cat owners... question

[jandree22]

I plan to setup my 75 with a completely open top with a pendant system. Problem is, I have a cat. It can't make the jump straight up 4', but I may be forced to have furniture in close proximity to the tank when it's setup and that's a point of access. One option is to use egg crate to protect the tank, but I made the decision to go 150w HQI MH, so I would not like to block transmittance at all.

First I was wondering if your cats get curious and try to jump up and investigate. If it jumps up and falls in the tank once, I'm sure he'll learn his lesson, but naturally I'm hoping it'll never come to that. I'm thinking about terrorizing him once and kind of forcing his paws in the water to learn not to mess around up there, and to show him there's no reasonable ledge to even try balancing on.

Just trying to figure out any option here to make an open top tank and a cat behave well together

 

[Anonymous]

Depends upon the cat I'd say. My cat couldn't care less about the swimming fish, another cat however, might try to go fishing.

 

[Anonymous]

I would get a hotwire setup using the new fabric tape that has the wires woven through it, then put that around the perimeter of the tank. I suggest remembering to turn it OFF before trying to do anything in the tank, though. I've been zapped and it does pack a punch.

I had rescued several iguanas from Petco many years ago when I worked at HQ, and I learned that they truly prefer pooping over water. Guess whose aquariums with live plants really took off. Just guess. :lol:

How curious is your cat about any other water? You could set up a small bowl with feeder guppies, just to test out and see if your cat is so inclined.

 

[jandree22]

biggest problem with my cat is that he likes to explore climbing whatever he can... which is why I'm hoping I can scare him out of messing around with it.

he does stand up and bat at the glass when he sees the fish, esp my yellow tang, but I'm hoping ripples on the surface would add enough disorientation to make him lose interest in snatching up fresh seafood. :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

FWIW, eggcrate is not strong enough to hold the cat should it jump-trust me on this one

 

[jandree22]

FWIW, eggcrate is not strong enough to hold the cat should it jump-trust me on this one

lol, okay... thanks for the tip :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

FWIW, eggcrate is not strong enough to hold the cat should it jump-trust me on this one

LMAO! :lol: That should be stickied! :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

Cat+curiosity+eggcrate+metal halide pendant getting splashed with salterwater=disaster

 

[jandree22]

FWIW, eggcrate is not strong enough to hold the cat should it jump-trust me on this one

LMAO! :lol: That should be stickied! :lol:

Brilliant call, it's yours for the taking, otherwise I call dibs, lol!

I have a 48" pendant HQI system, so I don't have to worry about splashed water blowing the bulbs, but he might find the pendant makes a nice, warm makeshift hammock in January :wink:

 

[Anonymous]

profit from my misfortunes! I know I haven't :lol:

 

[jandree22]

hey, they're called 'life experiences'. one day you'll look back and cherish the moment :wink:

 

[Anonymous]

Well, since I burned so many brain cells in the '80s, looking back is pretty much an exercise in futility

 

[SnowManSnow]

I have a Devon Rex cat that absolutely LOVES water. He will even jump in a bath tub just to swim around for a while. BUT he has NEVER gotten into my open top tank.

B

 

[jandree22]

that's at least encouraging.

I guess I won't know for sure until I see curiosity kills my cat. Curiosity in this case, meaning me.

 

[Ben1]

I had 5 cats a few years back and none of them went into my open top tank. One jumped up there once stuck his paw in the water and that was it. All my cats were anti-water cats though lol

 

[pcardone]

the neighborhood cats often hang out by the Koi pond, but never create a problem. Fill the tank with fresh water an see what happens in a week?

 

[Anonymous]

FWIW, eggcrate is not strong enough to hold the cat should it jump-trust me on this one

LMAO! :lol: That should be stickied! :lol:

Brilliant call, it's yours for the taking, otherwise I call dibs, lol!

I have a 48" pendant HQI system, so I don't have to worry about splashed water blowing the bulbs, but he might find the pendant makes a nice, warm makeshift hammock in January :wink:

:lol: Your thread, jandree, you get dibs. :lol:

I have a Devon Rex cat that absolutely LOVES water. He will even jump in a bath tub just to swim around for a while. BUT he has NEVER gotten into my open top tank.

B

What is a Devon Rex? Rex as in King?

 

[jandree22]

FWIW, eggcrate is not strong enough to hold the cat should it jump-trust me on this one

Wow... I see what you mean. I FINALLY found the stuff in Home Depot yesterday (ceiling section... not lighting ), and it's a heck of a lot flimsier than I was expecting. In pics it looks really rigid.

 

[Anonymous]

You know, we used to use a ceiling grid stuff that was coated with a chrome paint (over plastic). It was this commercial stuff used in large buildings, that sort of thing, we used it to stack the betta cups, and it was strong enough that we could put one person on each end of about a 3'x6' panel, keep the cups on there (I can't remember how many, but it had to add up to at least 20lbs of water on there), and move it to the shipping tables. It had really big openings, like an inch or over, and was very tall, not like what one finds at Home Despot.

I wish to hell I knew what it was or how to find it! Because the openings are so big and it's coated with that plasti-chrome it let through a LOT of light, yet was surprisingly strong.