't look at the fish unless I hold them right next to the tank (they can't reach it otherwise).
 
About the fish, the kitten will probably eventually lose interest. My cabinet is 80cm high and the cats don't look at the fish unless I hold them right next to the tank (they can't reach it otherwise).

Not in my house, my cat used to gaze at the fish for ages, after a while it would get into it's pouncing position but I was always there to stop it. In the end I got a syringe full of water and squirted the cat every time it went near them.... it soon learned it's lesson!
 
They can be trained if you are persistent. I trained mine not to jump on the kitchen table and the sofa but he still slept on top of the fish tanks and he was huge. I was afraid it's a bit too much weight for the tank covers and that his hairs would contaminate the water if he fell. But he liked the heat from the lights I suppose. But I am sure with an open tank if they didn't realise at first, only one time is enough for them to learn is a no no.
If the tank isn't setup yet and is empty, maybe try giving the kitten a quick wet bath in it while there's nothing in the tank and I am sure the kitten won't approach the tank again :)
 
Install one of these pointing at your tank, the cat will soon learn. Remember to turn off before fiddling with tank...:D
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Contech-Sca...=1405586655&sr=8-1&keywords=contech+scarecrow

I used one to stop next doors cats using our garden as a toilet and digging up the vegetable patch. Absolutely brilliant, poo free garden, poo free vegetables. Cats steer well clear of my garden now....Fantastic to watch, cat enters garden, shuffles out of veg patch, backside ready to drop....whoosh water right up the jacksie... then has trouble leaving the garden as I have put netting on top of fence so cat can't climb and has to rush back into water spray to get out the garden...fantastic.
 
Ha, ha, Ian. If it's motion activated what are the chanced one would get sprayed themselves every so often when forgetting about it
Gets the wife when hanging out the washing and got me quite a few times when I have gone to re-fill the garden bird feeder. There is a tiny delay between walking in front of it and it squirting...enough to think "Ah hah it hasn't detected me", before it lets loose with a full pressure squirt....
 
My burmese fell in my tank when I was a teenager. He used to like standing on top, with his feet on the rim, looking down. One day his back end went in and he hooked his front feet over the lip and paddled furiously with his back feet. Tank looked like a washing machine mid cycle :(
 
This is Scruffy the cat...I've always been tempted to push him in...:angelic:

I've tired the water spray method but he just waits till he thinks I'm not around, and then drinks from the tank anyway...

I think he gets away with it 9 times out of 10...so it's still worth his while...but essence of fish tank water...yuk:sick:

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3875/14672782641_5b5f3a2792_c.jpg
 
My cat got tagged by one of my mbuna while she was having a drink the other day and come to think of it I've not seen her drinking from it since.
 
That's it...that's the solution...my next tank is going to be a mbuna biome:D

p.s. the fluffy white one looks far too smug...
He is and a downright pita to boot
 
Yep, I can see he must really mess with your photoperiod...but it was nice of you to build him a sunbed tho'...

Perhaps you should tell him it's not working...he's still white...o_O
 
I remember a cat that belonged to family friends. They used to have that typical guppy tank with green water, half evaporated and neglected, in which one couldn't see anything inside.
They showed us why they keep the lid closed with a few books on top. They opened the tank lid slightly, two seconds after that the cat arrives and starts fishing and pretty good at it, was scooping fish with it's paw to make them fly in the air and catching them with his mouth.
My cat wasn't that good though. He preferred fish that don't move like tuna cans for example. I still miss him, he died of cancer a couple of years ago.
 
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